1. William Butler Yeats Week Skills and Principles Day 1 Capitalization of Names of Awards Since the names of awards are proper nouns, they are capitalized. Fred won the Pulitzer Prize for his article on the importance of buffing pennies to a beautiful shine for patriotic reasons. Use of an Adjective Qualifier In some cases, nouns will need to be limited in scope so that the sentence is not illogical. Teenagers are never on time. This is not a logical sentence since there are some teenagers who are on time. Thus, if one adds many to the sentence, the sentence is now more logical. Many teenagers are never on time.

2. Gerund A gerund is a noun formed from a verb by adding -ing to the verb. A gerund can never be used as the verb of a sentence. run--running, stop--stopping Pronoun Case before a Gerund Use a possessive pronoun before a gerund. We thought him thinking about the reasons for genetic mutation strange. Incorrect We though his thinking about the reasons for genetic mutation strange. Correct Irregular Verb--Seek The present tense is seek. The past tense is sought. I seeked the holy grail of linguistics--the Language Acquisition Device. Incorrect I sought the holy grail of linguistics--the Language Acquistion Device. Correct

3. Ordinal numbers Numbers that show order (first, second etcetera) are written out as words. She is the 1st student to realize that the danger was in the hallway. Incorrect She is the first student to realize that the danger was in the hallway. Correct

4. Day 2 Unclear Antecedent: You and They If the pronouns you and they are used, make sure that there is actually an antecedent identifiable in the passage. If there is not, revise the sentence to make sure that the antecedent is clear. Compound Sentence A compound sentence is a sentence comprised of two complete independent clauses joined with a comma and a coordinating conjunction. 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). Adverbs Modify Adjectives Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They often end in –ly. Make sure that you use the adverb form when describing an adjective. It is a really beautiful example of taxidermy, isn't it?

5. Titles of Poems Unless a poem is an epic or of book length for some other reason, put its title in quotation marks. If it is book length, underline or italicize it.

6. Day 3 Choppy Sentences In order to make it more pleasant to read, sentence variety--variations in length and sentence type--adds ease of reading and interest to a piece of writing. A series of short, simple sentences should be combined to add variety and make writing more concise. Faulty Parallel Structure Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. Faulty parallel structure is when two or more similar pieces of information are expressed in different structures. To correct this error, place all pieces of similar information into the same syntactic structure.

7. Comparative and Superlative Forms of Adjectives Comparative Form and Superlative Form (-er/-est) one-syllable adjectives two-syllable adjectives ending in -y or -er Comparative Form and Superlative Form (more/most) adjectives of three or more syllables (and two-syllable adjectives not ending in -y/-er) Do not double up (use both the -er/-est form with more or most) Subject and Verb Agreement: Words Intervening The verb of a sentence should agree in number with the subject.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

8. Day 4 Commas to Set Off Parallel Phrase Use commas before and after a phrase that parallels what has come before it so that it is set off from the rest of the sentence. Commonly Confused Words: Adopt versus Adapt Adopt means to make something one's own. Adapt means to make changes according to specific guidelines. Subject and Verb Agreement: Words Intervening The verb of a sentence should agree in number with the subject. 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

9. The Past Perfect Tense The past perfect tense (also know as the pluperfect) is used to show that one action in the past occured before another action in the past. It is formed by adding the auxilary verb had before the main verb. For example, if Myron called his mother before he told his friends she had said he couldn't go to the concert, you would use the past perfect tense for the verb about Myron calling his mother: Myron had called his mother and then told his friends he could not go to the concert. If the past perfect requires two had's as in "Myron had had to go to the concert because his mother forced him to go," do not put a comma between the two had's.

10. Day 5 Subject and Verb Agreement: Much plus a Verb The verb of a sentence should agree in number with the subject. In the case of sentences that have the word much as the subject, the verb is singular. Much of the flavored aperitif were gone. Incorrect Much of the flavored aperitif was gone. Correct Spelling Out Decades When one refers to a decade, spell it out rather than use numerals. I'm glad I wasn't born in the 90s. Incorrect I'm glad I wasn't born in the nineties. Correct Exclamation Point The exclamation point is used after an interjection or at the end of a sentence showing strong emotion. Do not overuse the exclamation point.

11. Interrupter An interrupter is a word or phrase that breaks the flow of a sentence--usually a comment. Interrupters are separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. The season, by the way, is winter. Unclear Antecedent: Pronoun Referents 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. Be careful not to use the same pronoun twice to refer to two different antecedents. At times, a sentence can be rewritten to bring the pronoun closer to its antecedent and thus make the antecedent clear. Tim asked him if he knew him. To whom do the him's refer? Tim asked Marcus if Marcus knew Michael.