2. Build a fence (use a semicolon): Bob ate pizza; Joe ate salad. Build a moat (use a comma and a conjunction): Bob ate pizza, and Joe ate salad. Build separate cages (use a period): Bob ate pizza. Joe ate salad.

3. Use a comma before the subject and verb if they are in the middle of the sentence rather than at the beginning. After the circus ended, Matilda drove home. Use a comma between two adjectives describing the same noun The mighty, amazing Tarheels will win the national championship. Use commas to separate unnecessary information Billy Bob, who likes long walks on the beach under the moonlight and playing Nintendo while eating peanut butter cup ice cream in his velvet pajamas, is our next speaker. Use commas to separate items in a series I took the chicken, monkey, and duck to the ice cream parlor.duck

4. Verb tense (past or present): The woman sat (past) on the rock and looked (past) into the lava, she knows (present) that something must be done. PICK A TENSE AND STICK TO IT! Verb number (needs to match the number of the noun): The woman takes the sample from the volcano. The women take the sample from the volcano.

5. Some pronouns (words that stand in for nouns) are naturally possessive and you don’t use an apostrophe with them Their/his/her/its/whose _______ buffalo ONLY USE AN APOSTROPHE WITH “ITS” WHEN IT IS A CONTRACTION FOR “IT IS” Look at the stump. Have you seen its bark? It’s the Guy on the Buffalo’s saddle.Guy on the Buffalo’s

6. Use “who” if it is in the part of the sentence that DOES the action (the subjective side) He will go to the farm. Who will go to the farm? Use “whom” when it is in the part of the sentence that receives the action (the objective side) He will be going with them. He will be going with whom?

7. Capitalize a brand but not the product McDonald’s hamburger / George Foreman grill Capitalize a title when it is used before a name but not after Captain Roberts / John Roberts, the captain of the boat, … Capitalize a family relation if it is not preceded by a pronoun Aunt Patty / my aunt Patty Capitalize proper nouns and proper adjectives FranceFrench

8. They’re is a contraction for “they are” They’re not nearly as awesome as the incomparable Scott Sterling! Their shows possession of something by more than one person Their tickets will allow them to see the incomparable Scott Sterling! There is pointing out a point in space or time. There is the incomparable Scott Sterling!Scott Sterling

9. You usually use colons in two instances: 1)To indicate that a list is coming I need to pick up the following: a stick of butter, a loaf of bread, and container of milk. 2)When the second part of a sentence further explains the first Gerald has some bad habits: he picks his scabs, he never brushes his teeth, and he has weekly colon surgerycolon surgery

10. For the most part, put other punctuation inside of the quotation marks: “Hi there,” Lucy said. “Are you going?” Margaret asked. “Elektronik Supersonik is my favorite music video ever!”Elektronik Supersonik “Yes, but this song is way better.”song