Chaucer Skills and Principles Day 1 Unclear Antecedent An antecedent is the noun to which a pronoun refers. If the antecedent is unclear- difficult to decide the noun to which the pronoun refers-correct the pronoun by using a specific noun in its place. Commonly Confused Words: Beside versus Besides Beside means "next to" while besides means "in addition to." Use of You Only use the word you if you are speaking directly to the reader. If you mean people in general, use one rather than you. If you are referring to yourself, use I. Subject and Verb Agreement The verb of a sentence should argree in number with the subject. The dog eat out of that bowl so I wouldn't use it for cereal. Incorrect The dog eats out of that bowl so I wouldn't use it for cereal. Correct Do not let words that come between the subject and the verb influence the number of the verb. The dog, not the cats, eat my shoes. Incorrect The dog, not the cats, eats my shoes. Correct

Day 2 Numbers through One Hundred Numbers through one hundred are written out as words and not numerals. Numerals Numerals are numbers written out as numbers and not words. Commonly Confused Words: fewer versus less The word fewer is used to modify things that can be counted. The word less is used to modify things that cannot be counted. I have fewer pennies than Highlands Union Bank. I have less sand in my shoes than you do. Commas in Addresses When writing an address, a comma comes between the city and state or city and country.

Subject and Verb Agreement The verb of a sentence should argree in number with the subject. The dog eat out of that bowl so I wouldn't use it for cereal. Incorrect The dog eats out of that bowl so I wouldn't use it for cereal. Correct Do not let words that come between the subject and the verb influence the number of the verb. The dog, not the cats, eat my shoes. Incorrect The dog, not the cats, eats my shoes. Correct

Each Each is singular so it takes a singular verb. Check this by substituting he (or she, or it) to see if the verb is actually singular. If it "sounds right," it is likely that the verb is in the singular. Each of the students goes insane in a different way. He goes insane in a different way.... Each of the students go insane in a different way. She go insane in a different way.... Which sentence is correct? (The sentences with the substitution does not have to make sense. What matters is that the verb "sounds right" with he or she.)

Day 3 The Prefix Self- The prefix self- always has a hyphen after it. Sequence of Verb Tenses In a sentence with two clauses, the verbs must show simultaneous occurance or sequence of occurance. If one verb is in the past and another verb occured before it, the verb that occured first needs to be in the pluperfect or past perfect tense (using the helping verbs had, has etcetera). Because she had murdered him, Myron did not come to Sally's party. NOT Because she murdered him, Myron did not come to Sally's party. Must of, Should of, Could of, Would of These are incorrect. They are written the way they sound as contractions, but they should be the following: must have (must've), should have (should've), could have (could've), would have (would've).

Lead versus Lead versus Led Lead means a kind of metal if it is a noun. Lead means to go before or to show the way if it is a verb. The past tense of lead is led. The magician was unable to turn our golden girl into a lead statue. The magician leads us when we go into battle. The magician led us to the hidden treasure. Homophone A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word. It may be spelled the same or differently. Homo--same Phone--sound

Day 4Perfect A commonly misused absolute superlative is perfect. Perfect means "completely without flaws." Something cannot be more or the most flawless; therefore, more perfect and most perfect are incorrect. Capitalization of Words in Titles Main words of all titles are capitalized. Capitalize the following: the first word the last word the first word after a colon indicating a subtitle the word after a hyphen in a compound word. Do not capitalize the following: articles (a, an, the) prepositions (before, of, between, under,through, etcetera) conjunctions (and, but, for, etcetera) the to in an infinitive (to run, to eat).

Antecedent The antecedent is the noun to which a pronoun refers. The pronoun should be in the same number as its antecedent. Imprecise Adjective: Nice The adjective nice is overused and does not add much to the meaning of the sentence because the meaning is vague. If you find yourself wanting to use it, try to find an alternative and more precise way to state what you mean. She was nice. Miranda always treated her friends with respect.

Day 5 Split Infinitives In English, an infinitive is a verb form created from the word to and the verb. For example, the infinitive of run is to run. Splitting an infinitive means putting a word between the to and the verb. Since one cannot literally split an infinitive in Latin (amare=to love with the are making the verb an infinitive), this has become a rule in English. to swiftly run is incorrect to run swiftly is correct Capitalization of the Names of Languages The names of languages are always capitalized. Adverbs Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They often end in –ly. Adjectives never describe other adjectives; they only describe nouns or pronouns.