Improving your Grammar

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Improving your Grammar

• Workshop sponsored by the
• Teaching Learning Center

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Parts of Speech Review
Read the following sentences and then fill in an
appropriate answer on your paper.
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• Dinosaurs ________ extinct many of years ago.
  (verb)
• The _________ question was tricky. (adjective)
• 3. Collecting old books is ________ hobby.
  (pronoun)

• Alcohol is one of the ________
• dangerous common drugs.
• (adverb)
• 5. He wanted to stay, ________ I
• had to go. (conjunction)
• 6. Come _______ my house for the
• party. (preposition)

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Verbs

• 1. Dinosaurs ________ extinct many years ago.
  (verb)

• Verbs show either the action or the state of
  being in a sentence.
• There are 3 kinds of verbs.
• Action running, ran, runs
• Helping have cried, will jump
• Linking is, were, are

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Adjectives

• 2. The ________ question was tricky. (adjective)

Adjectives modify (change or describe) the noun
or pronoun with describing, identifying or
quantifying words. An adjective usually
precedes the word it modifies.
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Pronouns

• 3. Collecting old books is ________ hobby.
  (pronoun)

• Pronouns refer to a specific noun and change
  their form to indicate person, number,
• gender, and case.
• There are 5 subclasses of pronouns.
• Personal I, me, you, he, him
• Interrogative why, who, whom
• Relative that, which
• Demonstrative this, that
• Indefinite all, any, everybody

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Adverbs

• 4. Alcohol is one of the ______ dangerous common
  drugs. (adverb)

Adverbs modify (change or describe) adjectives,
verbs, or other adverbs. They indicate time,
place, cause, or degree and answer
questions, such as how, when, where, how
much.
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Conjunctions

• 5. He wanted to stay, _______ I had to go.
• (conjunction)

• Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses.
• There are 3 types of conjunctions.
• Coordinating for, and, but, or
• Correlative work in pairs
• either. . . or
• Subordinating introduce independent
• clauses Because he is tired, John will
• take a nap.

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Prepositions

• 6. Come ______ my house for the party.
• (preposition)

Prepositions are common words that hold sentences
together by showing relationships especially
related to when and where. around, in,
on Many times prepositions mark the beginning
of a prepositional phrase.
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Fragments

• Fragments are incomplete thoughts. They are the
  result of phrases or dependant clauses which are
  punctuated as their own
• sentences.

For each of the following examples, write down
how you could make it a correct sentence.
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Incorrect

• I did not take him to the movie. Because he was
• too young.
• 2. After I saw the movie. I went to dinner
  with
• friends.
• 3. She sang a lullaby. To calm the child.
• 4. Hoping for success. Joe studied hard
• for the test.
• Because he was tired and had to go
• to work soon.

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Correct

• I did not take him to the movie because he was
• too young.
• 2. After I saw the movie, I went to dinner with
  
• friends.
• 3. She sang a lullaby to calm the child.
• 4. Hoping for success, Joe studied hard
• for the test.
• Because he was tired and had to go
• to work soon, he decided to take
• a quick nap.

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Run-On Sentences

• A run-on sentence is caused when two or more
  complete thoughts are joined without appropriate
  punctuation.

Run-ons are the result of either fused sentences
(no punctuation between independent clauses) or a
comma splice (only a comma separates two
independent clauses).
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Incorrect

• 1. Kenny loves photography, he bought a digital
  camera.
• 2. Teaching children to dance improves their
  coordination it also builds work ethic.
• Ms. Day was my high school French
• teacher she sparked my desire to
• visit Paris.

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Correct

• 1. Kenny loves photography, so he bought a
  digital camera.
• 2. Teaching children to dance improves their
  coordination and builds work ethic.
• Ms. Day, my high school French
• teacher, sparked my desire to
• visit Paris.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• Agreement means that subjects and verbs must be
  the same in number, as in singular or plural.

For each of the following examples, write down
how you could make it a correct sentence.
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• Either the physicians in this hospital or the
  chief administrator _____ going to have to make a
  decision. (is/are)
• ____ my boss or my sisters in the union going to
  win this grievance? (Is/Are)
• 3. Some of the votes _____ to have been
  miscounted. (seem/seems)
• The tornadoes that tear through this
• county every spring ____ more than
• just a nuisance. (are/is)
• Everyone selected for this jury ___
• be willing to give up time. (have/has)

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Correct Answer

• Either the physicians in this hospital or the
  chief administrator is going to have to make a
  decision.
• Rule When a subject has both
• singular and plural parts, the verb
• agrees with the nearer subject.

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Correct Answer

• 2. Is my boss or my sisters in the union going
  to win this grievance?
• Rule When a subject has both
• singular and plural parts, the verb
• agrees with the nearer subject.

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Correct Answer

• 3. Some of the votes seem to have been
  miscounted.
• Rule Prepositional phrases do not
• affect the number of the subject.
• Remember only nouns or pronouns
• can be the subjects of sentences.

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Correct Answer

• 4. The tornadoes that tear through this county
  every spring are more than just a nuisance.
• Rule Words or phrases that
• intervene between subjects do not
• affect the number of the subject.

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Correct Answer

• 5. Everyone selected for this jury has to be
  willing to give up time.
• Rule The words each and
• every make the subject require a
• singular verb.

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Tricky subject-verb agreement questions

• Three-quarters of the students _____ against the
  tuition hike. (is/are)
• Three-quarters of the student body _____ against
  the tuition hike. (is/are)
• A high percentage of the population
• ______ voting for the new school.
• (is/are)
• A high percentage of the people
• _____ voting for the new school.
• (is/are)

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Tricky subject-verb agreement answers

• Three-quarters of the students are against the
  tuition hike.
• Three-quarters of the student body is against the
  tuition hike.
• Rule A collective noun names a group
• of people or things. When the group acts
• as one unit, use a singular verb.

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Tricky subject-verb agreement answers

• 3. A high percentage of the population is voting
  for the new school.
• 4. A high percentage of the people are voting
  for the new school.
• Rule A collective noun names a group
• of people or things. When the group acts
• as one unit, use a singular verb. Usually,
• s indicates a noun is plural but not always.

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Pronoun Agreement

• Pronouns are words that refer to a noun.
  Pronouns must agree with the noun in number and
  gender.

For each of the following examples, write down
how you could make it a correct sentence.
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• Loud music has ____ harmful side effects.
• (its/her)
• The musicians damaged _____ auditory nerves.
• (their/his)
• Each of the students handed in _____ homework.
  (her/their)
• A flock of Canadian geese was on
• ____ way south. (their/its)
• Mark and his brother will bring
• ____ Frisbees to the park. (his/their)

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Answers

• Loud music has its harmful side effects.
• The musicians damaged their auditory nerves.
• Each of the students handed in her
• homework.
• 4. A flock of Canadian geese was on its
• way south.
• Mark and his brother will bring their
• Frisbees to the park.

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Possessives

• The possessive case shows ownership. In
  general, an apostrophe with an s is used at the
  end of the noun.

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For each of the following examples, write down
how you could make it a correct sentence.

• The book is hers.
• The dogs bowl is empty.
• The childrens school is closed
• tomorrow.
• The gifts they brought show the
• guests best wishes.
• 5. The business system for handling
• customers is excellent.

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• 1. The book is hers.
• Rule Do not use apostrophes for the possessive
  of personal pronouns.
• 2. The dogs bowl is empty.
• Rule Add -s to singular pronouns
• 3. The childrens school is closed
• tomorrow.
• Rule Children is irregular in that it
• is plural but doesnt include the s.
• Therefore, it is -s.

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• 4. The gifts they brought show the guests best
  wishes.
• Rule There are multiple guests. Use an
  apostrophe behind the s (-s )unless it is an
  irregular plural noun.
• 5. The businesss system for handling
• customers is excellent.
• Rule Add -s to singular nouns,
• Whether they end in s or not.

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Assistance from the Web

• Student Resources is listed on the Teaching and
  Learning Center webpage which is found in the
  Academics section
• Grammar resources are listed there
• as well as writing assistance
• You may also submit your paper
• to be proof-read either
• electronically or in hard-copy form.

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• Dont wait until the last minute!