Fragments, Run-ons And Comma-Splice Errors

What are these tricky types of errors that are so common in written English?

1) A fragment is an incomplete sentence- it is missing either its subject or its verb, or does not express a complete idea.

EXAMPLES: Is beautiful today. Because the temperature has risen slightly. (Both fragments! Can you see what is missing in each?)

For more information about fragment errors (and how to avoid them)  from Chomp Chomp, click here.

For practice finding and fixing fragments errors, try these, from the Purdue Owl, Chomp Chomp, and other popular grammar/writing sites:

• Practice One (finding fragments)
• Practice Two (fragment or not?)
• Practice Three (fragment or not?- more challenging)
• Practice Four (Find the correct sentence)
• Practice Five (Find the correct sentence)

2) A run-on is when two or more sentences (or "independent clauses" are put together without proper division (no conjunction, period, or semicolon).

EXAMPLE: It is a beautiful today because the temperature has risen slightly finally it isn't snowing and icy outside. (This is a run on- can you find where there should be a period?)

For more information about run on errors (and how to avoid them) from Chomp Chomp, click here.

For practice finding and fixing run-on errors, try these, from the Purdue Owl, Bristol University, and other popular grammar/writing sites:

• Practice One (Is it correct or a run-on?)
• Practice Two (Are they correct or run on errors?)
• Practice Three (Fix the run-on errors)
• Practice Four (Fix the run-on error)
• Practice Five (review what you know!)

 

3) A comma-splice error is like a run on...except here, a comma is "trying to do the job of a period" and divide the independent clauses all by itself. (NOTE: it can't!)

EXAMPLE: It is a beautiful today, the temperature has risen slightly finally, it isn't snowing and icy outside. (This contains two comma splice errors! YIKES!)

For more information about comma-splice errors (and how to avoid them)  from the Purdue Owl, click here.

For practice finding and fixing comma-splice errors, try these, from the Purdue Owl, Bristol University, and other popular grammar/writing sites:

• Practice One (correct...or comma splice error?)
• Practice Two (correct...or comma splice error?)
• Practice Three (Fix the comma-splice error)
• Practice Four (Fix the error- SAT-type questions)
• Practice Five (Fix the error- you type the correction yourself)

If you are now ready to try to practice with all three types of sentence errors... try these:

Practice One
Practice Two (basic- a good one to start with)
Practice Three (challenging!)

Formal Writing and Academic Success

FORMAL WRITING VS SPOKEN ENGLISH

The language that we learn and use everyday when speaking to friends and family is VERY different from the language that should be used to write an academic paper.

What are some of the differences?

• In speaking, punctuation does not matter. In writing, it does! (We can see it!!)
• In speaking, we can make mistakes and speak in incomplete sentences- and still be understood. In writing, these errors are very distracting and unacceptable.
• We use more formal, academic vocabulary in writing than we typically do in everyday speech.
• We often connect ideas in different ways in speaking and in writing (but, so, and, VS however, therefore, in addition)
• In writing, we must follow a very specific structure, and maintain strict unity and coherence in our paragraphs. When speaking, we have much more flexibility with how we organize our ideas.
• See this page for some additional Dos and Don'ts: (https://awelu.srv.lu.se/grammar-and-words/register-and-style/dos-donts/)

Curious to learn more? Here are some videos.

• Watch this helpful video from SMRT English that describes more of these differences!
• Watch this one for 5 tips to improve your formal writing.
• Here is a video that details 12 common academic writing errors to avoid.
• Practice your advanced listening skills with another video that explains how to write for college.

Would You Like to Practice?

• PRACTICE 1: This exercise helps you identify INFORMAL language (which we should NOT use in academic writing)
• PRACTIC2 2: Avoiding abbreviations
• PRACTICE 3: This one is challenging! It asks you to find synonyms that are MORE formal and LESS formal.
• PRACTICE 4: Replace less formal expressions with more formal synonyms
• PRACTICE 5: Exercises from the Purdue Owl to practice your punctuation use
• PRACTICE 6: Practice editing for sentence fragments with the Purdue Owl
• PRACTICE 7: Practice avoiding run-ons and comma-splice errors (Purdue Owl)
• PRACTICE 8: Exercises for making your sentences less wordy and more concise (Purdue Owl)
• PRACTICE 9: Verb tense consistency exercises from the Purdue Owl

Plagiarism and Academic Integrity

THIS STUFF IS VERY IMPORTANT!

Mistakes with plagiarism can have very serious consequences in a US university. It is important to know what it is and how to avoid it!

• What is plagiarism? WATCH THIS VIDEO TO BE SURE THAT YOU KNOW (Rutgers University)

• Do you still have questions? WATCH THIS INFORMATIVE TED TALK VIDEO for more information.

• What are some types of plagiarism...and how can I avoid it? VISIT THIS HELPFUL UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA SITE for examples, explanations, and helpful tips.

• You may also find this UNIVERSITY OF N. CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL FLYER helpful

• What is the USM policy on Academic Integrity and Plagiarism?  VISIT THIS SITE TO VIEW IT

• What is the process when one is accused of plagiarism? VISIT THIS PAGE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT CONSEQUENCES AND PROCEDURES AT USM

Study Tips for College Success

What are the best ways to succeed in college?

Here are some interesting little videos that provide tips of some important skills:

• BRAIN SCIENTISTS offer simple tips for better studying:
• More tips for better studying!
• Note-taking: a three-step method (CLICK HERE TO VIEW)
• A lesson on how to annotate a text, by a HaynesEnglish instructor (a VERY important skill!) (CLICK HERE TO VIEW)
• Time Management and college success (CLICK HERE TO VIEW)
• BRAIN  SCIENTISTS offer tips for memorizing material and improving your memory
• Differences between high-school and college (CLICK HERE TO VIEW)- This is also a good video for international students, as it explains (in a Powerpoint) expectations and processes typical of a US high school and university
• Differences between high-school and college- interviews with new college students. What did they think? (CLICK HERE TO VIEW)

These tips focus on helping us improve our academic reading skills for our various class assignments:

• "College Info Geek" How to read textbooks more efficiently
• This video continues the theme of the previous, with College Info Geek's 5 Reading Strategies

Also, here are a few videos that I found on Youtube that offer some helpful advice from college students on what they do to succeed...

Here is one from "Caitlyn" a college sophomore. She has some great advice, but speaks VERY,VERY fast (and very informally) in this video! A fun and challenging listening-comprehension activity, too! (CLICK HERE to view)

This one was submitted by Maddie, who speaks (also fairly quickly)with a pretty British accent. She has some organizational suggestions, and the video has captions, so it is a bit easier to follow. Her intended audience is high-school students, but college students can also benefit from some of these ideas. (CLICK HERE to view) Lots of music and pop-ups in the one!

Tricky Words and Spelling

THERE-THEY'RE-THEIR. WHAT?? 

Yes- English is full of easily confused words. Here are some exercises that aim to help with this...

WHOSE (possessive relative pronoun) vs WHO's (who is, who has contraction)

• Bristol University exercise
• Chompchomp exercise
• Grammar-Monster explanation and test
• To Learn English exercise

ITS (possessive adjective) vs IT'S (contraction of it is, it has)

• Bristol University exercise
• Soft Schools Quiz
• Using English.com quiz
• Chompchomp exercise
• WikiHow step by step guide on how to use these two words
• English-Hilfen exercise

THEIR (possessive adjective) vs THEY'RE (contraction of they are) vs THERE (place or sentence starter)

• Bristol University exercise
• Study Guides and Practice explanation and exercise
• Better English Lessons exercise
• Grarmmarbook.com quiz
• a4esl quiz
• English-Hilfen exercise 1
• Exercise 2

TO (preposition/infinitive marker) vs TOO (modifier) vs TWO (number)

• Bristol University exercise
• English-Hilfen exercise
• Exercise from a Danish University (long name!)
• ChompChomp exercise
• Exercise 2

YOUR vs YOU'RE

• English-Hilfen exercise
• ESL-About quiz
• Funky English quiz

WHO or WHOM (both used in relative clauses, which you studied/will study with Barbara)

• Bristol University exercise
• ChompChomp exercise
• SoftSchools quiz
• ENglish Page (also includes WHOSE!) exercise
• Grammar Monster quiz

MORE CONFUSING WORDS

• Bristol University exercise 1
• Exercise 2
• Exercise 3
• Washington State University quiz
• Helpful list from Santa Monica College
• Quiz from McGraw Hill publisher

Punctuation

These tricky little marks are EXTREMELY important in formal writing...but mistakes with these are very common.

For extra practice, visit these helpful websites:

The Semicolon:    (I love this one!)

• University of Bristol Practice exercise (CLICK HERE)
• Practice exercise from Illinois Valley Community College
• Explanation from Illinois Valley Community College
• Purdue Owl exercise
• Dakota County Technical College Writing Center quiz
• Grammar-quizzes, explanation, common mistakes and 2 practice exercises

Commas:

• University of Bristol, exercise 1
• Exercise 2
• Comma splice error practice
• Purdue owl exercise 1 (these are challenging)
• Exercise 2
• Exercise 3
• Exercise 4
• Exercise 5
• ChompChomp commas quiz
• Illinois Valley Community College practice exercise and explanation
• Grammar CCC quiz- commas in paragraphs- a great practice exercise
• Grammarbook.com comma quiz

Apostrophes:

• University of Bristol contractions exercise
• Exercise 2
• Exercise 3
• Purdue Owl printable exercise with answers
• ChompChomp exercise
• Using English quiz
• Grammar CCC quiz
• SoftSchools quiz (click "take the test")

Quotation marks:

• University of Bristol exercise
• Exercise 2
• Soft Schools practice quiz
• Grammar CCC quotation mark quiz
• Purdue Owl exercise

Comparison- Contrast Essays

Comparison-contrast writing is one common writing structure used in academics.

Here are some helpful websites that focus on this type of essay.

GENERAL ESSAY-WRITING TIPS:

1) "Wiki-How" gives you 4 excellent, very specific steps to following when writing this type of essay (CLICK HERE)

2) "About Education" also provides tips and has numerous topic suggestions (CLICK HERE)


VIDEOS:

1) Do you want to hear another explanation of how to write this type of essay? CLICK HERE to watch a "Smart English" teacher, Shaun Macleod, explain them.

2) Here is another helpful video by "Dr. Bruce." You can watch his very clear lesson and listen to his explanation of different types of Comparison-Contrast essays and situations in which we would write them (His voice is very calming...but the information is very well presented and clear!) (CLICK HERE)


LANGUAGE/LINKING WORDS (VIDEOS)

1) A GREAT "engVid" explanation on using DESPITE and ALTHOUGH...and how they mean the same but are used differently. (CLICK HERE)

2) Also from engVId- an excellent lesson looking at making comparisons with LIKE and AS (and how they are used in different situations) (CLICK HERE)

3) One more engVid looking at how to use the subordinate conjunctions (contrast) EVEN IF, EVEN THOUGH, EVEN WHEN (and some other expressions with EVEN) (CLICK HERE)

4) Very simple video explaining the use of some contrast transition words (CLICK HERE)

5) Another very simple (and short) lesson reminding us of some great words for making comparisons/contrasts (and the teachers has a wonderful British accent!) (CLICK HERE)

6) One last engVid lesson that looks at some formal transition words for showing similarity (with good examples) (CLICK HERE)


LANGUAGE/LINKING WORDS (LISTS AND PRACTICE EXERCISES)

1) EspressoEnglish presents a nice list of contrast words, with examples of how to use them AND includes a practice activity to test your skills (there might be some pop-up ads, but just click the X if one appears) (CLICK HERE)

2) A very thorough (Excellent!) list of contrast/comparison words with examples and explanations. There is a practice activity you can open at the end. (CLICK HERE) (Source: Yeditepe University Writing Center)

3) Grammar-Quizzes.com also has a very thorough explanations of these various types of words (and has a sections that mentions common mistakes). At the bottom of the page, there are 3 wonderful practice exercises. (CLICK HERE)