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Introduction
This is just a crash course. Im not going to
attempt to teach you everything about grammar.
If youve probably been in school for 10 to 14
years, so hopefully you have a decent
foundation in the English language and its
usage. So, todays lesson will focus only on the
grammar issues.
Why study grammar?
Correctness. Poor grammar turns off
readers.
First, a few
writing tips
1. Mix up sentence length
Experienced professionals use a variety of
sentences to make their writing interesting
and lively. Too many simple sentences, for
example, will sound choppy and immature
while too many long sentences will be
difficult to read and hard to understand.
Simple sentences
A simple sentence, also called an independent
clause, contains a subject and a verb, and it
expresses a complete thought. In the examples
below, the subjects are underlined and the verbs
are italicized.
Examples:
a) Some students like to study in the mornings.
b) Juan and Arturo play football every afternoon.
c) Alicia goes to the library and studies every
day.
Note:
The three previous examples are all
simple sentences. Note that sentence B
contains a compound subject, and
sentence C contains a compound
verb. Simple sentences, therefore,
contain a subject and verb and express a
complete thought, but they can also
contain a compound subjects or verbs.
Compound sentences
A compound sentence contains two independent clauses
joined by a coordinator. The coordinators are as follows:
for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. (Helpful hint: The first letter
of each of the coordinators spells FANBOYS.) Except for
very short sentences, coordinators are always preceded
by a comma. In the examples below, the coordinators
are underlined.
Examples:
a) I tried to speak Spanish, and my friend tried to speak
English.
b) Alejandro played football, so Maria went shopping.
c) Alejandro played football, for Maria went shopping.
Note:
The previous three sentences are
compound sentences. Each sentence
contains two independent clauses, and
they are joined by a coordinator with a
comma preceding it.
Compound sentence
A complex sentence has an independent clause joined
by one or more dependent clauses. A complex sentence
always has a subordinator such as because, since, after,
although, or when or a relative pronoun such as that,
who, or which.
Examples:
a) When he handed in his homework, he forgot to give
the teacher the last page.
b) The teacher returned the homework after she noticed
the error.
c) The students are studying because they have a test
tomorrow.
d) After they finished studying, Juan and Maria went to
the movies.
e) Juan and Maria went to the movies after they finished
studying.
Note:
When a complex sentence begins with a
subordinator such as sentences A and D,
a comma is required at the end of the
dependent clause. When the independent
clause begins the sentence with
subordinators in the middle as in
sentences B, C, and E, no comma is
required. If a comma is placed before the
subordinators in sentences B, C, and E, it
is wrong.
2. Use pronouns
Basic definition of a pronoun: it takes the
place of a noun.
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Active (direct):
Another reason writers should
use active voice:
Sentences in active voice are also
more concise than those in
passive voice because fewer
words are required to express
action in active voice than in
passive. For example
Passive (indirect):
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Active (direct):
Changing passive to active
If you want to change a passive-voice
sentence to active voice, find the agent in
a "by the..." phrase, or consider carefully
who or what is performing the action
expressed in the verb. Make that agent the
subject of the sentence, and change the
verb accordingly. Sometimes you will need
to infer the agent from the surrounding
sentences which provide context. Some
examples follow
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
most of the class
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
agent not specified; most likely
agents such as "the researchers"
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
the CIA director and
his close advisors
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
agent not specified; most
likely agents such as "we"
Active (direct):
Some exceptions
Active voice is usually, but not always, the
way to go. In each of these following
examples, the passive voice is useful for
highlighting the action and what is acted
upon instead of the agent.
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
The presiding officer
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
The leaders
Active (direct):
Passive (indirect):
Agent:
The scientists
Active (direct):
Some Suggestions
1. Avoid starting a sentence in active voice
and then shifting to passive. For example:
Common grammatical
mistakes
Most Commonly Occurring Errors
F CUS
1. Missing comma after
introductory phrases.
For example:
Too many of your shots slice to the left,
but the last two were right on the mark.
4. Wrong word.
Hints:
1) Than is used to compare; both words have
the letter a in them.
2) Then tells when; both are spelled the same,
except for the first letter
4. Wrong word.
Your/Youre error
For example
11. Unnecessary shift in person
WRONG: In doing chemistry experiments,
one should read the directions carefully.
Otherwise you may have an explosion.
For example:
I just saw a boy who was wearing a yellow
banana costume. I have to go to math
next, which is my hardest class. Where is
the book that I was reading?
The end.