INSTRUCTIONS for grammar markings: Grammar markings and quizzes are to be used for your self-improvement. I do not REQUIRE you to send me your scores on these quizzes; in fact, I discourage this practice. Shoot for 80% correct on each quiz, but keep in mind that your grammatical knowledge is BEST applied to the errors on your essays.
NUMERIC CODES: It is not my job to be your editor and correct grammatical errors for you; however, I will provide you with numeric codes on the left hand margin of your paper indicating what skill area you need to work on. For example, if you see a #1A circled in the margin, it means that you have an error in diction, because your sentence is too wordy. As such, you should do two things: 1) revise your error accordingly and 2) review the skill area. IF YOU CORRECT YOUR ERRORS on YOUR ESSAY by documenting and improving upon your errors, I will give you extra-credit.
—all corresponding pages can be found in Hacker's A Pocket Style Manual, 5th Edition. (HACKER, the green-colored book) But you can also just click on the online links if you want.
—all samples for what I am personally trying to point out as your own errors can be found on the Grammar Samples page.
| 1. Diction (WORD CHOICE + CLARITY) |
1A. (WORDINESS) "Write Concisely" Or you might try this site, "Writing Concise Sentences" Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Avoiding WORDINESS" Elimination of casual "I think"/"I feel"/"I believe"/"In my opinion" in formal essays and responses. Hacker, 02-03 |
1B. (EMPHASIS) Read "Write w/ Emphasis"; (Parallel Structure) Hacker, 03-05 |
1C. (SLANG or FORMALITY) Read "Choosing Words"; / Diction (Slang, Jargon, Cliche) Hacker, 16-18, 19. |
1D. (BIAS-FREE LANG.) Read "Write to be Inclusive"; Hacker, 18. |
| 1E. Arrange for a tutorial on this subject during my office hours, please. |
| 2. Subject-Verb Agreement |
|
2A. Read "Subject Verb Agreement" (subjects separated from verbs) Hacker, 21-25. |
| 2B. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic |
| 3. Sentence Fragments |
| A. Read "Grammar Basics" |
B. Read "Fragments" Hacker, 42-43. |
| C. Download Grammar Girl's Podcast, "Fragments" |
| D. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic |
| 4. RTS (Run-Together Sentences) |
| A. Read "Grammar Basics" |
|
B. Read "Run-Ons and Comma Splices" Hacker, 44-47. |
| C. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic. |
| 5. Possessives / Apostrophes |
|
A. Read "Apostrophes" Hacker, 68-70. |
| B. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic. |
| 6. Spelling Errors |
|
6A. Read "Write with Accurate Spelling" Hacker, 86. (when in doubt, refer to the dictionary) |
6B. Homonyms Hacker, 232-39 |
| C. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic / Consult dictionary. |
| 7. PRONOUN PROBLEMS |
| 7A. Read "Pronoun Agreement"; Hacker, 32-38. |
| 7B. Read "Sexist Pronouns"; Hacker, 18. |
7C. Read , "Vague Pronoun"; IT/........ITS /....THIS/............THESE Hacker, 34-35. |
| D. Read Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Generic Pronouns" |
| E. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic |
| 8. VERB DIFFICULTIES |
| 8A. Read "Verb forms" Hacker, 25-31. |
| 8B. Read "Tense Consistency" Hacker, 09. |
| C. Read Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Subjunctive Verbs" |
| D. Please bring this essay to a conference with me on this topic |
| 9A. Commas (parentheses that follow are page #'s) |
| 1.
Commas after introductory elements, (58) 2.
Commas with compounds, (58) 3. With
modifiers,(60) 4. With
items.,(59) 5., With adjectives (59) 6., With quotes (63),
Read Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Serial Commas" Hacker, 58-65. |
9B. Semicolons 1) main clauses, 2) with commas; another EXCELLENT link Hacker, 65-67. |
9C. Colons; 1) sentences, 2) lists; Read Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Colons" Hacker, 67-68. |
| 9D. Quotation
marks:
Read Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Quotation Marks" Hacker, 71-73. |
9E. The Dash; Read Grammar Girl's PODCAST, "Dashes" Hacker, 75-76.
|
| There are several more resources for you to look at online, but if you are extremely confused with grammar, punctuation, etc., please don't hesitate to set up a conference with me! |
GETTING BETTER: No matter what level of writing you are at, there is still room for improvement, especially in regards to one's grammatical knowledge. These exercises should be taken quite seriously. There are several ways to get better. You can take grammar workshops to help improve your skills. You can keep a logbook of the errors that you make consistently. (EXTRA-CREDIT).
In your academic endeavors, you will eventually comprehend that other people, such as tutors and instructors, CANNOT be made responsible for your grammar improvements; in other words, you are fully responsible for assessing and analyzing the types of grammar areas you need to work on. Getting initial advice and feedback is helpful and important; over-reliance and dependence on someone else to edit and proofread your papers is not going to help your ethos as a writer in the long run.
In any case, feel free to use my office hours or tutoring hours as a grammar tutorial/workshop; there are also free electronic grammar quizzes offered at the following websites. I have RANKED the websites for you in terms of their usefulness and scope:
#4. OWL (Online Writer's Lab) Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation |
#5, Grammar-based Podcast (download to your iPod) |
Carl Sagan identifies the loneliness and isolation of our species; in essence, we are confined to a planet that is "a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark" (07).
<07> refers to the page number of Carl Sagan's book.
(08-11)
(111-15)
(1110-22)
NOT (08-1), (111-5), (1110-2)
If a prose quotation takes more than four lines, you must indent 10 spaces from the left, the equivalent of two tabs. Use double spacing and DO NOT USE QUOTATIONS. DO NOTindent more for the start of your paragraph unless your quotation is more than one paragraph. Try to reproduce the passage exactly as it appears in the text.
Sample:
Societies are wont to change; even concerning our most sacred traditions, including
matrimony, such change has become more and more apparent. In “The New
Nostalgia,” Barnett and Rivers underscore changing trends and attitudes
in regards to marriage: (SUMMARY)
[10 spaces/2tabs]
Middle-class couples are marrying later and many women are getting established in a
career before having children. This pattern may promote more responsibility and happier
marriages than those in the 1950’s, when many young people felt that they had to get married to have sex and discovered their emotional incompatibility only after they had children. (423)
A dropped quote is a quote that has never been introduced—it lacks what
is known as a signal phrase. “Therefore we don’t know who said this
quote, don’t know why the quote is in the paper, and we don’t care
about the meaning of this quote, because it hasn’t been set up very well.”
THE BEST QUOTES USUALLY HAVE THE FOLLOWING:
1. The speaker/individual. Carl Sagan
2. That person’s role/authority the eminent astrophysicist
3. A strong verb, one that is more exciting than “says”
(iterates, exclaims, applauds, detracts, mentions, argues, laments, decries,
emphasizes, dictates, demands, highlights, indicates, demonstrates, etc.)
4. The quote itself, making sure that there is a grammatical “mesh”
between the quote and the signal phrase. believes that our planet is “.
. . “ (07).
5. Quote commentary. acknowledges our isolation, fragility, and relative unimportance
in the grand cosmos.
Good example:
Eminent astrophysicist Carl Sagan believed that “our planet is a lonely
speck in the enveloping cosmic dark”; in my mind, Sagan acknowledges the
isolation, fragility, and relative unimportance of our species in the great
scheme of the cosmos (07). The use of the word “speck” is clearly
employed to suggest how the earth is nothing more than a miniscule object when
compared to the vast scope of the universe.
Introduce quotes with a comma, relative pronoun "that," or a colon.
Carl Sagan says, "Space is awesome" (05).
Carl Sagan indicates that "Space is awesome" (05).
Carl Sagan indicates the following: "Space is awesome" (05).