Day 1

1. Dylan Thomas Skills and Explanations Day 1 Capitalization of Titles Main words of all titles are capitalized. Capitalize the first word, the last word, the first word after a colon indicating a subtitle, and the word after a hyphen in a compound word. Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the),prepostions (before, of, between, under,through, etcetera),conjunctions (and but for, etcetera),or the to in an infinitive (to run, to eat). Punctuating titles Put quotations marks around the titles of essays, short stories, poems, one-act plays, songs, newspaper articles and magazine articles. Underline or italicize the titles of book-length works, book-length poems, full-length plays, television shows, album or CD titles, titles of movies and names of newspapers and magazines.

2. Misplaced Modifiers Modifiers give additional information. They need to be close to the word or words that they modify. A misplaced modifier is one that is not close to the word or words that it modifies. A misplaced modifier can cause confusion for the reader and should be moved close to the word or words it modifies. Dangling Modifiers A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not seem to modify anything. To correct this error, the sentence in which it appears needs to be rearranged or rewritten entirely. Dangling Modifiers and Misplaced Modifiers A dangling modifier is a modifier that has nothing in the sentence that it modifies. A misplaced modifier is a modifier that seems by its placement to modify the wrong word or words. Misplaced modifiers differ from dangling modifiers in that they are attached to something--the wrong thing, however.

3. Day 2 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 Empty Sentence An empty sentence is a sentence that does not add any new information to a piece of writing. Since it does not add anything to the writing, eliminate it. Capitalization of the Names of Holidays The names of holidays are proper nouns; therefore, they are capitalized.

4. Day 3 Quotation Marks around Phrases When you want to call attention to specific words or phrases, place quotation marks around the word or phrase. Commas in a Series When one has a group of elements that are coordinate and in series, there must be commas between the elements. The comma before the conjunction and the final element is optional. Like versus As Like is used as a preposition. It never introduces a clause (a unit that has both a subject and a verb). As is used to introduce a clause. The golem looked like it was going to attack my mother-in-law. Incorrect The golem looked as if it were going to attack my mother-in-law. Correct

5. Day 4 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. Empty Sentence An empty sentence is a sentence that does not add any new information to a piece of writing. Since it does not add anything to the writing, eliminate it. Exclamation Point The exclamation point is used after an interjection or at the end of a sentence showing strong emotion. Redundancy Redundancy refers to the idea that a word, phrase or sentence repeats information already given in a piece of writing (sentence, paragraph). Eliminate redundancy from your writing.

6. Day 5 Use of Colon: Quotation without Explanatory Words When you use a quotaiton as part of a sentence without including information as to the quotations relationship to the rest of the sentence, use a colon before the passage. Correlative Conjunctions Conjunctions are words used to link things together. Correlative conjunctions are two conjunctions that always appear together in a sentence. The most common correlative conjunctions are either...or, neither...nor, not only...but also, and whether...or. Adverbs Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They often end in –ly. Adjectives never describe other adjectives; they only describe nouns or pronouns.