Most Common Mistakes Made

Fragments are incomplete sentences. In some, fragments are disconnected from the main clause because of an unnecessary period. EX: I enjoy playing many sports. Such as football, basketball, and volleyball. Correction: I enjoy playing many sports, such as football, basketball, and volleyball. Other fragments are written as if they should be the main clause, yet they lack a subject or main verb. EX: The students in my 6th period class. Correction: The students in my sixth period class always listen to me.

Two independent clauses (sentences) are separated (spliced) by a comma; the sentence is grammatically incorrect. You can’t have just a comma separating TWO independent clauses. EX: He enjoys playing baseball, he hopes to play professionally one day. EX: He practiced every day, he hoped to make it to the pros one day.

1. Since you have two sentences really on both sides of the comma, you can simply keep the comma and ADD a coordinating conjunction, which creates a compound sentence. You always need both when you connect two indep. clauses Conjunctions: but, or, yet, for, and, nor, so EX: He enjoys playing baseball, and he hopes to play professionally one day. DO NOT use a comma every time you use a conjunction. If you don’t have two indep. clauses, you don’t need it. He practiced every day and hoped to make it to the pros one day.

If the two independent clauses are related to one another and contain similar thoughts, you can use a semicolon to separate them. EX: He practiced every day; he hoped to make it to the pros one day. EX: My birthday is in January; my best friend’s is in May.

Sentences punctuated incorrectly; two independent clauses joined together with no punctuation or words to connect the clauses. EX: I didn’t know which college to choose there were too many that I liked. EX: They weren’t very good students they were great athletes. How could you correct these????

Commas are needed after an introductory element. These elements set up the independent clause. The first word often signals the introductory clause. EX: If they want to win, the Titan baseball team must practice every day. EX: When students don’t do their work they tend to fail their classes. EX: Until the spring course catalogues will not be available. Where should we place the comma? Where does the independent clause start?

I have seen this error ALL year in nearly ALL of your papers, so it’s time we talk about it, because this error slows your readers down. It also makes your writing look really “babyish”. Pronouns are words like she, he, it, itself, they, their, themselves, etc. Pronouns are meant to replace a noun that came before it in the sentence, the antecedent. The antecedent DETERMINES what pronoun is used. If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be. If the antecedent is masculine, the pronoun must be. That is why we call it an agreement between the two. Example: John slowed down on the highway when he saw the state trooper in his mirror. What is the pronoun? What is the antecedent?

Are these correct or incorrect? 1. A student should always know that importance of keeping up their grades. 2. I can’t believe that someone left their dog in the car when it was so hot outside. Fill in the blank with the correct pronoun you should use: 1. No one is allowed to carry _______ phone during graduation, but no one follows that rule. 2. Teachers should not allow ________ students to turn in work late.

Identify the error in each and how they can be fixed.  I enjoy teaching the College Readiness class, I also like teaching Journalism and Literature as well.  Jason’s parents watch several TV shows every week. Such as Criminal Minds, Chicago PD, and Grey’s Anatomy.  I wanted to go to the movies my father said I had to do chores first.  Everybody should have their notebooks in class next week.  During the home football games students often shot up the “U” to show their school spirit.