Major errors (“illiteracies”)

1. Major errors (“illiteracies”) These errors will carry a 10% penalty per type for all out-of-class essays, beginning with the Wuthering Heights essay.

2. Harbrace “2” • The FRAGMENT • A complete sentence must have a subject, verb, and a completed thought or idea. • Fragment example: • Although I really loved the movie.

3. Harbrace “3” • The COMMA SPLICE • You cannot put a comma between two complete sentences UNLESS you also have a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, for, but, so, yet). • Example comma splice: I hate grammar, it’s so boring.

4. Harbrace “3” (again) • The RUN-ON (or FUSED SENTENCE) • You cannot put two complete sentences together with no punctuation at all. • Example run-on: I hate grammar it’s so boring.

5. Harbrace “6” • The SUBJECT-VERB DISAGREEMENT • If you use a singular subject, use a singular verb; if you use a plural subject, use a plural verb. • Sample subject-verb disagreement: Amy Jo and Billy Bob has a thing for each other.

6. How do I find the error? • The numbers are marked on the margin of the line where they occur. • If it is a major error, the spot of the error will be highlighted in yellow-- the comma where the comma splice occurs, the space where a run-on is fused, the subject and verb which do not agree.

7. How can I get extra credit? • You can get 10 points extra credit by fixing ALL of your errors. Above each error, in pen, write the correction. DO NOT RETYPE THE WHOLE PAPER. Put the corrected essay in its folder back into the composition folder box by Monday, September 22 (one week).