Grammar Quick Reference Cheat Sheet, Cheat Sheet of English Language

Download Grammar Quick Reference Cheat Sheet and more Cheat Sheet English Language in PDF only on Docsity! 1 GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, ETC. QUICK REFERENCE SHEET D. Stark 4/24/2013 CAPITALIZATION: Capitalize…  "I"  the first word in a sentence  the first word & major words in titles of books/movies/songs  names of particular people/places/things (e.g., Dorothy, Corvallis, the Washington Monument)  brand names  days of the week  months  holidays  languages  nationalities  geographical regions (e.g., the Midwest)  names of specific courses (e.g., Math 60)  titles and family terms that come right in front of a person's name or that are used as names (e.g., Senator Ron Wyden, Uncle Bob, Mom) DON'T capitalize…  the seasons (e.g., summer)  general school subjects (e.g., math)  general direction words (e.g., go south two miles)  titles and family terms with possessives or with the/a/an (e.g., my mom, the doctor)  the first word after a semicolon COMMONLY CONFUSED WORDS: If there's a version of a word with an apostrophe and a version without one, the version with the apostrophe is always the contraction, the shortened form of several words put together. it's = it is its = belonging to it you're = you are your = belonging to you they're = they are their = belonging to them there = a place (there/here/where); also There are... who's = who is/has whose = belonging to someone They have two dogs. We're going to school. I ate too much. She likes to cook. He thinks so, too. APOSTROPHES: 1) In contractions, put the apostrophe where a letter or letters are missing. isn't = is not don't = do not I've = I have what's = what is/has 2) To show possession, use 's on words that don't end in –s and just an apostrophe on plurals that already end in –s. Jim's car one dog's bowl the men's room anybody's guess the twins' room my in-laws’ house 3) DON'T use apostrophes to make ordinary nouns plural! The office is closed on Fridays. [NO APOSTROPHE!] 2 CONNECTORS ADVANCED NOTES (See me for a more detailed discussion of these points.): 1 The fragment indicated here is one missing a subject so that the whole thing involves a compound verb rather than a compound sentence. Note that just with “BUT” or “YET” there are other sorts of connected fragments for which a comma is appropriate, such as “I love the Northeast, but not the winters there.” 2 Some grammar books say that to emphasize great contrast, you may use a comma in front of “although” when “although” is in the middle. In addition, there’s an exception to the “no PARALLELISM: Make sure listed items have the same pattern (ending, tense, part of speech, etc.). NOT OK: She likes hiking and to cook. OK: She likes hiking and cooking. OK: She likes to hike and to cook. MODIFIERS: If a sentence starts with an -ing phrase that ends in a comma, the word immediately after the comma should be who or what is doing the -ing'ing. NOT OK: Digging in her purse, her keys fell out. [The keys are not digging in her purse.] OK: Digging in her purse, she dropped her keys. also OK: As she was digging in her purse, her keys fell out. [The sentence doesn't start with -ing.] AND/OR/BUT/SO: [coordination] <sentence> , and <sentence>. They went out to dinner, and they had a great time. [COMMA—too heavy for just the connector] <sentence> and <fragment>.1 They went out to dinner and had a great time. [NO COMMA—connector alone strong enough] HOWEVER, THEREFORE, FOR EXAMPLE, IN ADDITION, FURTHER, ON THE OTHER HAND [transitions & conjunctive adverbs] <sentence> . However, <sentence>. <sentence> ; however, <sentence>. [less common] I love the Northeast. However, the winters are brutal. I love the Northeast; however, the winters are brutal. [lowercase after the semicolon] ALTHOUGH/BECAUSE/IF/WHEN/SINCE/BEFORE/AFTER/WHILE/UNLESS [subordination] Because <sentence> , <sentence>. Because she wanted to know what to study, she took a pretest. [comma between the 2 parts] <sentence> because <sentence>.2 She took a pretest because she wanted to know what to study. [no comma]