Day 1

1. Titanic Skills and Explanations Day 1 Italics for Words Used as Words When a word is used as a word (when it is not used for its meaning), italicize the word. My favorite word is spatula! How do you spell relief? Never use the word ampersand. Italics or Underlining and Capitalization 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. The names of ships are capitalized. I wish she had been on the Titanic. Commonly Misspelled Words:Fascinate Fascinate has both an s and a c.

2. Illogical Comparison When you have something being called a better noun than any, you are making an illogical comparison. If it is better than any, then you must put better than any other because, without this addition, this statement automatically includes what is being called better . Something cannot be better than itself. The president of the eleventh grade class, Sabrina, is a better psychopath than any in the eleventh grade. (This would mean that she is better than herself.) The president of the eleventh grade class, Sabrina, is a better psychopath than any other student in the eleventh grade. (Correct)

3. Commas in Dates Place a comma between the numeral day of the month and the year. Day 2 Irregular Verb: Sink Sink is present tense. Sank is past tense. Sunk is the past participle. Stringy Sentence A stringy sentence is a sentence comprised of several clauses joined with conjunctions. These sentences need to be revised so that they do not seem endless, and their meaning is clear. I wanted a dog so I went to the mall and found the pet store where I asked the manager if he had any dogs for sale and he told me that they didn't have any dogs at the moment so I realized that there would be dogs in the classified section of the newspaper I went to the bookstore where I bought a Bristol Herald Courier and looked in the classifieds to see if there were any dogs for sale and there were! Since I wanted a dog, I went to the pet store at the mall. I asked the manager if he had any dogs, but he told me they didn't have any dogs at the moment. Realizing that I could find a dog in the newspaper, I went to the bookstore and bought a Bristol Herald Courier. When I looked in the classified section, I was excited to see that there were dogs for sale.

4. Relative Pronouns When referring to people, use who, whom or whose. Use who to refer to people who are subjects of sentences and phrases, whom to refer to people who are objects of sentences and phrases and whose to refer to people who are possessing something. When referring to things, use which (preceded by a comma) in clauses that are not important to the main meaning of the sentence. Never use which to refer to people because this implies that the person is an object rather than a human being. When referring to things, use that (not preceded by a comma) to refer to things in clauses that are important to the main meaning of the sentence.

5. Day 3 Procede versus Precede Procede means to continue on with something. Precede means to go before something. Use of Colon after Verb or Preposition Do not use a colon after a verb or a preposition. Add the words the following to the sentence if you really want to use a colon. Sally ate: the potatoes, the tomatoes and the petunia. Incorrect Sally ate the following: the potatoes, the tomatoes and the petunia. Correct Sally ate the potatoes, the tomatoes and the petunia. Correct Milo went under: the bridge and the highway. Incorrect Milo went under the following: the bridge and the highway. Correct Milo went under the bridge and the highway. Correct. Italics or Underlining and Capitalization 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. The names of ships are capitalized. I wish she had been on the Titanic.

6. Commas in Large Numbers Expressed in Numerals When a number has more than three numerals, put a comma before each group of three.

7. Day 4 Interrupter An interrupter is a word or phrase that breaks the flow of a sentence--usually a comment. Interrupters are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. Faulty Subordination Subordinating an idea in a sentences means that the writer considers it less important than another idea. Make sure that the subordinate clause is really subordinate. For example, make sure the subordinate clause is really the cause of the event in the main clause. Because she did not understand Spanish, Mila disregarded the warning not to eat the pretty flower. NOT Because Mila disregarded the warning not to eat the flower, she did not understand Spanish. Adverbs Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They often end in –ly. Adjectives never describe other adjectives; they only describe nouns or pronouns.

8. Day 5 Capitalization of Names of Events The names of specific events are capitalized. The International Conference on Nuclear Proliferation not the international conference on nuclear proliferation Demonstrative Adjectives Demonstrative adjectives are adjectives that indicate specific nouns (that, this, these, those). Do not put the words there or here after a demonstrative adjective in formal writing. Punctuation with Parentheses When parentheses are around a complete sentence, the period goes inside the parentheses. When they are around a word or phrase--not a complete sentence--the period goes outside the parentheses.