Anglo Saxons Skills and Principles

Group 1

Proper Noun--Races A

proper noun is a noun that refers to a specific person, place or thing. It is capitalized. The names of races are proper nouns.

Split Infinitives I

n 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 -are

making the verb an infinitive), this has become a rule in with the English.

to swiftly run

is incorrect

to run swiftly

is correct

The Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense (also known as the pluperfect) is used to show that one action in the past occurred before another action in the past. It is formed by adding the auxiliary 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.

Sequence of Verb Tenses I

n a sentence with two clauses, the verbs must show simultaneous occurrence or sequence of occurrence. If one verb is in the past and another verb occurred before it, the verb that occurred 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.

Relative Pronouns

Group 2 When referring to people, use

who

,

whom

or

whose

. Use

who

to refer to people that are subjects,

whom

to refer to people that are objects and

whose

to refer to people who are possessing something.

When referring to things, use

which

(preceded by a comma) in clauses that are not important to the main meaning of the sentence. Never use

which

to refer to people because this implies that the person is an object rather than a human being. When referring to things, use

that

(not preceded by a comma) to refer to things in clauses that are important to the main meaning of the sentence.

Commonly Confused Words: Between and Among

Use

between

when there are two elements.

Use

among

when there are more than two elements.

Use of Hyphens with Compound Nouns

Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single noun.

Frank is terrified of his mother-in-law.

Commonly Confused Words: Accept versus Except

Accept

means

to receive something

.

E

xcept

means

other than __________

.

Indefinite Pronoun: Everything

Everything

is singular and thus takes a singular verb.

Everything remind me of my dog. Incorrect Everything reminds me of my dog. Correct

Group 3

Irregular Past Participle: Begun

M

ost past participles are formed directly from the past tense of the verb.

I passed the town.

I have passed the town.

Some past participles are irregular.

Begun

is an irregular past participle.

Myron began the reign of terror quietly. Myron has began the reign of terror quietly. Incorrect Myron has begun the reign of terror quietly. Correct

Dangling Modifiers

Modifiers give additional information. They need to be close to the word or words that they modify. A dangling modifier is a modifier that does not seem to modify anything. To correct this error, the sentence in which it appears needs to be rearranged or rewritten entirely.

Double subject

Do not use a pronoun directly after its antecedent as the subject of a sentence. Antecedent is the noun or pronoun to which the pronoun refers.

Tina she ate the entire raw steak. Incorrect Tina ate the entire raw steak. Correct

Active Voice versus Passive Voice A

ctive voice has the subject doing something to the object.

Passive voice has something being done to the subject by an unknown agent or by something in the prepositional phrase

by _______________.

Use active voice as much as possible. Only use passive when you have a specific reason.

The badger was eaten by the hungry class. Passive The hungry class ate the badger. Active

Group 4

Punctuation inside Quotation Marks

When a period or comma follows a word, phrase or sentence enclosed in quotation marks, the period or comma is located inside the quotation marks.

Run-on Sentence: Comma Splice

Run-on sentences happen when there are two independent clauses not separated by any form of punctuation at all or by an incorrect form such as a comma by itself. Comma splices are a type of run-on sentence that happens when there are two independent clauses separated only by a comma. The error can be corrected by adding a conjunction after the comma, a period, a semicolon, or a colon to separate the two sentences.

Commas in a Series

When one has a group of elements that are coordinate and in series, there must be commas between the elements. The comma before the conjunction and the final element is optional and is called an "Oxford comma.“ We bought a dog , a sled , a cat and a pound of venison.

We bought a dog , a sled , a cat , and a pound of venison. (This sentence includes the "Oxford comma.")

Group 5

Numbers at the Beginning of a Sentence

Spell out numbers that occur at the beginning of a sentence. Do not begin sentences using numerals.

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.

Comma after Introductory Phrases

Use a comma after a phrase that introduces a sentence.

Commonly Confused Words: Its versus It's

Its means

belonging to it.

It's h

is means

it is

NOT her its NOT NOT hi's he'r it's he's = he is she's = she is it's = it is

Subordinate Clause

A subordinate clause--sometimes called a

dependent clause

--will begin with a subordinate conjunction or a relative pronoun and will contain both a subject and a verb. This combination of words will

not

form a complete sentence. It will, instead, make a reader want additional information to finish the thought. If it comes at the beginning of the sentence, put a comma after it. If it comes at the end of a sentence, do not put a comma before it.

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