grammar
help me study and fill out my practice quiz for my grammar quiz tomorrow
Formatting - MLA
Numbers on essay - spell it out if one to two words (ex. One hundred, three thousand)
Three or more words, use digits (ex. 1793)
Always talk about literature in present tense
Past tense - history (non-fiction, true story), something that happened before the events of the book
Stay in 3rd person unless its an opinion piece
Punctuation almost always in quotation marks (ex. She said “I like carrots.”)
Exceptions: if there's sources. (ex. shakespeare said “I like carrots” (smith 22). )
Quote is within a sentence thats a question/exclamation (ex. Did she really say “I like carrots”? (bro ms seymours obsession w carrots lolol))
Italics (underline) vs quotations
Big things (books, underline title, book of poems, book of short stories, movies/plays, newspaper, album) (italicized/underlines)
small things (chapters, poems, short stories, scenes, acts, articles, songs) (quotations)
Commas - offset info, offset quotation/introductory, offset extra info, offset a direct address
DONT SAY
This paper will show
In this essay
In conclusion
Sums: many, most, some, a lot. Don't generalize
Don't use slashes / WRONG: him/her RIGHT: him or her
Don't use dashes (not a hyphen), use commas instead
Don't use parenthesis, again, use commas instead
Participle - verb + ed or ing = adjective
Adverb - describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs
Preposition - shows your position. When where? Objective adverb
Hyphen - joins a multi part word (ex. six-year-old
1) Never use a comma before a subordinating conjunction (because, after, before, when, if, though).
I want to go to the concert because I like that band.
You do use a comma if the subordinate clause comes as an intro to a sentence.
Because I like that band, I want to go to the concert.
2) When pasting together two separate sentences, you have to use a comma and a FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). Both sections of the sentence have to be full sentences by themselves.
She went to the store, and she went to the house.
He wanted to leave school early, but his mother couldn't pick him up.
3) Items in a series or list have to match the introduction to the list. The intro is in bold.
I want to eat pizza, tacos, and ice cream.
I would like to go to the store, to go to the farm, and to eat some spaghetti.
Match the modifier to the subject. People=who, objects=that
In order to match a subject with its verb, take off any descriptive phrases and link the verb only to the subject itself. The descriptive phrases are in bold below.
The group of students who are taking AP classes from the math teacher at her house is small.
A sentence must have a subject and verb to be complete. Otherwise it's a fragment.
Possessives:
To make a singular noun possessive, add apostrophes. The dog's water bowl was on the floor.
To make an already plural noun possessive, add an apostrophe after the s. Especially be careful with family names, especially those that end in s. If you're talking about a family, they are plural.
The Edwards daughter goes to Yale.
The Hodgeses family vacation was in London.
8) Never use an apostrophe to make a word plural. Only use it to pluralize letters. Add "es" to anything ending in s, z, x, ch, or sh to make it plural.
She got all A's and B's.
Buses
Dot your is and cross your tS.
Foxes
Churches
Ashes
9) An Oxford comma is the comma between the last two items in a list or series. Use it while at Whitman.
She chose chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.
10) Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks UNLESS you're citing a source in parentheses or there's a quote within a larger sentence that's a question or exclamation..
"Please clean your room," my mom said.
The doctor said, "Eat all your vegetables." Did he really ask, "Can you go with me?"
"The book was written in 1516" (Smith 22).
Did she really say, "Eat your lunch"?
How wonderful it is to look at "the king's eyes"!
11) Spell out numbers that are one or two words. Anything larger can be digitized.
Five hundred
Three thousand
4,562
502
Use present tense to discuss literature because it's like it's happening as we read and talk about it. Only use past tense for historical events or things that happened before the events of +he storv.
Use third person in formal essays and papers unless it's specifically an opinion piece.
Use italics (typed) or underlining (written) for larger works that are like "containers" that hold smaller sections. Use quotation marks for the smaller pieces that go into those containers.
Put in Italics or underline | "Put in Quotation Marks" |
Books | Chapter names |
Books of Poems | Poems |
Books of Short Stories | Short Stories |
Movies | Scenes |
Albums | Song titles |
Newpapers | Article Titles |
Tv Shows | Episode Titles |
15) Bury and don't use:
"In this essay.."
"This paper will show."
generalization words (many, most, a lot, some) () unless you're using them for intext citation
"In conclusion"
/ and -
16) Colons are used to introduce or present something you want to emphasize.
I would like to buy: carrots, tomatoes, and onions.
Her most famous quote explains this concept: "Never use parentheses in a formal essay."
17) Semicolons are harder than a comma but softer than a period. Use them to separate two sentences that are closely-related or to separate items in a list that already contain commas.
They wanted to call their mother; however, they ended up calling their father.
Lennie really wanted to pet the dogs; he ended up killing one.
For break I went to Paris, France; London, England; and Rome, Italy.
18) Commas are used to:
Separate items in a list
Offset an introductory phrase
Combine two sentences with FANBOYS
Offset extra info
Address someone directly
Offset a quote
In numbers and dates
I need to read books, write papers, and study grammar.
Although she wanted to eat dinner, she got busy.
The school was old, and the school was run-down.
The house, which is by the park, is white.
My sister, the lawyer, lives in Washington.
John, please take out the trash.
She said,
"Please go to the office."
2,400
January 12, 2022
Grammar Week Practice Quiz
Write a sentence using the following words: they're, their, its
Write a sentence with a subordinating clause (starts with a subordinating conjunction) at the end of the sentence. Rewrite the same sentence but move the subordinating clause to the beginning.
a:_
b:_
3) What is a comma splice? Write a sentence that uses one. Don't ever do this in real life:)
4) What are two times the punctuation goes outside the quotes?
5) What's wrong with the following sentence. The boy who was on the other side of the fence and who wanted to get to the side with the candy.
Rewrite it correctly:
Write a sentence about a girl and include a modifier that explains that the girl
Write a sentence that joins two separate sentences with the conjunction "but"
Write a sentence with a list of three items that requires you to use semicolons to separate the items.
9) Write a sentence with a list of three things you want to do today.
10) Fix this sentence: The cup of noodles are in the microwave.
What punctuation mark should you use instead of dashes or parentheses?
Write a sentence with the following subject: the box of cookies
13) Why should you use the Oxford comma for now?
14) What one thing can you pluralize with an apostrophe! Write an example
sentence.
Five Apple
15) Rewrite the run-on to correct it: My brother took all my socks and then he threw them all in the sink and got them wet and then he put them all in a bag and then he put them all in the freezer so they would freeze overnight so when I woke up all my socks were frozen.
16) Give a brief explanation for how each word is used:
To--Too-.
Further--Farther-
17) Write a sentence with either "affect" or "effect."
18) Make a plural possessive with each of these names and their family's house:
Yeo--
Milauskas--Park-.
Knox--Birch-.
19) Write a sentence that's a question that ends with a quote that's a statement.
20) List three types of titles that are italicized or underlined.