Part Two Writing Effective Sentences SubjectVerb Agreement Verbs

Part Two: Writing Effective Sentences

Subject-Verb Agreement �Verbs must agree with its subject in number and person. • Singular �I work, you work, he works �I bike, you bike, she bikes • Plural �We work, you work, they work �We bike, you bike, they bike

Recognizing Subject-Verb Agreement �Faulty agreements: • George hate to work. • Gail love to bike. �Correct agreements: • George hates to work. • Gail loves to bike.

Exercise

Correct these sentences �Bruce drive a long way to work. �You wouldn’t knows it, but Greg are six feet four inches tall. �When is we going to the movies? �Who isn’t know how to add two plus two? �I is the fastest runner I knows.

Verb Forms and Tenses �Every Verb has four main forms • Base form �Talk • Past �Talked • Present Participle �(am) Talking • Past Participle �(Have) Talked

Irregular Verb Forms �Irregular verbs can have completely different spellings from its base form. • Example: To Be �Base: Be �Past: Was �Present Participle: (am) Being �Past Participle: (have) Been What are some other examples of Irregular verbs? Is this a reason why English is such a hard language to learn and master?

Verb Tenses �The Simple Tenses • Present �We walk to school. • Past �We walked to school yesterday. • Future �Tomorrow we will walk to school.

Verb Tenses �The Perfect Tenses • Present perfect �George has worked for five hours. (He is still working) • Past perfect �After five hours of work, it was quitting time. (Shows that there is an end to the work) • Future perfect �George will have worked for five hours by quitting time. (First he will work for five hours, and then it is quitting time)

Verb Tenses � Progressive Tenses • Present Progressive �Dad is watching television • Past Progressive �Dad was watching television. • Future Progressive �Dad will be watching television. • Present Perfect Progressive �Dad has been trying to watch television. • Past Perfect Progressive �Dad had been trying to watch television. • Future Perfect Progressive �Dad will have been watching television.

Pronoun Problems � Using ‘their’ instead of he or she, or his or her. � Ambiguous or implied reference • Pronoun could refer to one or more subject � Vague references • Using they, you, or it instead of clearly stating the subject � Pronoun case • Using incorrect pronoun cases �Example: Her is tall. �Correction: She is tall.

Shifts and Mixed Constructions �Consistent verb tenses • Past and present get mixed �Example: Penelope walked all day and when she gets to the store they don’t have what she wanted. �Correction: Penelope walks all day and when she gets to the store they don’t have what she wants.

�Consistent Point of View • Confusing the first, second, or third person POV. �Example: My coworkers asked for a raise, but you are supposed to work hard for that. �Correction: My coworkers asked for a raise, but they are supposed to work hard for that.

Adjectives and Adverbs �Distinguishing the two • Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns • Adverbs modify verbs, an adjective, or another adverb

�Understand Comparative and Superlative Adjectives and Adverbs �Compare: I am bigger than you. �Superlative: I am the fastest runner here. • Adjective: Big, Bigger, Biggest • Adverb: Fast, Faster, fastest

Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers �Misplaced Modifiers • A word, phrase, or clause that does not clearly modify the intended word • Can generally be moved in the sentence to clarify meaning �Dangling Modifiers • This does not modify anything in the sentence • Usually appears at the beginning of the sentence • It cannot simply be moved to clarify the meaning