The Final Wave

Regular and Irregular verbs Subject and Verb Agreement Pronoun Agreement and Reference Pronoun Types Adjectives and Adverbs Dangling Modifiers

Capital Letters Numbers and Abbreviations Apostrophe Quotation Marks Comma Other Punctuation Marks Commonly Confused Words Spelling Improvement Word Choice

To make the past tense or past participle form of most verbs (regular verbs) we simply add ed at the end. Examples using the verb walk : Past Tense: I walked through the maze. Past Participle: I have walked through the maze. (The past participle form is used in the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses. The above example is written in the present perfect tense.)

Irregular verbs are not that simple. We sometimes need a dictionary to help us write the different forms of irregular verbs. Examples using the verb see : Past Tense: We saw the secret maps. Past Participle: We have seen the secret maps. Look up the word see in the dictionary. Notice that the different forms of the word are given. Look up walk. Notice that the dictionary doesn t bother to give the different forms of regular verbs.

Change the verb that comes after each sentence to its past tense form and write it in the blank. You may refer to a dictionary. The first sentence has been completed for you. 1. I did all my homework in study hall. do 2. She ____________ of a better way to do it. think 3. Sam ____________ us to lock the doors. remind 4. They ____________ their names on the list. put 5. Who ____________ my new shoes? borrow 6. We never ____________ his real name. know

Change the verb that comes after each sentence to its past participle form and write it in the blank. You may refer to a dictionary. The first sentence has been completed for you. 1. I have never driven such a wonderful car! drive 2. Frank had ____________ the whole pizza before we arrived.eat 3. They ve ____________ and trusted her for years.know 4. Osgood has always ____________ others for his mistakes.blame 5. The candidates have ____________ their opinions on our site.write 6. He s ____________ his favorite song for the ceremony.pick

FLASH LEARNING

1. When the subject of a sentence is composed of two or more nouns or pronouns connected by and, use a plural verb. She and her friends are at the fair. 2. When two or more singular nouns or pronouns are connected by or or nor, use a singular verb. The book or the pen is in the drawer.

3. When a compound subject contains both a singular and a plural noun or pronoun joined by or or nor, the verb should agree with the part of the subject that is nearer the verb. The boy or his friends run every day. His friends or the boy runs every day.

4. Doesn't is a contraction of does not and should be used only with a singular subject. Don't is a contraction of do not and should be used only with a plural subject. The exception to this rule appears in the case of the first person and second person pronouns I and you. With these pronouns, the contraction don't should be used.

He doesn't like it. They don't like it.

5. Do not be misled by a phrase that comes between the subject and the verb. The verb agrees with the subject, not with a noun or pronoun in the phrase. One of the boxes is open The people who listen to that music are few. The team captain, as well as his players, is anxious. The book, including all the chapters in the first section, is boring. The woman with all the dogs walks down my street.

6. The words each, each one, either, neither, everyone, everybody, anybody, anyone, nobody, somebody, someone, and no one are singular and require a singular verb. Each of these hot dogs is juicy. Everybody knows Mr. Jones. Either is correct.

7. Nouns such as civics, mathematics, dollars, measles, and news require singular verbs. The news is on at six. Note: the word dollars is a special case. When talking about an amount of money, it requires a singular verb, but when referring to the dollars themselves, a plural verb is required. Five dollars is a lot of money. Dollars are often used instead of rubles in Russia.

8. Nouns such as scissors, tweezers, trousers, and shears require plural verbs. (There are two parts to these things.) These scissors are dull. Those trousers are made of wool.

9. In sentences beginning with there is or there are, the subject follows the verb. Since there is not the subject, the verb agrees with what follows. There are many questions. There is a question.

10. Collective nouns are words that imply more than one person but that are considered singular and take a singular verb, such as: group, team, committee, class, and family. The team runs during practice. The committee decides how to proceed. The family has a long history. My family has never been able to agree.

In some cases in American English, a sentence may call for the use of a plural verb when using a collective noun. The crew are preparing to dock the ship. This sentence is referring to the individual efforts of each crew member. The Gregg Reference Manual provides excellent explanations of subject-verb agreement (section 10: 1001).

11. Expressions such as with, together with, including, accompanied by, in addition to, or as well do not change the number of the subject. If the subject is singular, the verb is too. The President, accompanied by his wife, is traveling to India. All of the books, including yours, are in that box.

Final Rule

Remember, only the subject affects the verb!

Examples are lifted from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/5 99/01/ FOR MORE DISCUSSION PLEASE READ THE HAND OUT SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT FLASH GAME

Basic Principle: A pronoun usually refers to something earlier in the text (its antecedent) and must agree in number singular/plural with the thing to which it refers.

Two important rules:

A pronoun must agree in number with the word or words it replaces. A pronoun must refer clearly to the word it replaces.

Pronoun Agreement A pronoun must agree in number with the word or words it replaces. If the word a pronoun refers to is singular, the pronoun must be singular; if that word is plural, the pronoun must be plural. Marie showed me her antique wedding band. Students enrolled in the art class must provide

their own supplies.

Indefinite Pronouns The following indefinite pronouns are always singular: one, anyone, everyone, someone, nobody, anybody, everybody, somebody, each, either, neither

If a pronoun in a sentence refers to one of these singular words, the pronoun should be singular. Somebody left her shoulder bag on the back of a

chair. One of the busboys just called and said he would be an hour late. Everyone in the club must pay his dues next week.

In informal spoken English, plural pronouns are often used with the indefinite pronouns. Many would not say: Everybody has his or her own opinion about the

election.

Instead, they would be likely to say: Everybody has their own opinion about the

election.

More examples: Everyone in the choir must buy their robes. Everybody in the line has their ticket ready. No one in the class remembered to bring their

books.

In such cases, indefinite pronouns are clearly plural in meaning, and using them helps people avoid the awkward his or her.

A sentence may be confusing and unclear if a pronoun appears to refer to more than one word or does not refer to any specific word. Miriam was annoyed when they failed her car for a

faulty turn signal.

Who failed her car? There is no specific word that they refers to. Be clear: Miriam was annoyed when the inspectors failed

her car for a faulty turn signal.

More Faulty pronoun reference examples: Peter told Allan that his wife was unhappy. (Whose wife is unhappy? Peter s or Allan s? Be

clear.) Marsha attributed her success to her husband s support, which was generous. (Does which mean that Marsha s action was generous or that her husband s support was generous?)

Peter told Allan, My wife is unhappy. Generously, Marsha attributed her success to her husband s support. Marsha attributed her success to her husband s generous support.

Pronoun Case is really a very simple matter. There are three cases. Subjective case: pronouns used as subject. Objective case: pronouns used as objects of verbs or prepositions. Possessive case: pronouns which express ownership.

The pronouns This, That, These, Those, and Which do not change form.

Some problems of case: 1. In compound structures, where there are two pronouns or a noun and a pronoun, drop the other noun for a moment. Then you can see which case you want. Not: Bob and me travel a good deal. (Would you say, "me travel"?) Not: He gave the flowers to Jane and I. (Would you say, "he gave the flowers to I"?) Not: Us men like the coach. (Would you say, "us like the coach"?)

2. In comparisons. Comparisons usually follow than or as: He is taller than I (am tall). This helps you as much as (it helps) me. She is as noisy as I (am).

Comparisons are really shorthand sentences which usually omit words, such as those in the parentheses in the sentences above. If you complete the comparison in your head, you can choose the correct case for the pronoun. Not: He is taller than me. (Would you say, "than me am tall"?)

3. In formal and semiformal writing: Use the subjective form after a form of the verb to be. Formal: It is I. Informal: It is me. Use whom in the objective case. Formal: To whom am I talking? Informal: Who am I talking to?

Pronoun flash interactive

Adjectives modify nouns. To modify means to change in some way. For example: "I ate a meal." Meal is a noun. We don't know what kind of meal; all we know is that someone ate a meal. "I ate an enormous lunch." Lunch is a noun, and enormous is an adjective that modifies it. It tells us what kind of meal the person ate.

Adjectives usually answer one of a few different questions: "What kind?" or "Which?" or "How many?" For example: "The tall girl is riding a new bike." Tall tells us which girl we're talking about. Newtells us what kind of bike we're talking about.

"The tough professor gave us the final exam." Tough tells us what kind of professor we're talking about. Final tells us which exam we're talking about. "Fifteen students passed the midterm exam; twelve students passed the final exam." Fifteen and twelve both tell us how many students; midterm and final both tell us which exam.

So, generally speaking, adjectives answer the following questions: Which? What kind of? How many?

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. (You can recognize adverbs easily because many of them are formed by adding -ly to an adjective, though that is not always the case.) The most common question that adverbs answer is how.

Let's look at verbs first. "She sang beautifully." Beautifully is an adverb that modifies sang. It tells us how she sang. "The cellist played carelessly." Carelessly is an adverb that modifies played. It tells ushow the cellist played.

Adverbs also modify adjectives and other adverbs. "That woman is extremely nice." Nice is an adjective that modifies the noun woman.Extremely is an adverb that modifies nice; it tells us how nice she is. How nice is she? She's extremely nice. "It was a terribly hot afternoon." Hot is an adjective that modifies the nounafternoon. Terribly is an adverb that modifies the adjective hot. How hot is it? Terribly hot.

So, generally speaking, adverbs answer the question how. (They can also answer the questions when, where, and why.)

Most of the time, adjectives come before nouns. However, they come after the nouns they modify, most often when the verb is a form of the following:

be feel taste smell sound look appear seem

Some examples: "The dog is black." Black is an adjective that modifies the noun dog, but it comes after the verb. (Remember that "is" is a form of the verb "be.") "Brian seems sad." Sad is an adjective that modifies the noun Brian. "The milk smells rotten." Rotten is an adjective that modifies the noun milk. "The speaker sounds hoarse." Hoarse is an adjective that modifies the noun speaker.

Be sure to understand the differences between the following two examples: "The dog smells carefully." Here, carefully describes how the dog is smelling. We imagine him sniffing very cautiously. But: "The dog smells clean." Here, clean describes the dog itself. It's not that he's smelling clean things or something; it's that he's had a bath and does not stink.

Bad or Badly?When you want to describe how you feel, you should use an adjective So you'd say, "I feel bad." Saying "I feel badly" would be like saying you play football badly. "I feel badly" would mean that you are unable to feel, as though your hands were numb. Here are some other examples:

"The dog smells badly." Here, badly means that the dog does not do a good job of smelling. "The dog smells bad." Here, "bad" means that dog needs a bath. N.B. Sometimes people say "I feel badly" when they feel that they have done something wrong. Let's say you dropped your friend's favorite dish, and it broke into a million pieces. You might say, "I feel really badly about what happened."

ood or Well?Good is an adjective, so you do not do good or live good, but you do well and live well. Remember, though, that an adjective follows sense-verbs and be-verbs, so you also feel good, look good, smell good, are good, have been good, etc. So:

"My mother looks good." This does not mean that she has good eyesight; it means that she appears healthy. "I feel really good today." Again, this does not mean that I touch things successfully. It means rather that I am happy or healthy. N.B. Many people confuse this distinction in conversation, and that's okay. You will hear people say, "I feel well" when they mean that they feel good. However, if you're talking about action verbs, you'd say "well." "I did well on my exam." "She plays tennis well."

Sure or Surely?Sure is an adjective, and surely is an adverb. For example: "He is sure about his answer." Sure describes he. "The Senator spoke out surely." Here, surely describes how the senator spoke. N.B. Surely can also be used as a sentenceadverb. For example, "Surely, you're joking." Here, surely describes the entire sentence "you're joking." The sentence more or less means, "You must be joking."

Near or Nearly?Near can function as a verb, adverb, adjective, or preposition. Nearly is used as an adverb to mean "in a close manner" or "almost but not quite." Here are some examples that demonstrate the differences between various uses of near andnearly.

"I'll be seeing you in the near future." Here, near describes the noun "future." "The cat crept near." Near is an adverb that describes where the cat crept. "Don't worry; we're nearly there." Here, nearly describes how close we are.

Near can also be used as a verb and a preposition. "My graduation neared." Here, neared is the verb of the sentence. "I want the couch near the window." Near is a preposition at the head of the phrase "near the window."

A dangling modifier is a word or phrase that modifies a word not clearly stated in the sentence. A modifier describes, clarifies, or gives more detail about a concept. Having finished the assignment, Jill turned on the TV.

"Having finished" states an action but does not name the doer of that action. In English sentences, the doer must be the subject of the main clause that follows. In this sentence, it is Jill. She seems logically to be the one doing the action ("having finished"), and this sentence therefore does not have a dangling modifier.

The following sentence has an incorrect usage: Having finished the assignment, the TV was turned on. "Having finished" is a participle expressing action, but the doer is not the TV set (the subject of the main clause): TV sets don't finish assignments. Since the doer of the action expressed in the participle has not been clearly stated, the participial phrase is said to be a dangling modifier.

1. Name the appropriate or logical doer of the action as the subject of the main clause: Having arrived late for practice, a written excuse was needed. Who arrived late? This sentence says that the written excuse arrived late. To revise, decide who actually arrived late. The possible revision might look like this: Having arrived late for practice, the team captain needed a written excuse. The main clause now names the person (the captain) who did the action in the modifying phrase (arrived late).

2. Change the phrase that dangles into a complete introductory clause by naming the doer of the action in that clause: Without knowing his name, it was difficult to introduce him. Who didn't know his name? This sentence says that "it" didn't know his name. To revise, decide who was trying to introduce him.

The revision might look something like this: Because Maria did not know his name, it was difficult to introduce him. The phrase is now a complete introductory clause; it does not modify any other part of the sentence, so is not considered "dangling."

3. Combine the phrase and main clause into one: To improve his results, the experiment was done again. Who wanted to improve results? This sentence says that the experiment was trying to improve its own results. To revise, combine the phrase and the main clause into one sentence. The revision might look something like this: He improved his results by doing the experiment again.

Incorrect: After reading the original study, the article remains unconvincing. Revised: After reading the original study, I find the article unconvincing. Incorrect: Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, your home should be a place to relax. Revised: Relieved of your responsibilities at your job, you should be able to relax at home.

Incorrect: The experiment was a failure, not having studied the lab manual carefully. Revised: They failed the experiment, not having studied the lab manual carefully.

The first words of a sentence When he tells a joke, he sometimes forgets the punch line. The pronoun "I" The last time I visited Atlanta was several years ago.

Proper nouns (the names of specific people, places, organizations, and sometimes things) Worrill Fabrication Company Golden Gate Bridge Supreme Court Livingston, Missouri Atlantic Ocean Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Family relationships (when used as proper names) I sent a thank-you note to Aunt Abigail, but not to my other aunts. Here is a present I bought for Mother. Did you buy a present for your mother?

The names of God, specific deities, religious figures, and holy books God the Father the Virgin Mary the Bible the Greek gods Moses Shiva Buddha Zeus

Exception: Do not capitalize the nonspecific use of the word "god." The word "polytheistic" means the worship of more than one god. Titles preceding names, but not titles that follow names She worked as the assistant to Mayor Hanolovi. I was able to interview Miriam Moss, mayor of Littonville.

Directions that are names (North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the country, but not as compass directions) The Patels have moved to the Southwest. Jim's house is two miles north of Otterbein.

The days of the week, the months of the year, and holidays (but not the seasons used generally) Halloween October Friday winter spring fall

Exception: Seasons are capitalized when used in a title. The Fall 1999 semester The names of countries, nationalities, and specific languages Costa Rica Spanish French English

The first word in a sentence that is a direct quote Emerson once said, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." The major words in the titles of books, articles, and songs (but not short prepositions or the articles "the," "a," or "an," if they are not the first word of the title) One of Jerry's favorite books is The Catcher in the Rye.

Members of national, political, racial, social, civic, and athletic groups Green Bay Packers African-Americans Anti-Semitic Democrats Friends of the Wilderness Chinese

Periods and events (but not century numbers) Victorian Era Great Depression Constitutional Convention sixteenth century Trademarks Pepsi Honda IBM Microsoft Word

Words and abbreviations of specific names (but not names of things that came from specific things but are now general types) Freudian NBC pasteurize UN french fries italics

Rule 1.Spell out single-digit whole numbers. Use numerals for numbers greater than nine. Correct Examples:I want five copies. I want 10 copies.

Rule 2.Be consistent within a category. For example, if you choose numerals because one of the numbers is greater than nine, use numerals for all numbers in that category. If you choose to spell out numbers because one of the numbers is a single digit, spell out all numbers in that category.

If you have numbers in different categories, use numerals for one category and spell out the other. Correct Examples:My 10 cats fought with their 2 cats. My ten cats fought with their two cats. Given the budget constraints, if all 30 history students attend the four plays, then the 7 math students will be able to attend only two plays. (Students are represented with figures; plays are represented with words.) Incorrect Example: I asked for five pencils, not 50.

Rule 3.Always spell out simple fractions and use hyphens with them. Examples:One-half of the pies have been eaten. A two-thirds majority is required for that bill to pass in Congress.

Rule 4.A mixed fraction can be expressed in figures unless it is the first word of a sentence. Examples:We expect a 5 1/2 percent wage increase. Five and one-half percent was the maximum allowable interest.

Rule 5.The simplest way to express large numbers is best. Round numbers are usually spelled out. Be careful to be consistent within a sentence. Correct:You can earn from one million to five million dollars. Incorrect:You can earn from one million to $5,000,000. Correct:You can earn from five hundred to five million dollars. Correct:You can earn from $5 hundred to $5 million. Incorrect:You can earn from $500 to $5 million. Incorrect:You can earn from $500 to five million dollars.

Rule 6.Write decimals in figures. Put a zero in front of a decimal unless the decimal itself begins with a zero. Examples:The plant grew 0.79 of a foot in one year. The plant grew only .07 of a foot this year because of the drought.

Rule 7.With numbers that have decimal points, use a comma only when the number has five or more digits before the decimal point. Place the comma in front of the third digit to the left of the decimal point. When writing out such numbers, use the comma where it would appear in the figure format. Use the word and where the decimal point appears in the figure format. Examples: $15,768.13: Fifteen thousand, seven hundred sixty-eight dollars and thirteen cents $1054.21: One thousand fifty-four dollars and twentyone cents

Rule 8.The following examples apply when using dates: Examples:The meeting is scheduled for June 30. The meeting is scheduled for the 30th of June. We have had tricks played on us on April 1. The 1st of April puts some people on edge.

Rule 9.When expressing decades, you may spell them out and lowercase them. Example:During the eighties and nineties, the U.S. economy grew.

Rule 10.If you wish to express decades using incomplete numerals, put an apostrophe before the incomplete numeral but not between the year and the s. Correct:During the '80s and '90s, the U.S. economy grew. Incorrect:During the '80's and '90's, the U.S. economy grew.

Rule 11.You may also express decades in complete numerals. Again, don't use an apostrophe between the year and the s. Example:During the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S. economy grew.

Rule 12.Normally, spell out the time of day in text even with half and quarter hours. With o'clock, the number is always spelled out. Examples:She gets up at four thirty before the baby wakes up. The baby wakes up at five o'clock in the morning.

Rule 13.Use numerals with the time of day when exact times are being emphasized or when using A.M. or P.M. Examples:Monib's flight leaves at 6:22 A.M. Please arrive by 12:30 sharp. She had a 7:00 P.M. deadline.

Rule 14.Use noon and midnight rather than 12:00 P.M. and 12:00 A.M. Rule 15.Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninetynine. Examples:Forty-three persons were injured in the train wreck. Twenty-three of them were hospitalized.

Rule 16.Write out a number if it begins a sentence. Examples:Twenty-nine people won an award for helping their communities. That 29 people won an award for helping their communities was fantastic! OR That twenty-nine people won an award for helping their communities was fantastic!

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The apostrophe has three uses: to form possessives of nouns to show the omission of letters to indicate certain plurals of lowercase letters

Forming Possessives of Nouns To see if you need to make a possessive, turn the phrase around and make it an "of the..." phrase. For example: the boy's hat = the hat of the boy three days' journey = journey of three daysIf the noun after "of" is a building, an object, or a piece of furniture, then no apostrophe is needed! room of the hotel = hotel room door of the car = car door leg of the table = table leg

add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):the owner's car James's hat (James' hat is also acceptable. For plural, proper nouns that are possessive, use an apostrophe after the 's': "The Eggles' presentation was good." The Eggles are a husband and wife consultant team.)

add 's to the plural forms that do not end in s:the children's game the geese's honking add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in s:two cats' toys three friends' letters add 's to the end of compound words:my brother-in-law's money add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:Todd and Anne's apartment

Showing omission of letters Apostrophes are used in contractions. A contraction is a word (or set of numbers) in which one or more letters (or numbers) have been omitted. The apostrophe shows this omission. Contractions are common in speaking and in informal writing. To use an apostrophe to create a contraction, place an apostrophe where the omitted letter(s) would go. Here are some examples: don't = do not I'm = I am he'll = he will who's = who is shouldn't = should not didn't = did not could've= could have (NOT "could of"!) '60 = 1960

Forming plurals of lowercase letters Apostrophes are used to form plurals of letters that appear in lowercase; here the rule appears to be more typographical than grammatical, e.g. "three ps" versus "three p's." To form the plural of a lowercase letter, place 's after the letter. There is no need for apostrophes indicating a plural on capitalized letters, numbers, and symbols (though keep in mind that some editors, teachers, and professors still prefer them).

three Macintosh G4s = three of the Macintosh model G4 There are two G4s currently used in the writing classroom.many &s = many ampersands That printed page has too many &s on it.the 1960s = the years in decade from 1960 to 1969 The 1960s were a time of great social unrest.

Don't use apostrophes for personal pronouns, the relative pronoun who, or for noun plurals. Apostrophes should not be used with possessive pronouns because possessive pronouns already show possession they don't need an apostrophe. His, her, its, my, yours, ours are all possessive pronouns. However, indefinite pronouns, such as one, anyone, other, no one, and anybody, can be made possessive.

Here are some examples: wrong: his' book correct: his book correct: one's book correct: anybody's book wrong: Who's dog is this? correct: Whose dog is this? wrong: The group made it's decision. correct: The group made its decision.

Proofreading for apostrophes A good time to proofread is when you have finished writing the paper. Try the following strategies to proofread for apostrophes: If you tend to leave out apostrophes, check every word that ends in -s or -es to see if it needs an apostrophe. If you put in too many apostrophes, check every apostrophe to see if you can justify it with a rule for using apostrophes.

Two words brought together as a compound may be written separately, written as one word, or connected by hyphens. For example, three modern dictionaries all have the same listings for the following compounds: hair stylist hairsplitter hair-raiser

Another modern dictionary, however, lists hairstylist, not hair stylist. Compounding is obviously in a state of flux, and authorities do not always agree in all cases, but the uses of the hyphen offered here are generally agreed upon.

Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun:a one-way street chocolate-covered peanuts well-known author However, when compound modifiers come after a noun, they are not hyphenated:The peanuts were chocolate covered. The author was well known.

Use a hyphen with compound numbers:fortysix sixty-three Our much-loved teacher was sixty-three years old.

Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters:re-sign a petition (vs. resign from a job) semi-independent (but semiconscious) shell-like (but childlike)

Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, all-; with the suffix -elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters:ex-husband self-assured mid-September all-inclusive mayor-elect anti-American T-shirt pre-Civil War mid-1980s

Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break only between syllables:pref-er-ence sell-ing in-di-vid-u-al-ist

For line breaks, divide already hyphenated words only at the hyphen:massproduced selfconscious

For line breaks in words ending in -ing, if a single final consonant in the root word is doubled before the suffix, hyphenate between the consonants; otherwise, hyphenate at the suffix itself:plan-ning run-ning driv-ing call-ing

Never put the first or last letter of a word at the end or beginning of a line, and don't put two-letter suffixes at the beginning of a new line:lovely (Do not separate to leave ly beginning a new line.) eval-u-ate (Separate only on either side of the u; do not leave the initial e- at the end of a line.)

The primary function of quotation marks is to set off and represent exact language (either spoken or written) that has come from somebody else. The quotation mark is also used to designate speech acts in fiction and sometimes poetry. Since you will most often use them when working with outside sources, successful use of quotation marks is a practical defense against accidental plagiarism and an excellent practice in academic honesty.

Direct Quotations Direct quotations involve incorporating another person's exact words into your own writing. 1. Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do not open a quotation and fail to close it at the end of the quoted material.

2. Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence. Mr. Johnson, who was working in his field that morning, said, "The alien spaceship appeared right before my own two eyes."

Do not use a capital letter when the quoted material is a fragment or only a piece of the original material's complete sentence. Although Mr. Johnson has seen odd happenings on the farm, he stated that the spaceship "certainly takes the cake" when it comes to unexplainable activity.

. If a direct quotation is interrupted midsentence, do not capitalize the second part of the quotation. "I didn't see an actual alien being," Mr. Johnson said, "but I sure wish I had."

Quotations are most effective if you use them sparingly and keep them relatively short. Too many quotations in a research paper will get you accused of not producing original thought or material (they may also bore a reader who wants to know primarily what YOU have to say on the subject).

Indirect Quotations Indirect quotations are not exact wordings but rather rephrasings or summaries of another person's words. In this case, it is not necessary to use quotation marks. However, indirect quotations still require proper citations, and you will be commiting plagiarism if you fail to do so. Mr. Johnson, a local farmer, reported last night that he saw an alien spaceship on his own property.

Many writers struggle with when to use direct quotations versus indirect quotations. Use the following tips to guide you in your choice. Use direct quotations when the source material uses language that is particularly striking or notable. Do not rob such language of its power by altering it. Martin Luther King Jr. believed that the end of

slavery was important and of great hope to millions of slaves done horribly wrong.

The above should never stand in for: Martin Luther King Jr. said of the Emancipation Proclamation, "This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice."

Use an indirect quotation (or paraphrase) when you merely need to summarize key incidents or details of the text. Use direct quotations when the author you are quoting has coined a term unique to her or his research and relevant within your own paper.

When to use direct quotes versus indirect quotes is ultimately a choice you'll learn a feeling for with experience. However, always try to have a sense for why you've chosen your quote. In other words, never put quotes in your paper simply because your teacher says, "You must use quotes."

All ready, already Brake, break Course, coarse Hear, here Hole, whole Its, it s Knew, new Know, no Passed, past Piece, peace

Plain, plane Principal, principle Right, write Than, then Their, they re To, too, two

Wear, Where Except, accept Advise, advice Effect, affect Among, between Beside, besides Fewer, less Former, latter Learn, teach

Loose, lose Quiet, quite

Spelling Test