FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Recognizing and eliminating the twenty most common errors

SENTENCE STYLE

Matching subjects and predicates

Making comparisons complete, consistent, and clear

Revising for consistency and completeness

Combining sentences with coordination

Writing sentences with subordination

Using coordination and subordination

Creating parallel words or phrases

Revising sentences for parallelism

Revising for parallelism and supplying necessary words

Revising for verb tense and mood

Eliminating shifts in voice and point of view

Eliminating shifts between direct and indirect discourse

Eliminating shifts in tone and diction

Emphasizing main ideas

Eliminating unnecessary words and phrases

Revising for conciseness

Varying sentence length

SENTENCE GRAMMAR

Identifying subjects and predicates

Identifying verbs and verb phrases

Identifying nouns and articles

Identifying pronouns and antecedents

Identifying adjectives and adverbs

Adding adjectives and adverbs

Identifying prepositions

Identifying conjunctions

Identifying conjunctions and interjections

Identifying the parts of speech

Identifying subjects

Identifying predicates

Identifying prepositional phrases

Using prepositional phrases

Identifying verbal phrases

Identifying prepositional, verbal, absolute, and appositive phrases

Adding prepositional, verbal, absolute, and appositive phrases

Using verbal, absolute, and appositive phrases to combine sentences

Identifying dependent clauses

Adding dependent clauses

Distinguishing between phrases and clauses

Classifying sentences grammatically and functionally

Using irregular verb forms

Editing verb forms

Distinguishing between lie and lay, sit and set, rise and raise

Deciding on verb tenses

Sequencing tenses

Converting the voice of a sentence

Using subjunctive mood

Selecting verbs that agree with their subjects

Making subjects and verbs agree

Using adjectives and adverbs appropriately

Using comparative and superlative modifiers appropriately

Revising sentences with misplaced modifiers

Revising squinting modifiers, disruptive modifiers, and split infinitives

Revising dangling modifiers

Using subjective case pronouns

Using objective case pronouns

Using possessive case pronouns

Using who, whoever, whom, or whomever

Using pronouns in compound structures, appositives, elliptical clauses; choosing between we and us before a noun

Maintaining pronoun-antecedent agreement

Clarifying pronoun reference

Revising to clarify pronoun reference

Revising comma splices and fused sentences

Revising comma splices

Revising comma splices and fused sentences

Eliminating sentence fragments

Revising a paragraph to eliminate sentence fragments

WORDS/GLOSSARY

Using formal register

Checking for correct denotation

Revising sentences to change connotations

Considering connotation

Using specific and concrete words

Thinking about similes and metaphors

Identifying stereotypes

Identifying and revising sexist language

Rewriting to eliminate offensive references

Recognizing correct spellings

Distinguishing between homonyms

Spelling plurals

Selecting the appropriate word

Editing inappropriate words

PUNCTUATION/MECHANICS

Using a comma to set off introductory elements

Using a comma in compound sentences

Recognizing restrictive and nonrestrictive elements

Using commas to set off items in a series

Using commas to set off parenthetical and transitional expressions, contrasting elements, interjections, direct address, and tag questions

Using commas with dates, addresses, titles, numbers, and quotations

Eliminating unnecessary and inappropriate commas

Using semicolons to link clauses

Eliminating misused semicolons

Using periods appropriately

Using question marks appropriately

Using exclamation points appropriately

Using apostrophes to signal possession

Using apostrophes to create contractions

Using quotation marks to signal direct quotations

Using quotation marks for definitions and titles

Using quotation marks appropriately

Using parentheses and brackets

Using dashes

Using colons

Using ellipses

Reviewing punctuation marks

Capitalizing

Using abbreviations

Spelling out numbers and using figures

Using italics

Using hyphens in compounds and with prefixes

Using hyphens appropriately

FOR MULTILINGUAL WRITERS

Identifying count and noncount nouns

Using appropriate determiners; stating plural forms explicitly

Using articles appropriately

Positioning modifiers

Using the present, the present perfect, and the past forms of verbs

Using specified forms of verbs

Identifying tenses and forms of verbs

Using verbs appropriately

Using prepositions idiomatically

Recognizing and using two-word verbs

Expressing subjects and objects explicitly

Editing for English word order

Using noun clauses, infinitives, and gerunds appropriately

Using adjective clauses well

Writing conditional sentences

Answers to the Even-Numbered Exercises