Grammer homework #3

Grammar Assignment 3: Capitalization, Commas in a Series, and Parallelism

Introduction to Assignment: This assignment contains a number of sections. Each section contains a reading followed by a practice exercise. To complete the assignment, you need to respond to all the practice exercises in the assignment.

Directions: Type out the answers to all the practice exercises on a separate sheet of paper. This sheet of paper or document will be known as the “Answer Sheet for Grammar Assignment 3” Be sure to number your answer sheet in the same way the practice exercises are numbered. For this assignment, your answer sheet should be numbered from 1 through 36. Also, be aware that for some of the practice exercises you have to rewrite the sentences to complete the practice, and for some of the practice exercise you do not have to rewrite the sentences to complete the practice.

Where and How to Submit Assignment:  When you complete the assignment, you will submit it either by uploading it as an attachment or by cutting and pasting the assignment from your word processing program into the textbox. Both of these options appear at the bottom of the assignment page. If you cut and paste your assignment into the textbox, be sure to do so by choosing the option to “Paste from Word.” Using this option will maintain your original formatting. To access the “Paste from Word” option, click on the three dots that appear in the box in the far right hand corner of the textbox. After you do this, several more buttons should appear. Once these buttons appear, click on the arrow beside the picture of the clipboard in order to see the option “Paste from Word.” Click on this option and follow the directions provided.

If you send the assignment as an attachment, name the attachment in the following way: GA3LastName. For example, if I were submitting the assignment as an attachment, I would name the attachment GA3Tolbert.

If you submit the exercise as an attachment, be sure to save it and attach it as a Rich Text Format (RTF) since the majority of computers can open an RTF attachment. If you submit an assignment as an attachment that my computer will not open, I will return the assignment to you ungraded. The assignment will remain ungraded until you submit it in a form my computer will open.

When to Submit Your Assignment:Grammar Assignment 3 is due by 11:59 Eastern Standard Time on Sunday, November 9, 2014.

How to Format Assignment:

Title: Center the following information at the top of the completed exercise:

Answer Sheet for Grammar Assignment 3

Font: 12pt Times New Roman

Spacing: Double Spacing

If you have any questions about how to do Grammar Assignment 3 or how to submit it, be sure to let me know.

Section 1: Capitalization [The following information is taken from pp. 79-85 ofWriting for Success]

Text messages, casual e-mails, and instant messages often ignore the rules ofcapitalization. In fact, it can seem unnecessary to capitalize in these contexts. In other, more formal forms of communication, however, knowing the basic rules of capitalization and using capitalization correctly gives the reader the impression that you choose your words carefully and care about the ideas you are conveying.

Capitalize the First Word of a Sentence

Incorrect: the museum has a new butterfly exhibit.

Correct: The museum has a new butterfly exhibit.

Incorrect: cooking can be therapeutic.

Correct: Cooking can be therapeutic.

Capitalize Proper Nouns

Proper nouns—the names of specific people, places, objects, streets, buildings, events, or titles of individuals—are always capitalized.

Incorrect: He grew up in harlem, newyork.

Correct: He grew up in Harlem, NewYork.

Incorrect: The sears tower in chicago has a new name.

Correct: The Sears Tower in Chicago has a new name.

Tip

Always capitalize nationalities, races, languages, and religions. For example, American, African American, Hispanic, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, and so on.

Do not capitalize nouns for people, places, things, streets, buildings, events, and titles when the noun is used in general or common way. See the following chart for the difference between proper nouns and common nouns.

Capitalizing Family Relationships

Terms that describe family relationships such as “mother,” “father,” “aunt,” “uncle,” etc. should be capitalized if they are used in place of a person’s name or as part of a person’s name.

Example 1: The principal asked Mother to be a chaperone for the field trip.

Example 2: We visited Uncle Leo last August.

HOWEVER

Terms that describe family relationships should not be capitalized if a possessive pronoun such as “my,” “our,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “their” or an article such as “an,” “a,” “the” comes before the term.

Example 1: My mother is taller than my father.

Example 2: Aunt Geraldine is one of my favorite aunts.

Capitalizing Geographical Directions

Do not capitalize words such as “north,” “south,” “east,” “west” when these words are used as common nouns to refer to directions.

Example 1: The storm front moved into the city from the west.

Example 2: Angrily, Michael realized that he was driving north when he should have been driving south.

HOWEVER

Do capitalize words such as “north,” “south,” “east,” “west” when the words are used as proper nouns to refer to specific geographical locations.

Example 1: At the end of the Civil War, the South surrendered to the North.

Example 2: The West Coast includes the coastlines of Washington, Oregon, and California.

Capitalize Days of the Week, Months of the Year, and Holidays

Incorrect: On wednesday, I will be traveling to Austin for a music festival.

Correct: On Wednesday, I will be traveling to Austin for a music festival.

Incorrect: The fouth of july is my favorite holiday.

Correct: The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday.

Capitalize Titles

Incorrect: The play fences by August Wilson is one of my favorites.

Correct: The play Fences by August Wilson is one of my favorites.

Incorrect: The preside of the unitedstates will be speaking at my university.

Correct: The President of the UnitedStates will be speaking at my university.

NOTE: Articles (“a,” “an,” “the”) and prepositions in a title are not capitalized unless they are the first word of the title.

      To Kill a Mockingbird

      All Quiet on the Western Front

      The Great Gatsby

Tip

Computer-related words such as “Internet” and “World Wide Web” are usually capitalized; however, “e-mail” and “online” are never capitalized.

Practice 1: On your answer sheet, correct the errors in capitalization in the following sentences. Be aware some words are capitalized that should not be capitalized, and some words are not capitalized that should be capitalized. You will need to rewrite the sentences to complete this practice.

1. The prince of England enjoys playing polo.

2. “Ode to a nightingale” is a sad poem.

3. My sister loves to read magazines such as the new yorker.

4. To get to the restaurant, you need to drive West for four miles on hamilton avenue and then turn on to Richlands parkway and drive south for two miles.

5. The house on Mango street is an excellent Novel written by sandra cisneros.

6. My Father was very angry when he saw his new lexus had a bent fender.

7. My physician, dr. alvarez, always makes me feel comfortable in her office.

8. david grann’s book the lost City of Zimitates the Snake-like winding of the amazon river.  

9. There are three distinct Stories that are like twists in the amazon.

10. In the Book, the Author describes his journey to the amazon.

Section 2: Section 2: Commas with items in a series [The following information about commas with items in a series is taken from p. 107 ofWriting for Success. For additional information about using commas in a series, view Lecture 1 in Module 4:Accuracy in Punctuation and Mechanicslocated under the Modules tab in theCourse Resources area of the course site.] 

When you want to list several nouns in a sentence, you separate each word with a comma. This allows the reader to pause after each item and identify which words are included in the grouping. When you list items in a sentence, put a comma after each noun, then add the word and before the last item. However, you do not need to include a comma after the last item.

Examples:

We’ll need to get flour, tomatoes, and cheese at the store.

The pizza will be topped with olives,peppers, and pineapple chunks

NOTE: If there are only two items in the list, then you do not need a comma before and. 

Examples:

Mary went to the store to buy apples and oranges. [Since there are only two items in the list, you do not need a comma after apples]

Howard wanted only pepperoni and mushrooms on his pizza. [Since there are only two items in the list, you do not need a comma after pepperoni.]

Practice 2: On your answer sheet, place commas in the following sentences where needed. One of the sentences is correct. For the sentence that is correct, type a C after its number. You will need to rewrite the sentences to correct this practice.

11. Sarah had to go to the store study for her chemistry final and clean up the kitchen.

12. Tuesday was an uneventful and an unproductive day.

13. We will need to prepare bank statements for the Franks the Todds and the Smiths.

14. Shaking hands kissing babies and giving speeches are tasks that all politicians must do.

15. Michael can talk write and sing in six languages.

16. Mondays Tuesdays and Wednesdays are much busier for me than Thursdays and Fridays.

Section 3: Parallelism in lists [The following information about parallelism in lists is taken from pp. 273-275 of Writing for Success. For additional information about parallelism in lists, view Lecture 4 in Module 3: Accuracy in Modifierslocated under the Modules tab in theCourse Resources area of the course site.]

Parallelism is the use of similar structure in related words, clauses, or phrases. It creates a sense of rhythm and balance within a sentence. As readers, we often correct faulty parallelism—a lack of parallel structure—intuitively because an unbalanced sentence sounds awkward and poorly constructed. Read the following sentences aloud:

Faulty parallelism: Kelly had to iron, do the washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

Faulty parallelism: Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and to have good eyesight.

Faulty parallelism: Ali prefers jeans to wearing a suit.

All of these sentences contain faulty parallelism. Although they are factually correct, the construction is clunky and confusing. In the first example, three different verb forms are used. In the second and third examples, the writer begins each sentence by using a noun (coordination, jeans), but ends with a phrase (to have good eyesight, wearing a suit. Now read the same three sentences that have correct parallelism.

Correct parallelism: Kelly had to do the ironing, washing, and shopping before her parents arrived.

Correct parallelism: Driving a car requires coordination, patience, and good eyesight.

Correct parallelism: Ali prefers wearing jeans to wearing a suit.

When these sentences are written using a parallel structure, they sound more aesthetically pleasing because they are balanced. Repetition of grammatical construction also minimizes the amount of work the reader has to do to decode the sentence. This enables the reader to focus on the main idea in the sentence and not on how the sentence is put together.

Tip

A simple way to check for parallelism in your writing is to make sure you have paired nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, and so on. Underline each element in a sentence and check that the corresponding element uses the same grammatical form.

Creating Parallelism Using Coordinating Conjunctions

When you connect two clauses using a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor,but, or, yet, so), make sure that the same grammatical structure is used on each side of the conjunction. Take a look at the following example:

Faulty parallelism: When I walk the dog, I like to listen to music andtalking to friends on the phone.

Correct parallelism: When I walk the dog, I like listening to music andtalking to friends on the phone.

The first sentence uses two different verb forms (to listen, talking). In the second sentence, the grammatical construction on each side of the coordinating conjunction (and) is the same, creating a parallel sentence.

The same technique should be used for joining items or lists in a series:

Faulty parallelism: This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lowering workers’ wages.

Correct parallelism: This committee needs to decide whether the company should reduce its workforce, cut its benefits, or lower workers’ wages. 

The first sentence contains two items that use the same verb construction (reduce, cut) and a third item that uses a different verb form (lowering). The second sentence uses the same verb construction in all three items, creating a parallel structure.

Practice 3: On your answer sheet, correct the errors in parallelism in the following sentences. All the sentences need to be corrected. You will need to rewrite the sentences to complete this practice.

17. Mr. Halloway enjoys reading and to play his guitar.

18. Breaking out of the prison compound, the escapees moved carefully, quietly, and they were quick.

19. I have read the book, seen the play, and I have watched the movie.

20. The doctor told Mrs. Franklin to eat healthier, exercise more, and that she should get more sleep.

21. A completely full in-box the first thing in the morning can be frustrating, time-consuming, and it can annoy you.

Section 4: Parallelism with comparisons [The following information about parallelism in comparisons is taken from pp. 275-276 in Writing for Success.]

When you are making a comparison, the two items being compared should have a parallel structure. Comparing two items without using parallel structure can lead to confusion about what is being compared. Comparisons frequently use the words than or as, and the items on each side of these comparison words should be parallel. Take a look at the following example:

 Faulty parallelism: Swimming in the ocean is much tougher than a pool.

Correct parallelism: Swimming in the ocean is much tougher thanswimming in a pool.

In the first sentence, the elements before the comparison word (than) are not equal to the elements after the comparison word. It appears that the writer is comparing an action (swimming) with a noun (a pool). In the second sentence, the writer uses the same grammatical construction to create a parallel structure. This clarifies that an action is being compared with another action.

To correct some instances of faulty parallelism, it may be necessary to add or delete words in a sentence.

Faulty parallelism: A brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.

Correct parallelism: Going for a brisk walk is as beneficial to your health as going for a run.

 In this example, it is necessary to add the verb phrase going for to the sentence in order to clarify that the act of walking is being compared to the act of running.