1. COMMON GRAMMAR ERRORS SENTENCE PROBLEMS, USAGE, TENSES, AND AGREEMENT

2. FOUR FUNCTIONS OF A SENTENCE  1. Declarative – States an idea and ends with a period.  2. Interrogative – asks a question and ends with a question mark.  3. Imperative – gives an order or a direction and ends with either a period or an exclamation mark.  4. Exclamatory – conveys strong emotion and ends with an exclamation mark.

3. SENTENCE FRAGMENTS  A sentence fragment is a group of words that is not a complete idea; a fragment is only part of a sentence.  Ex. In the early evening.  Ex. Felt happy and relaxed.  Ex. Seemed to be particularly fond of it.  Professional writers sometimes use sentence fragments. They do so for special effect – to add emphasis or convey dialogue.   However, you should avoid sentence fragments.

4. RUN-ON SENTENCES  A run-on sentence is two or more complete sentences written as though they are one sentence.  1. “Comma Splice” – two main clauses separated by a comma instead of a period or semi- colon. Ex. Tanya and Naoko are both going to work as camp counselors this summer, they are looking forward to the experience.”  2. When two main clauses are written with no punctuation. Ex. “Tanya and Naoko feel the job has many advantages working with children is one of them.”  3. When a comma is left out before a coordinating conjunction that joins two main clauses. Ex. “They will enjoy what they will be doing and they will be earning money too.”

5. MISPLACED MODIFIERS  A phrase or clause that acts as a modifier – an adjective or adverb – should be placed close to the word it modifies.  Ex. We rented a house in the mountains with a view. (Misplaced)   Who or what has “a view”?  Ex. We rented a house with a view in the mountains. (Clear)  Or  Ex. In the mountains, we rented a house with a view. (Clear)

6. MORE MISPLACED MODIFIERS  Ex. Dugout canoes were used by people that were made out of hallow logs. (misplaced)   Who or what was made out of hallow logs?  Ex. Dugout canoes that were made out of hallow logs were used by people. (correct)  Ex. Mr. Spock serves aboard the Enterprise a logical science officer. (misplaced)   Who or what is a logical science officer?  Ex. Mr. Spock, a logical science officer, serves aboard the Enterprise. (correct)

7. DANGLING MODIFIERS  Dangling modifiers do not modify any word in a sentence. You can correct this error by supplying a word that can be modified.  Ex. Digging in the field, a Native American village was found. (Dangling)  Who or what was digging in the field and found a village?  Ex. Digging in the field, archeologists found a Native American village. (Clear)

8. DOUBLE NEGATIVES  Do not use double negatives – two negative words in a sentence.  Ex. Silvia didn’t invite nobody.  Ex. I haven’t no time now.  Ex. She never told us nothing about her party.

9. USAGE  Certain usages of English are preferred by most educated speakers and writers.  Refer to your textbook: 8 th pg. 352—354. 10 th pg. 691—700.

10. GRAMMAR QUIZ #9  Know the four functions of a sentence and their ending punctuations.  Be able to identify and correct: sentence fragments and run-ons.  Be able to identify and correct: misplaced modifiers, double- negatives, and improper usage.

11. VERB TENSES: INDICATE TIME  Principal Parts: the base form, present participle, past form, and past participle.  Verb tenses are formed from the principal parts.  For example:  “Carpenters work.” [base or present form]  “Carpenters worked.” [past form]  “Carpenters are working.” [present participle with the auxiliary verb are]  “Carpenters have worked.”[past participle with the auxiliary verb have]

12. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS  A regular verb forms its past form and past participle by adding –ed or – d to the base form.  An irregular verb forms its past form and past participle in some way other than adding –ed or –d to the base form.

13. PRESENT TENSE  The same form as the base form (except for Be).  Expressed constant, repetitive, or habitual action or condition.  Also, a general truth, or an action or condition that exists only now.

14. PAST TENSE  Expresses action already started and completed in the past.  Ex. “The team defeated its opponents.”  Ex. “The rivalry seemed fierce.”  Except for be, nearly all verbs – regular and irregular – have just one past-tense form, such as climbed or became: was (singular) or were (plural).

15. FUTURE TENSE  Used to express an action or condition that will occur in the future.  To form the future tense:  1. Use shall or will with the base form. Ex. “You shall see me tomorrow.”  2. Use going to with the present tense of be and the base form of a verb. Ex. “Angela is going to the mall.”

16. PERFECT TENSES  Present Perfect Tense – expresses an action or condition that occurred at some indefinite time. (Have, Has) Ex. She has listened to the recording. Ex. They have bought a new home.  Past Perfect Tense – used to indicate that one past action or condition began and ended before another past action started. (Had) Ex. She had worked as a manager before I took the job.  Future Perfect Tense – to express one future action or condition that will begin and end before another future event starts. (Will have, Shall have) Ex. By June I will have worked here for a year.

17. PROGRESSIVE/EMPHATIC  Each of the six tenses has a progressive form that expresses a continuing action.  Be + the present participle of the verb (-ing).  Present Progressive: is/are listening; Past Progressive: was/were listening; Future Progressive: will be listening; Present Perfect Progressive: have/has been listening; Past Perfect Progressive: had been listening; Future Perfect Progressive: will have been listening.  Emphatic forms add special force or emphasis.  Do, does, or did + the base form.  Ex. I did listen.

18. ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE  Voice is a verb form that shows whether or not the subject is performing the action.  A verb is in the active voice when its subject performs the action.  Ex. Sharon is conducting a survey.  A verb is in the passive voice when its subject does not perform the action.  Ex. The survey is being conducted by Sharon.

19. GRAMMAR QUIZ #10

20. SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT  A verb must agree with its subject in person and number (singular or plural).  To show agreement, most verbs change form only in the present tense by adding –s or –es:  Ex. She learns/ They learn, Ex. He watches/ They watch  The exception is Be, which changes form in both the present tense and the past:  Ex. The dog is happy/ The dogs are happy, Ex. The dog was sad/ The dogs were sad.

21. SUBJECT – VERB AGREEMENT CONTINUED  Keep in mind: a prepositional phrase that comes between a subject and verb does not affect subject-verb agreement.  Ex. The poster of combat planes fills the wall.  Also: A compound subject joined by and is usually plural.  However, subjects joined by or/nor are singular.

22. PRONOUN-ANTECEDENT AGREEMENT  A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number (singular, plural) and gender (masculine, feminine).  Ex. Emily Bronte published her novel, Wuthering Heights, in 1847.  Ex. Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Bronte published their collected poems in 1846.  Further, a pronoun must agree in person with its antecedent   Do not use the second person “you” to refer to an antecedent in the third- person.

23. USING PRONOUNS  Personal Pronouns have three cases:  Nominative (I, we, you, he, she, it, they) for subjects  Objective (me, us, you, him, her, it, them) as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of a preposition.  Possessive (my, mine, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs) to show ownership.

24. WHO OR WHOM?  Use “who” for subjects.  Ex. “Who called this morning”?  Ex. “Tell us who is in charge.”  Use “whom” for direct or indirect objects.  Ex. “Whom did you give the report?”  Ex. “Jaime asked her whom is had invited to the party.”

25. COMPARISONS