Download English 102 Grammar: Comma Splices, Pronoun Agreement, Fragments, Titles, and Quotes and more Exams English in PDF only on Docsity! English 102 GRAMMAR & MECHANICS REVIEW SHEET _________________________________________________________________________________________ 1) Comma Splices: Comma splices occur when two independent clauses are joined together with only a comma. Generally, a coordinating conjunction (but, and, yet, or nor, so, for, etc.) will do the trick. Coordinating conjunctions function to show the relationship between the two sentences. • Professional athletes can earn huge salaries, some are paid millions of dollars a year. • Professional athletes can earn huge salaries, and some are paid millions of dollars a year. 2) Pronoun agreement: Once you have chosen the personal pronouns you will use in your writing, be consistent. Don’t change from “one” to “your” or from “one” to “their”, etc. Be especially aware of switching from singular pronouns to plural pronouns, or vice versa. singular plural 1st person I, me, my, mine we, us, our, ours 2nd person you, your, yours you, your, yours 3rd person he, him, his, they, them, their, theirs she, her, hers it, its one, ones • If one goes to the party, they can expect to have a good time. (one is singular, they is plural) • If one goes to the party, one can expect to have a good time. • If one goes to the party, he or she can expect to have a good time. • When a student fails a class, they have to repeat it to change their grade. (student is singular, they and their are plural) • When a student fails a class, he or she has to repeat it to change his or her grade. (all singular) • When students fail classes, they have to repeat them to change their grades. (all plural) 3) Fragments: If I have written “fragment” by one of your sentences, it means that you haven’t written a complete sentence. There are several ways to create fragments. The best way to detect them is to read your sentences aloud, either to yourself or to others. • Although I had taken the boat out on my own before, having sailed to Nantucket the previous summer under quiet conditions. (dependent clause left hanging) • In the old orchard we found three apple trees. Each of the same variety. (no verb) 4) Titles: The type of document you are working with determines how you will present its title. • Books, plays, dissertations, films are underlined: The Red Badge of Courage, Romeo and Juliet or italicized: The Red Badge of Courage, Romeo and Juliet. • Essays, short stories, chapters, and poems are in quotations: “In Defense of Writing What You Don’t Know,” “Leaves of Grass,” “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”
