Master Your Grammar: Punctuation, Spelling, and Usage Tips

1. Level B2- Lesson 20 Deadly Dino Editor in Chief

2. Spelling • Caution! Check the spelling of the following homophones: • Are/our in to/into its/it’s • Lose/loose their/they’re/there • To/too/two where/were whose/who’s • Your/you’re week/weak

3. Punctuation • Use commas before coordinating conjunctions joining two independent clauses. (5.18 & 5.33) Ex: We took the bus, but she will take the train. Non-Ex: He ran outside and shouted to his sister.

4. Punctuation • Run-on sentences should be corrected by creating two sentences: the first ending in a period and the second beginning with a capital letter. (5.37) Ex: Run-on - One sea lion balanced a ball another sea lion waved his flipper. Correction – One sea lion balanced a ball. Another sea lion waved his flipper. • You may also correct a run-on by using a semi-colon. Ex: One sea lion balanced a ball; another sea lion waved his flipper.

5. Punctuation • Sentence fragments are corrected by joining the sentence fragment to a complete sentence. Ex: Incorrect – The bird was sitting on the roof. Sunning himself. Correct – The bird was sitting on the roof sunning himself. • A sentence fragment may also be corrected by rewriting the sentence in other ways, as shown below. Ex: Sunning himself, the bird sat on the roof.

6. Capital • Use a capital letter on people’s titles and their abbreviated forms only when they are used as part of a name or in place of a name. (1.6) Ex: Captain John Smith = Capt. John Smith Yes, Captain, the lieutenant has left. but NOT John Smith was the Captain.

7. Usage • A subject and verb agree if they are both singular or both plural, that is, the subject and verb must agree in number. (4.2) • Most verbs ending in s are singular, while verbs not ending in s are plural. • The exception to this general rule is verbs used with I and singular you. Although I and you are singular, their verbs do not take an s: I go, you go, he goes, it goes, they go , we go.

8. Usage • The number of the subject is not affected by any phrases that fall between the subject and the verb. (4.2) Ex: The difficultiesof going on a long trip were apparent. • The verb should agree with the subject even when the subject and predicate are inverted. Ex:Performing for the first time on this stage are the Lowell sisters. (subject – Lowell sisters predicate – are)

9. Punctuation • Use a comma to set off an introductory phrase or dependent clause. (5.15) Ex: After we left, she phoned the office.

10. Grammar • Superlative forms of adjectives are used to compare more than two things. Ex: He is the oldest child of seven. She is the best player on the team. (Notice that she is part of the team.)

11. Grammar • Articles (a, an, the) are adjectives. Use an before a vowel sound, a before a consonant sound. (3.5) • Confusion over which article to use most often comes with words beginning in h. If a word clearly begins with a vowel or consonant sound, the standard rule for articles applies. If the h is part of an unstressed or lightly stressed first syllable, it is considered acceptable to use either a or an. Ex: a historian or an historian a heroic or an heroic

12. Content • Any discrepancy between the title, illustration, or caption and the accompanying paragraph should be considered an error in the paragraph.