Midterm

Four ways to fix Comma Splices and Run-Ons

1. Separate the independent clauses with a period. The dogs were afraid. The thunder was loud. 2. Use a comma and one of the FANBOYS to join the two independent clauses. (Remember the compound sentence structure?) The dogs were afraid, and the thunder was loud. 3. Use a semicolon to join the two independent clauses. The dogs were afraid; the thunder was loud. 4. Use a subordinating conjunction to subordinate one of the independent clauses. (Remember the complex sentence structure?) The dogs were afraid because the thunder was loud.

SENTENCES

A complete sentence requires a subject and a predicate. The subject is the main actor of the sentence. The predicate contains the verb or the main action that is performed by the subject. In the simple sentence below, 'I' is the subject and 'ran' is the predicate. I ran.

COMPLETE SUBJECT

A complete subject is more than just one noun. It contains the simple subject - the noun that the whole sentence is about - but it also includes all of the words that modify that noun. Most often, the complete subject is the entire first part of a sentence. In the sentences below, the complete subject is in bold and the simple subject is underlined.

SIMPLE SUBJECT

A simple subject is a single noun or pronoun connected to a verb. While the complete subject may contain modifiers (adjectives, relative clauses and prepositional phrases), the simple subject contains only one, unmodified person, place, thing or idea. Every complete sentence includes at least one simple subject. The simple subject answers Who? or What?

ADJECTIVES

Adjectives are words that modify (describe) a noun or pronoun. They answers questions: Which one? What kind? How many? the frisky horse (which horse?) cracked, old plates (what kind of plates?) nine months (how many?)

ADVERBS

Adverbs are words that modify (qualify) a verb, adjective or another adverb They often ends in "ly" They answer questions: When? Where? How? Why? Under what conditions? To what degree? Pull firmly on the emergency handle. Be extremely kind, and you will probably have many friends.

Complete sentences

After learning that his passport was about to expire, Jakob applied for a new one at the post office. Before he could board the plane, he had to show his boarding pass. Although she booked a tour of Provence, she wanted time to explore the small towns of France on her own.

Pronoun Agreement: Examples

Any Texas State student could access his/her own email account. Singular noun singular pronoun All Texas State students could access their email accounts. plural noun plural pronoun Notice the use of his and her in the first example. When selecting the second person singular pronoun, it's necessary to be gender neutral by indicating both pronouns.

Overview of Subject Verb Agreement Issues

As the previous slide demonstrated, basic subject verb agreement is pretty straightforward. However, there are some instances when the simple subject can be hard to find or when the subject mayseem plural when it's actually singular. Here are the tricky types ofsubjects we will cover: • Prepositional phrases between a simple subject and a verb• Subjects separated from the verb by word groups within commas • Indefinite Pronouns • Subjects joined by "or," "nor," "neither/nor," "either" /"or" and "not only"/"but also" • Collective Nouns

Conjunction Junction

As you watch the music video from School House Rock, notice how the singer uses conjunctions to join together words, phrases and clauses. https://youtu.be/ODGA7ssL-6g

Comma splices

Comma splices occur when two complete sentences are joined by a comma instead of a period or semicolon. Let's stop for just a minute to appreciate the period.

Comma splices and Run-Ons

Comma splices occur when you join two sentences (or independent clauses) with a comma (no conjunction). WRONG: The dogs were afraid, the thunder was loud. Run-on sentences occur when you join two complete sentences without any punctuation. WRONG: The dogs were afraid the thunder was loud.

CONJUNCTIONS

Conjunctions are words used to connect clauses or sentences or to connect words in the same clause. There are three types of conjunctions: Coordinating conjunctions (the "FANBOYS") Correlative conjunctions: either/or, neither/nor, not only/but also, whether/or

Faulty Predication

Faulty predication, also called illogical predication, occurs when a subject and a predicate do not make sense together. It occurs when a subject cannot logically carry out the action that the verb describes. In addition to the concepts covered in the YouTube video, faulty predication happens often with the following constructions: "is/when," "is/because" "is/where" When you see these constructions in a sentence, you have an instance of faulty predication. Let's look at some examples. ERROR: A stereotype is when someone characterizes others unfairly. EXPLANATION: A stereotype is not a time. Stereotyping is not when a particular thing happens. Rather, it occurs or happens when a particular thing happens. POSSIBLE CORRECTIONS: A stereotype is an unfair characterization of others. Stereotyping happens/occurs when someone characterizes others unfairly. ERROR: The reason I choose not to eat animals is because I believe that it's unethical. EXPLANATION: The words "reason" and "because" have the same meaning. It is redundant to have both words in the same sentence. CORRECTION: I choose not to eat animals because I believe that it's unethical. ERROR: Lightning is where there is a flow of an electric charge between the ground and a thundercloud. EXPLANATION: Lightning is not a specific place where there is a flow of an electric charge. POSSIBLE CORRECTIONS: Lightning is a flow of an electricity charge between the ground and a thundercloud. Lightning happens when there is a flow of an electric charge between the ground and a thundercloud.

HELPING VERBS

Helping verbs accompany main verbs and help them make distinctions in mood, voice, aspect and tense. Helping verbs will either be forms of have, do, be, or modals. Below is a chart containing all of the different helping verbs. Let's take a look at how helping verbs work in a sentence. Look at the following sentence in which eat is the main verb: I eat French fries. If you want to change the tense of a verb, then you might need a helping verb to HELP you make that change. In the sentence below, the helping verb 'have' lets us know that I have eaten French fries before, at some point in the past: I have eaten French fries. Helping verbs such as modals can also show a prediction, suggestion, or a question as in the following examples: He might eat French fries. He should eat French fries. Will he eat French fries?

The period.

It's tiny. But it does a powerful job - giving us a place to pause or rest between sentences.

Misplaced Modifiers

Modifying information must be placed as close to the word it modifies as possible. Here's an example of how things go awry when modifiers wander away from the words they modify: WRONG: Anita listened to the teacher read to the class with her eyes closed. CORRECT: With her eyes closed, Anita listened to the teacher read to the class. WRONG: When viewed from a distance, tourists see what appears to be a benign volcano. CORRECT: When viewed from a distance, the volcano appears benign to tourists. WRONG: The Hunting Island Lighthouse has 167 steps to the top, built in 1859. CORRECT: Built in 1859, the Hunting Island Lighthouse has 167 steps to the top. WRONG: The house had everything she wanted, big and airy. CORRECT: The big and airy house had everything she wanted. WRONG: The brown bears spotted along the national park road were entertaining tourists, climbing trees and eating leaves. CORRECT: The brown bears, spotted climbing trees and eating leaves along the national park road, were entertaining tourists. WRONG: Sunrise on the beach was a good place to go for a walk, quiet and peaceful. CORRECT: The quiet and peaceful beach was a good place to go for a walk at sunrise.

There are eight parts of speech in the English language:

Nouns Pronouns Verbs Helping Verbs Adjectives Adverbs Prepositions Conjunctions

NOUNS

Nouns can be a person, place, thing or concept. The sentence below contains three nouns highlighted in bold: The defense attorney made a final appeal to the jury.

prepositional phrases between a subject and a verb

Often the simple subject is separated from the verb by prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases CANNOT be the subject of a sentence. • Recall the simple subject vs. the complete subject from lesson 1.1. The complete subject is often made up of the simple subject and one or more prepositional phrases. In the following example, the complete subject is underlined and the simple subject is in bold: The box of pencils in my desk under the papers is/are full. When you encounter an example like this one, your goal is to find the simple subject and make sure it agrees with theverb. Don't get distracted by all of the prepositionalphrases that make up the complete subject. To help make the simple subject easier to see, try the cross out trick! Cross out the prepositional phrases or phrases. Then make sure that the simple subject agrees with the verb. (italic words are crossed out) The box of pencils in my desk under the papers is full. • Practice: •High levels of air pollution cause/causes damage to the respiratory tract. •The slaughter of pandas for their pelts have/has caused the panda population to decline drastically. • Answers: •High levels of air pollution cause damage to the respiratory tract. •The slaughter of pandas for their pelts has caused the panda population to decline drastically.

PREPOSITIONS

Prepositions position nouns/pronouns in time or space. They usually act as adjectives or adverbs to modify the noun or pronoun.

PRONOUNS

Pronouns are words that can replace a noun. Pronouns can also show possession. Emma laughed so hard milk came out of her nose. Zach lifted the log. He found a worm under it.

Pronoun Agreement

Pronouns must agree in number with the noun that they replace. Singular Pronouns must replace singular nouns and plural pronouns must replace plural nouns. Below is a chart of singular and plural pronouns.

Pronoun Agreement: Case

Pronouns must also agree in case with the noun that they replace. Case refers to the way a noun or pronoun is used in a sentence. For an excellent explanation of pronoun case, read the following page from the Purdue Online Writing Lab. Now try the following practice. My entire family is taller than me. My sister and me live at Bobcat Village. The teacher gave the test out to my classmates and I. Answers: My entire family is taller than I (am). My sister and I live at Bobcat Village. The teacher gave the test out to my classmates and me.

How to avoid fragments

Recall the complex sentence structure. The complex sentence consists of a dependent clause that relies on an independent clause to make it a complete sentence. If you forget to include the independent clause, you have a sentence fragment.

Pronoun Agreement: Special cases

Recall the indefinite pronouns and collective nouns. Indefinite pronouns can be singular or plural (review the chart from lesson 1.2). In the following example, 'each' is singular, so it takes a singular pronoun: Each of the students brought his/her books to class. Collective nouns are ALWAYS singular, so they will always take a singular pronoun as in the following sentence: The school of fish left its breeding ground for the winter.

Run-ons

Run-on sentences just ramble on without appropriate punctuation. Here's one: She went to the Alkek Library to find a quiet study place she had three final exams in the next week. Yes, there are a couple of perfectly good sentences hiding in there that need punctuation. How about this? She went to the Alkek Library to find a quiet study place. She had three final exams in the next week. WRONG: Mother's hibiscus plants always bloomed in May the blossoms were as big as dinner plates. CORRECT: Mother's hibiscus plants always bloomed in May. The blossoms were as big as dinner plates. WRONG: The Texas State University Bobcats will play five football games at Bobcat Stadium this fall the season opener is against the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station. CORRECT: The Texas State University Bobcats will play five football games at Bobcat Stadium this fall. The season opener is against the Texas A&M Aggies in College Station.

Sentence Fragments

Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences. A common error occurs when writers begin a sentence with a subordinate conjunction and do not finish the thought. EXAMPLES: Because we hadn't considered the consequences... OR If we had only known then... Common subordinating conjunctions: after, although, as, as if, because, before, if, in order to, once, since, than, that, though, unless, until, when, where, whether, while Fragment example: Because the cold front blew in last night. That sentence fragment leaves us hanging. What happened next or didn't happen? Here's how to turn that into a complete sentence that finishes the thought: Because a cold front blew in last night, the drill team members decided to practice their routine indoors. WRONG: If she needed to save money Whenever I go to the park After I learned the correct way to lift weights CORRECT: If she needed to save money, she could pack a lunch. Whenever I go to the park, I like to hike the trail by the lake. After I learned the correct way to lift weights, I started building muscle. After learning that his passport was about to expire. Before he could board the plane. Although she booked a tour of Provence. Do you feel like you're just getting half the story? We need to finish these sentences!

Basic Sentence Structures

Simple Compound Complex Compound/Complex

Sentence Structures

Simple Sentence Structure: Ellie sat on the chair. (INDEPENDENT CLAUSE) Compound Sentence Structure: Ellie sat on the chair, and Hope sat on the couch Complex Sentence Structure: dependent, independant While Ellie prefers the chair, Hope loves the couch. Hope chooses the couch while Ellie chooses the chair. Compound/Complex Sentence Structure: While I lesson plan, Ellie sits on the chair, and Hope sits on the couch.

Subject-verb Agreement: Basic Rules

Singular subjects require singular verbs; plural subjects require plural verbs: • The man is at home. singular subject singular verb • The man and his son are at home. plural subject plural verb • She eats dinner out three times a week. singular subject singular verb • They eat dinner at home every night. plural subject plural verb

subjects separated from the verb by word groups within commas

Sometimes the simple subject can also be separated from the verb by word groups within commas: • as well as • in addition to • accompanied by • together with • along with When you see these phrases, cross them out! Make sure the simple subject agrees with the verb.

SIMPLE SUBJECT VS. COMPLETE SUBJECT EXAMPLES

The size of the new building caused an uproar (What caused an uproar?) All of the books in the old library smelled like mothballs. (What smelled like mothballs?)

The Dangling Participle

This https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/dangling-participles explains what a dangling participle is and shows options on how to fix them. A participle is a verb form (often ending in ing or ed) that acts as an adjective. Participial phrases modify nouns and should be placed right before or after the noun. A subject that is being modified must be in the sentence. If participial phrases aren't placed correctly, they're "dangling," just hanging out there and not doing their job of modifying a noun as intended. WRONG: After swimming for hours, the sun dried every drop of water. CORRECT: After swimming for hours, David allowed the sun to dry every drop of water. This sentence uses the participial phrase correctly: Coming in from work, I dropped my purse, took off my shoes and greeted the dog. "Coming in from work" is the participial phrase and it modifies I. This example shows how things get confusing when that phrase is used in the wrong spot: Coming in from work, my dog greeted me as I dropped my purse and took off my shoes. That version has the dog coming in from work. Wrong! Her only job is napping and begging for treats. WRONG: Seeing a fork in the dirt path through the orchard, the golf cart took the road less traveled. CORRECT: Seeing a fork in the dirt path through the orchard, I drove the golf cart on the road less traveled. NOTE: The subject must be in the sentence. WRONG: Driving down the sandy beach at Padre Island National Seashore, the sandcastle was left behind by visitors who came before us. (Sandcastles are cool, but they CAN'T drive!) CORRECT: Driving down the sandy beach at Padre Island National Seashore, we noticed a sandcastle left behind by visitors who came before us. NOW, the participial phrase modifies the correct noun - we.

Independent vs. Dependent Clauses

To better understand sentences structures, you will need to have an understanding of clauses. A clause is a group of words that contains both a subject and a predicate. There are two types of clauses: Independent Clauses can stand alone as complete sentences. They are independent! Dependent Clauses cannot stand alone. They are dependent upon an independent clause to make a complete sentence.

Helpful Acronyms! FANBOYS/AAAWWUBBIS

Use the acronym FANBOYS to remember the coordinating conjunctions. For And Nor But Or Yet So You can remember 10 common subordinating conjunctions by thinking of AAAWWUBBIS! A = Although A = After A = As W = While W = When U = Until B = Because B = Before I = If S = Since

VERBS

Verbs express action, a state of being or an occurrence. In the sentence below, the verb is highlighted in blue: I ran to class. In this lesson we will learn to distinguish between main verbs and helping verbs. The main verb represents the chief action in a sentence. 'Eat' is the main verb in the example below. I eat French fries.

Pronoun Reference

When you replace a word with a pronoun, it must be 100% clear what the pronoun is replacing. If it is not clear, then you have an error in pronoun reference, as in the following example: ERROR: My mother told me to put my shoes in their boxes, but I couldn't find them. The pronoun "them" could refer to the shoes or the boxes. It's not 100% clear what "them" refers to. To fix this error, you will need to replace the pronoun with a specific noun: Correction: My mother told me to put my shoes in their boxes, but I couldn't find the boxes. ERROR: The city official complained that the construction foreperson failed to comply with a signed contract. Nevertheless, he said the work would be complete before the end of the month. CORRECTION: The city official complained that the construction contractor failed to comply with a signed contract. Nevertheless, the contractor said the work would be complete before the end of the month.

Parallel Structure: An Unparalleled Letdown faulty parallelism

https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/parallel-structure-an-unparalleled-letdown

subjects separated from the verb by word groups within commas: Examples

italicized is crossed out • The book, as well as the other items on my school supply list, is/are expensive. The book, as well as the other items on my school supply list, is expensive. The little boy, together with his sisters, go/goes trick-or- treating. • The little boy, together with his sisters, goes trick-or- treating.

Words that position nouns or pronouns in time or space are:

prepositions

Subject-verb Agreement: Indefinite Pronouns

• Another tricky type of subject verb agreement involves the indefinite pronoun. • An Indefinite Pronoun is a pronoun that refers to an unspecified person or thing. • Some indefinite pronouns always take singular verbs. Always. No matter what. • Others can be singular or plural depending on what they refer to in the sentence. Below is a chart of indefinite pronouns divided into two categories: those that always take singular verbs and those that can be singular or plural depending on the sentence. Here are some examples of indefinite pronouns as subjects in a sentence. Pay close attention to how they agree with the verb. •Each of the boys is home. ("each" is ALWAYSsingular. No matter what) • All he asks is a chance. (All refers to "chance." "Chance" is singular so "all" is singular.) • All of the people are gone. ("All" refers to plural "people.") Practice: •Each of the senators is/are interested in finding a way to pass the bill. However, none of themis/are willing to compromise. Answer: •Each of the senators is interested in finding a way to pass the bill. However, none of them arewilling to compromise.

subject-verb Agreement: Collective Nouns

• Collective Nouns are often considered a single units.• Examples of Collective Nouns: Groups of people, organizations, companies, flocks of animals and areas of study.• Because they are single units, collective nouns always take a singular verb. • Examples of subjects that are collective nouns: • The team controls the ball. • Humanities was my favorite area of study. • The English Department is were I work.

subjects separated from the verb by word groups within commas: examples

• One of the problems that plague American society in the United States, as well as the rest of the world,is/are poverty. • One of the problems that plague American society in the United States, as well as the rest of the world,is poverty. •The moon, as well as Venus, is/are visible in the night sky. •The moon, as well as Venus, is visible in the night sky.

subjects joined by "or," "nor," "neither/nor," "either" /"or" and "not only"/"but also"

• Sometimes a sentence might have two subjects that are joined by a conjunction. •When subjects are joined by the conjunctions "or," "nor," "neither/nor," "either" /"or" and "not only"/"but also," the verb agrees with the subject closest to it. • To keep yourself from getting distracted, use the cross out trick again. Neither the crabs nor the lobster tempts my appetite. In the sentence above, we have two subjects - crabs and lobster - joined by the correlative conjunctions, neither/nor. Remember, the verb - tempts - must agree with the subject CLOSEST to it. Use the cross out trick to help you identify the subject closest to the verb and to stay focused: Neither the crabs nor the lobster tempts my appetite. Lets look at the same sentence again, this time reorganized a little: Neither the lobster nor the crabs tempts my appetite.Now try the cross out trick:Neither the lobster nor the crabs tempts my appetite. Does the subject - crabs - agree with the verb - tempts? No! So we have to change the verb tense: Neither the lobster nor the crabs tempt my appetite. •Use the cross out trick when subjects are joinedby the conjunction "or" but not when they are joined by "and" •Subjects joined by "and" ALWAYS require aplural verb • Examples: •The men and their nephew are at home. •The men or their nephew is at home • Practice • Either my little sisters or my little brother get/gets my old bedroom. • Neither my father nor my mother want/wants to make the decision. • I'm not sure if it's my coach or my trainer whodecide/decides if I get to play in tonight's game. • Answers • Either my little sisters or my little brother gets my old bedroom. • Neither my father nor my mother wants to make the decision. • I'm not sure if it's my coach or my trainer who decides if I get to play in tonight's game.