1. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. PART SEVEN THE VISUAL GUIDE TO COLLEGE COMPOSITION JOANNA LEAKE * JAMES KNUDSEN PowerPoint by Katherine Knapp Grubbs University of Maryland at College Park

2. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. PROOFREADING YOUR ESSAY Focus on grammar and mechanics

3. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. THE FATAL FOUR 1. Complete sentence or a sentence fragment? 2. Run-on sentence or a comma splice? 3. Subject/verb agreement 4. Verb tenses: using the past tense correctly

4. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. COMPLETE SENTENCE OR FRAGMENT? Every sentence has a subject and verb; fragments do not have both Find the verb and the subject separately Converter words change the sentences into fragments—watch out. Solutions—add something to the end or beginning of the fragment

5. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. RUN-ON SENTENCE OR COMMA SPLICE? Two sentences with no punctuation between them Two sentences with a comma between them Separate sentences with proper punctuation or a conjunction

6. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. SUBJECT/VERB AGREEMENT Identify the subject and verb in the sentence Match the subject with the correct “category” Read the chart in The Visual Guide to College Composition Watch for group nouns Watch for the verb “to be”

7. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. VERB TENSES Using the past tense correctly Add ed to the verb or change its spelling Use “helper” words

8. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. SMALL STUFF YOU NEED TO SWEAT Spelling Pronouns and antecedents Word endings Adverbs and adjectives Capital letters Punctuation marks

9. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. SPELLING Carry out a list of words you commonly misspell with you Watch for words that sound the same but are spelled differently Learn basic spelling rules Carry a dictionary

10. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. PRONOUNS AND ANTECEDENTS Pronouns are words that stand for nouns Watch agreement with nouns

11. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. WORD ENDINGS Check plurals and words that end in ed

12. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. ADVERBS AND ADJECTIVES Adjectives tell “what kind” and modify nouns Adverbs modify another adverb, verb, or adjective

13. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. CAPITAL LETTERS Capitalize the first word in sentences and the word I Capitalize calendar terms Capitalize specific names of places, people, and things Capitalize directions if they refer to a specific place Capitalize words in a title Capitalize the first word in a line of dialogue Do not capitalize seasons

14. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. PUNCTUATION MARKS Commas—know when to use them End marks Apostrophes Use underlining or italics, depending on the medium

15. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. FORMAT FOR PAPERS Professional look—white paper or printer paper Wide margins on all sides Keep the text clear Double-space and indent to make it easy to read Put personal and course data on every paper

16. ©2003 Pearson Education Inc., publishing as Longman Publishers. Visit the Companion Website to The Visual Guide to College Composition http://www.ablongman.com/leake