The Navajo Skills and Principles

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The Navajo Skills and Principles
Day 1
Unnecessary Preposition In About In about--one
only needs about because in adds no new
information
A.D. and B.C. A.D. is a Latin abbreviation for
Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. A.D. is
used with dates in the current era. A.D. is
roughly the same as C.E. (Common Era). Although
Latin is not a word order language, it is
conventional in English writing for A.D. to
precede (come before) the year (A.D. 2004). B.C.
stands for Before Christ and is a way of dating
events before the year zero on our calendar. B.C.
is roughly the same as B.C.E. (Before the Common
Era). B.C. follows the date (53 B.C.). Both are
capitalized.
Names of Places In formal writing, spell out the
names of places. Do not abbreviate.
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Day 2
Numbers above 100 Numbers above 100 are expressed
as numerals.
Commas in Addresses When writing an address, a
comma comes between the city and state or city
and country.
Wordy Sentence Since writing is meant to
communicate, sentences should do so in a clear
way. Adding unnecessary words can confuse the
audience. Eliminate all words that do not add
new meaning. For example, because of the fact
that gives the same information as simply writing
because thus, eliminate of the fact that and
replace it with because. The time in which gives
the same information as simply writing when
thus, eliminate the time in which and replace it
with when.
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Day 3
Comparative and Superlative Forms of
Adjectives Comparative Form and Superlative Form
(-er/-est) one-syllable adjectives two-syllable
adjectives ending in -y or -er Comparative Form
and Superlative Form (more/most) adjectives of
three or more syllables (and two-syllable
adjectives not ending in -y/-er) Do not double
up (use both the -er/-est form with more or most)
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Choosing between Comparative and
Superlative Comparative is used when something is
being compared to something else. "It is
________er than the other thing." The word than
is a clue that you need the comparative--not all
comparatives use the word than,
however. Superlative is used when something is
more than any other thing of its kind. "It is
the _______________est of all." The word the can
be a clue that you are to use the superlative.
Capitalization Names of Countries The names of
countries are proper nouns and are thus
capitalized.
Sentence fragment A sentence fragment is a group
of words punctuated like a sentence that is not a
complete thought. Sentences should express
complete thoughts, and sentence fragments are
incomplete thoughts. A sentence fragment can
also be a sentence missing a subject or
predicate.
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Coordinate Adjectives If two adjectives modify a
noun in the same way, place a comma between the
two adjectives. These are called coordinate
adjectives. There is a two-part test for
coordinate adjectives (1) Can you replace the
comma with the word and? (2) Can you reverse
the order of the adjectives and keep the same
meaning? If you can do both, then you have
coordinate adjectives. Coordinate adjectives
require that you place a comma between them when
they appear in a series.
Day 4
Faulty Subordination Subordinating an idea means
that you consider it less important than another
idea. Make sure that the subordinate clause is
really subordinate. For example, make sure it is
really the cause of the event in the main clause.
Imprecise Adjective Nice The adjective nice is
overused and does not add much to the meaning of
the sentence because the meaning is vague. If
you find yourself wanting to use it, try to find
an alternative and more precise way to state what
you mean. She was nice. Miranda always treated
her friends with respect.
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Imprecise Adjective Nice The adjective nice is
overused and does not add much to the meaning of
the sentence because the meaning is vague. If
you find yourself wanting to use it, try to find
an alternative and more precise way to state what
you mean. She was nice. Miranda always treated
her friends with respect.
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Day 5
Pronoun Case Subject of a Sentence When the
pronoun is the subject of a sentence, use the
subjective (nominative) case I, you, he, she,
it, we, they.
Order of Pronouns The pronouns I, me, we, us are
used second in pairs. For example, a correct way
to use this is my sister and I not I and my
sister.
Correlative Conjunctions Conjunctions are words
used to link things together. Correlative
conjunctions are two conjunctions that always
appear together in a sentence. The most common
correlative conjunctions are either...or,
neither...nor, not only...but also, and
whether...or.
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Neither...nor When using neither x nor y, use the
singular form of the verb if each of the elements
are singular or the plural form if the elements
are plural. If they are a mixture of singular
and plural, the element closest to the verb
determines if the verb is singular or plural.
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