Transcript Slide 1
Longfellow Skills and Explanations Day 1 Unnecessary Capitalization When a word is not a proper noun, proper adjective or a title, do not capitalize it unless it is the first word of a sentence. Adjectives that modify proper nouns are not capitalized. Use of an Adjective Qualifier In some cases, nouns will need to be limited in scope so that the sentence is not illogical. Teenagers are never on time. This is not a logical sentence since there are some teenagers who are on time. Thus, if one adds many to the sentence, the sentence is now more logical. Many teenagers are never on time. Titles of Poems Unless a poem is an epic or of book length for some other reason, put its title in quotation marks. Possession of Nouns Form the possessive of singular nouns by adding 's. For a plural noun ending in -s, just add an apostrophe after the -s. For nouns ending in s, add an 's. Some grammarians suggest that you should only add an apostrophe (without an s) if a proper noun would sound awkward if pronounced with -iz as in Jesusiz (Jesus's). Day 2 Commonly Misspelled Word: Truly Truly is spelled without an e. Italics or Underlining for Names of Ships When using the name of a ship, underline the name if writing by hand or italicize it if you are wordprocessing. I wish she had been on the Titanic. 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. Day 3 Unnecessary Capitalization When a word is not a proper noun, proper adjective or a title, do not capitalize it unless it is the first word of a sentence. Adjectives that modify proper nouns are not capitalized. Absolute Phrases An absolute phrase is usually--but not always--a group of words consisting of a noun or pronoun and a participle as well as any related modifiers. An absolute phrase is not a clause because it does not have a true verb. Absolute phrases do not directly connect to or modify any specific word in the sentence but they modify the entire sentence by adding information. They are set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma, a pair of commas, a dash or a pair of dashes. They can be used to combine sentences. And or But at the Beginning of a Sentence In formal writing, eliminate the conjunctions and or but at the beginning of sentences. This helps to make sure that you do not write a sentence fragment. Day 4 Comma after Introductory Phrase Use a comma after a phrase that introduces a sentence. 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. Because she murdered him, Myron did not come to Sally's party. Incorrect Because she had murdered him, Myron did not come to Sally's party. Correct We went to the party and play many games. Incorrect We went to the party and played many games. Correct Streamlining Sentences with the Use of the Possessive Since writing is meant to communicate, sentences should do so in a clear way. Adding unnecessary words can confuse the audience. At times, we use the phrase the __________ of __________ (as in, the daughter of Phaedrus). This can be simplified as ___________'s ______________ (as in, Phaedrus's daughter). Day 5 Split Infinitives In English, an infinitive is a verb form created from the word to and the verb. For example, the infinitive of run is to run. Splitting an infinitive means putting a word between the to and the verb. Since one cannot literally split an infinitive in Latin (amare=to love with the are making the verb an infinitive), this has become a rule in English. to swiftly run is incorrect to run swiftly is correct Punctuation inside Quotation Marks When a period or comma follows a word, phrase or sentence enclosed in quotation marks, the period or comma is located inside the quotation marks. If the sentence enclosed in quotation marks is a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation marks. Commonly Confused Words: Whose versus Who's Whose is used as the possessive form of who. Who's is a contraction meaning who is.