©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Kitty O. Locker Stephen Kyo Kaczmarek Kathryn Braun BUSINESS COMMUNICATION Building Critical Skills 2 nd Canadian Edition

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Module 14 Editing for Grammar and Punctuation Skills to Use standard edited English Fix common grammatical errors Use punctuation correctly Mark errors as you proofread

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Module 14 Editing for Grammar and Punctuation Module Outline What grammatical errors should I focus on? How can I fix sentence errors? When should I use commas? What punctuation should I use inside sentences? What do I use when I quote sources? How should I write numbers and dates? How do I mark errors I find when proofreading?

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Subject-verb agreementSubject-verb agreement Noun-pronoun agreementNoun-pronoun agreement Pronoun casePronoun case Dangling modifiersDangling modifiers Misplaced modifiersMisplaced modifiers Predication errorsPredication errors Six Common Grammatical Errors

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Sentence Concerns Learn to recognize: –Main/independent clauses –Subordinate/dependent clauses –Phrases

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Know how to fixKnow how to fix –Comma splices –Run-Ons –Sentence Fragments Sentence Concerns (continued)

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Know how to use commasKnow how to use commas –After introductory clauses –Around nonessential clauses –After the first clause in a compound sentence if the clauses are very long or if they have different subjects –To separate items in a series Comma Concerns

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Do not use commas: –To separate essential information –To separate the subject from the verb –To join independent clauses without a conjunction. Comma Concerns (continued)

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Common Punctuation Marks Period:We’re stopping. Semicolon:What comes next is another complete thought, closely related to what I just said. Colon:What comes next is an illustration, an example, or a qualification. Comma:What comes next is a slight turn, but we’re going in the same direction.

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Know when to useKnow when to use –“Quotation Marks.” –[Square Brackets.] –Ellipses... –Underlining and Italics. Italics. Quoting Research Sources

©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited. All rights reserved. Spell out numbers from one to nine.Spell out numbers from one to nine. –Exceptions: Money & numbers in a series with at least one number 10 or greater. Use numerals for 10 and greater.Use numerals for 10 and greater. –Exception: Numbers at the beginning of sentences. Use numbers for the day and year in dates.Use numbers for the day and year in dates. Numbers and Dates