1) Pronoun agreement. Pronouns must have the same number and person as their antecedent noun.
Example: A student (singular) should be careful to do their (plural) homework on time.
Corrected example: A student should be careful to do his or her homework on time.
Or: A student should be careful to do his/her homework on time.
Or: Students should be careful to do their homework on time.
2) Subject-verb agreement. Verbs must have the same number and person as their antecedent nouns or pronouns.
Example: Everyone (singular) of the students (plural) want an "A."
The key is that words such as "anybody," "anyone," "each," "either," "everybody," "everyone," "neither," "nobody," "no one," "one," "somebody," and "someone" are singular and take singular verbs.
Corrected example: Everyone of the students wants an "A."
Words like "all," "any," "more," "most," "none," and "some" depend on the noun's number for their number.
Example: Any [milk] (singular, so "any" is singular) left over goes (singular) back in the refrigerator.
Example: Most [of the dogs] (plural, so "most" is plural) are (plural) wagging their (plural pronoun) tails.
II) Possessives (see Heath, 591, 685)
Definition: The possessive form of a noun shows possession or ownership. When they have problems with possessive, most students have problems with plural possessives and nouns ending in "s."
1) General rule: Add an apostrophe before the "s" when you make a singular noun possessive. Add an apostrophe after the "s" when you make a plural noun possessive, with the exception that you add the apostrophe before the "s" when the noun (like "children") doesn't take an "s" to become plural. Names ending in an "s" usually take an apostrophe and another "s" to form the possessive (James's computer).
Examples:
the books of the student--the student's books
the chairs of the child--the child's chairs
the hands of the baby--the baby's hands
the exhaust of the bus--the bus's exhaust
the books of the students--the students' books
the chairs of the children--the children's chairs
the hands of the babies--the babies' hands
the exhaust of the buses--the buses' exhaust
III) Sentence Boundaries (see Heath, 633)
Definitions: A "comma-splice" (also known as a "run-on" or "run-together" sentence) happens when you try to link two independent clauses with a comma or other inadequate punctuation.
A "fragment" is a part of a sentence punctuated as a sentence.
1) Comma-splice
Example: I did not accompany them, I was exhausted.
To correct comma-splice problems:
1) (Best) Use a connecting word which shows the logical relationship between the independent clauses. Words which help show logical relationships include conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so), subordinators (although, though, because, whereas, while), and transitional adverbs (however, therefore; NOTE that both of these must be punctuated with a semi-colon or period.)
2) (Next Best) Combine the two ideas by making one of the clauses into an adjective clause, appositive or verbal. Adjective clauses use relative pronouns (who, which, whom, that) to combine sentences. Appositives are nouns (or noun phrases) which define or further identify another noun or noun phrase. Verbals are forms of verbs (usually in the -ing, -ed, or to + verb) used to modify a noun, often the subject of the sentence.
3) (Okay) Use a semi-colon or period to repunctuate the sentence.
Corrected example: I did not accompany them because I was exhausted.
2) Fragments
Definition: In order to work as a sentence, a group of words must form an "independent clause," a clause including a subject, verb and NO subordinating word. Most fragments in your essays are mispunctuated appositives.
Example: She embraced Elizabeth. Her beloved and only friend.
Corrected example: She embraced Elizabeth, her beloved and only friend.
IV) Dangling modifiers
Definition: A modifier is a word or phrase that defines or qualifies another word or phrase. A modifier "dangles" when its relationship to the word/phrase it modifies is unclear, usually because of its placement within the sentence. The most common form of dangling modifier in student writing is a misplaced verbal. Verbals must have an implied subject, an agent who or which is "doing" the verbal. Usually this implied subject is the subject closest to the verbal.
Verbals come in three basic types:
1) -ing verbals (being, looking, thinking) - the most common type.
Sometimes we add words like "by," "while," "in," or "after" to
change the meaning of such sentences; however, grammatically
these words don't change the basic structure.
Example: Driving (-ing verbal) down the street yesterday, I (subject of the verbal) saw a purple people-eater.
2) "had" or -ed verbals (been, looked, thought)
Example: Absorbed (-ed verbal) in its work, the purple people-eater (subject of the verbal) didn't hear me drive by.
3) to verbals (to be, to look, to think) - Sometimes this form is
combined with "in order" to show purpose.
Example: In order to impress (to- verbal) my parents, I (subject of the verbal) rented a Cadillac.
Example: To impress (to- verbal) my parents, I (subject of the verbal) rented a Cadillac.
V) Passive Constructions (see Heath, 628)
Definition: A passive sentence is one which uses a form of the "to be" verb and a past participle.
Example: My teeth were ("to be" verb) gnashed (past participle) by me (the agent of the action).
You can change most passive sentences into active sentences by following these three steps:
1) Locate the "by" prepositional phrase after the verb and make the object of the preposition (the agent of the action) into the subject; if there is no "by" phrase, you'll have to think of one.
2) Identify the tense of the "to be" form and the past participle, and change the past participle to a finite verb of the correct tense.
3) Write the subject of the passive-voice sentence as the direct object of the verb.
Corrected example: I gnashed my teeth.
1) There are three ways to use the passive well:
a) when you want to focus on the word that would otherwise be the direct object
b) when the agent of the action is, in the context, universal.
c) when the agent is unimportant or unknown, or when trying to express it would be needlessly complicated.
Example: He was convicted.
2) Passives often lead sentences into the danger areas of dangling modifiers (see IVabove) and subject-verb agreement problems (see I above).
VI) Quoting and citing sources
Definition: Quoting is a way of using the words of another text in your own writing. Citing is how you give information about where the words came from so that your reader can look them up for him/herself. Parenthetical citation (most common in humanities studies) gives the basic source of the information in parentheses at the end of the sentence where you've quoted someone=s words or used his/her ideas. At the end of your essay, you make a "Bibliography," "Literature Cited," or "Works Cited" section in which you list source information for the works you've used.
Introduce any quotations you use so that the reader knows what they are there for and what point they are supposed to support. You may also need to interpret and/or analyze the quote after you give it, so that your reader will fully understand your point.
1) You need to use an introductory phrase if you are quoting a section of conversation.
Example: Connie said, "I like fast cars."
*** Most of the time, commas and periods go inside the quote marks that follow them unless you're using parenthetical citation (see below). Semi-colons, colons, and dashes go outside. Question marks go inside only if you are quoting a question. If you are asking a question that happens to contain a quote, the question mark goes outside.
Example: Sally asks, "Are we there yet?"
Example: Why does Robert call him a "noble fellow"?
2) You need to weave (or embed) the quotation into your own sentence. In order to make a quoted sentence fit into the syntax of you sentence, you may need to leave out some words. Indicate such omissions by using an ellipsis ( . . . ).
Example: As Barbara W. Tuchman shows, in seeking causes for plagues in the Middle Ages, "Medical thinking . . . stressed air as the communicator of disease" (433).
But if you quote only a word or phrase, it will be obvious that you've left a lot out, so you don't need an ellipsis.
Example: In his inaugural address, John F. Kennedy spoke of a "new frontier."
3) If you need to change or add a word to the quote so that it will fit into your sentence or identify a confusing pronoun, you do so by putting the work in square brackets. (You can draw them in if you don't have them on your machine.)
Example: Mary Shelley says that "the circumstance on which my story [Frankenstein] rests was suggested in casual conversation" (Preface to Frankenstein xiii).
4) If the quotation is more than four lines long, you need to indent the left side; you can do this easily on WordPerfect by using the F7 key. In English literature and language studies, writers now double space these quotes (as with the rest of the essay); other fields may be different (as is printed material in journals). You can do whichever you feel more comfortable with. Remember, the quote still has to fit in your sentence! When you indent the left side in a block quote, you do not use quotation marks!
5) You must identify all quotations! You either do this in the body of the sentence leading up to it (as in #2 above) or in parenthesis after.
Example: The author claims to have tried to "preserve the truth or the elementary principles of human nature" (Shelley, Preface to Frankenstein xiii).
(Here I have to give the author's name, the title of the work I'm quoting and the page number. Once I've established who I'm quoting and from what work, I could just give a page number.) Note that the quotation marks come right after the words you're quoting and before the parenthetical citation. (After all, you're not quoting the parenthetical information.) The final punctuation for your sentence comes AFTER the parenthetical citation.
6) Citation formats in bibliography and works cited pages. Here at MC, most professors will accept one of the following formats, MLA (Modern Language Association) or APA (American Psychological Association). Find out which format your professor prefers and stick to it for your papers in that professor's class.
MLA General Format: (see Heath, 446)
Book:
Author's last name, Author's first name. Title. Ed. Editor's First and Last Name. Trans. Translator's First and Last Name. # vols. Place of publication: Publisher, Date.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (The 1818 Text). Ed. Marilyn Butler. New York: Oxford UP, 1994.
(Note that this text was not translated, so there is no reason to include a translator's name. If a text has not had a named editor, you wouldn't have that section either.)
Article:
Author's last name, Author's first name. "Title." Magazine or Journal Title. # of volume (Year): page numbers.
Dickerson, Vanessa D. "The Ghost of a Self: Female Identity in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Journal of Popular Culture. 27 (1993): 79-91.
The WEB: (More information at: http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html )
General format:
Author's Lastname, Author's Firstname. "Title of Document." Title of Complete Work (if applicable). Version or File Number, if applicable. Document date or date of last revision (if different from access date). Protocol and address, access path or directories (date of access).
Walker, Janice R. "MLA-Style Citations of Electronic Sources." Vers. 1.1. January, 1995 (Rev. 8/96). http://www.cas.usf.edu/english/walker/mla.html (28 June 1997).
APA General Format: (see Heath, 484)
Book:
Author's Last, First Name. (Date). Title. (Trans. Name of translator). (# of edition). Place of Publication: Publisher.
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (The 1818 Text). (1994) (Ed. Marilyn Butler). New York: Oxford UP.
Article:
Author's Last, First Name. (Date). ATitle.@ Journal Title, # of volume, page numbers.
Dickerson, Vanessa D. (1993). " The Ghost of a Self: Female Identity in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein." Journal of Popular Culture, 27, 79-91.
Seminar Coordinators for the semester are Cheryl Meeker (Art) and Chris Fasano. Chris Fasano (Physics) is responsible for the Freshman Seminar Web Pages. Please contact me at cfasano@Monm.edu