Day 1

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Wordsworth Skills and Explanations
Day 1
The Past Perfect Tense The past perfect tense
(also know as the pluperfect) is used to show
that one action in the past occured before
another action in the past. It is formed by
adding the auxilary verb had before the main
verb.
Comma after Introductory Phrase Use a comma after
a phrase that introduces a sentence.
Redundancy Redundancy refers to the idea that a
word, phrase or sentence repeats information
already given in a piece of writing (sentence,
paragraph). Eliminate redundancy from your
writing.
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Pronoun Cases There are three cases
(forms) Subjective case is for pronouns used as
the subject. (I, you, he, she, it, we, they,
who) The objective case is for pronouns used as
objects of verbs or prepositions.(me, you, him,
her, it, us, them, whom) Possessive case is for
pronouns that express ownership. (my/mine,
your/yours, his, her/hers, it/its, our/ours,
their/theirs, whose)
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Day 2
Interrupter An interrupter is a word or phrase
that breaks the flow of a sentence--usually a
comment. Interrupters are separated from the
rest of the sentence by commas. The season, by
the way, is winter.
Commonly Confused Words May versus Might May
indicates that there is a strong possibility that
the action will occur while might indicates that
there is doubt as to whether it will occur. I may
want the weekend to come. I might want to work
seven days a week.
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Run-on Sentence Corrected with a Semicolon and
a Conjunctive Adverb One way to correct a run-on
sentence is to place a semicolon between the two
independent clauses, then add a conjunctive
adverb that shows the relationship between the
two clauses followed by a comma.
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Day 3
Gerund A gerund is a noun formed from a verb by
adding -ing to the verb. A gerund can never be
used as the verb of a sentence. run--running,
stop--stopping
Pronoun Case before a Gerund Use a possessive
pronoun before a gerund. We thought him thinking
about the reasons for genetic mutation strange.
Incorrect We though his thinking about the
reasons for genetic mutation strange. Correct
Different From versus Different Than Use
different from when the words that follow are not
a complete clause. Use different than if the
words that follow are a complete clause His
doctor is different from hers. The doctor's
operating procedure is different than it was
twenty years ago.
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Capitalization of Proper Nouns Proper nouns name
specific people, places and things and are
capitalized. If a noun is general, it is not a
proper noun and is not capitalized.
Sentence Fragment A sentence fragment is a group
of words punctuated like a sentence that is not a
complete thought. In formal writing, sentences
should express complete thoughts. A sentence
fragment can also be a sentence missing a subject
or predicate. Correct sentence fragments by
connecting them to sentences or by creating
sentences with additional words.
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Day 4
Reflexive Pronouns Reflexive pronouns are used
when the object of a sentence is the same as its
subject. The following chart shows the subject
pronoun and its reflexive counterpart I myself
you (singular) yourself you
(plural) yourselves he himself she h
erself it itself we ourselves they
themselves I scare myself just thinking about
you. They hurt themselves when they played with
the loaded pistol.
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Appositive An appositive is a word or phrase
following a noun that gives the noun another
name. Commas go around appositives that do not
add necessary information to the sentence if the
appositive appears in the middle of a sentence.
A comma goes after an appositive without
necessary information if it introduces a
sentence, and a comma goes before an appositive
without necessary information that ends a
sentence. These appositives without necessary
information are called non-restrictive
appositives. Appositives that give information
that is essential to the meaning of the sentence
are called restrictive and are not set off from
the rest of the sentence with commas or a
comma. Dr. Benway, my personal physician, was
arrested for performing illegal operations on
swamp creatures.
Coordinating Conjunctions A coordinating
conjunction is a word which joins together two
independent clauses (has both a subject and
predicate) that are equally important. A comma
comes before the conjunction.
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Compound Sentence A compound sentence is a
sentence comprised of two complete independent
clauses joined with a comma and a coordinating
conjunction.
Pronoun Cases There are three cases
(forms) Subjective case is for pronouns used as
the subject. (I, you, he, she, it, we, they,
who) The objective case is for pronouns used as
objects of verbs or prepositions.(me, you, him,
her, it, us, them, whom) Possessive case is for
pronouns that express ownership. (my/mine,
your/yours, his, her/hers, it/its, our/ours,
their/theirs, whose)
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Day 5
Choppy Sentences In order to make it more
pleasant to read, sentence variety--variations in
length and sentence type--adds ease of reading
and interest to a piece of writing. A series of
short, simple sentences should be combined to add
variety and make writing more concise. I like
ice. Ice is cold. I crave cold things. I like
cold ice because I crave cold things.
Commonly Confused Words Lay versus Lie lie,
lying (to tell a falsehood) I lied to my mother.
(past) I have lied under oath. lie, lying (to
recline) I lay on the bed because I was tired.
(past) He has lain in the grass. lay, laying (to
put, place) I laid the baby in her cradle. (past)
We have laid the dishes on the table. After
laying down his weapon, the soldier lay down to
sleep. Will you lay out my clothes while I lie
down to rest?
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Sequence of Verb Tenses In a sentence with two
clauses, the verbs must show simultaneous
occurance or sequence of occurance. If one verb
is in the past tense and another verb occured
before it, the verb that occured first needs to
be in the pluperfect or past perfect tense (using
the helping verbs had, has etcetera). If one
verb is in the past tense and another verb that
occured at the same time is in the present, you
must change the second verb so that both verbs
are in the same tense.