Learning on writting

1. Pre-Writing Process:
'Write Right'- Grammar
Bhopal, India
August, 2012

2. Agenda...
●Building blocks:
●Nouns, pronouns, tenses, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, articles, conjunctions, prepositions.
●Direct – Indirect speech.
●Common errors:
●Commonly confused words.
●Parallelism errors.
●Misplaced and dangling modifiers.
●Subject-verb concord – The agreement of the verb with the subject.
●Matching the pair.
●Punctuations.
●Thumb rule for effective writing (summary).
Grammar is the grave of letters

3. Building Blocks...
Noun and pronoun
●Noun: A noun is a word that denotes a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns
answer the questions who and what.
●Example: The dog ran after the ball.
●Count and Non-count Nouns.
●Nouns that are formed from a verb by adding -ing are called gerunds.
●Example: Traveling might satisfy your desire for new experiences. (Traveling is the
gerund).
●Pronoun: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.
●Example: She decided to go to a movie. (she is the pronoun).
●Like nouns, pronouns may be used either as subjects or as objects in a sentence.

4. Building Blocks...
Adjective, Verb, Adverb
●Adjective : A word that modifies, or describes, a noun or a pronoun.
●Adjectives may precede nouns, or they may appear after a form of the
reflexive verb to be (am, are, is, was, etc.).
●Example 1: We live in the red brick house.
●Verb: A verb is a word that denotes action, or a state of being, in a sentence.
●Example 1: Ashok rides a bike everyday.
●Adverb: Just as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs modify, or further
describe, verbs. Adverbs may also modify adjectives.
●(Many, though not all, adverbs end in -ly.)
●Example 1: She sang beautifully.
Generally, adjectives answer
the following questions:
"What kind?" or
"Which?" or "How many?"
The most common
question that adverbs
answer is how.

5. Building Blocks...
Articles
●There are two types of articles indefinite (a and an) and definite (the).
●A and an are the indefinite articles. They refer to something not specifically known to the
person you are communicating with.
●You use the when you know that the listener knows or can work out what particular
person/thing you are talking about.
●A is used if it follows a consonant. An is used when it starts with a vowel sound.
●It's the sound that matters, not the spelling.
●E.g. We say "hour" with a silent h as though it were spelt "our". So, "an hour" is correct.
Quite often you have to work it out by what sounds right

6. Building Blocks...
Conjunctions, Prepositions
●Conjunction: A word that joins two independent clauses, or sentences, together.
●Example 1: Ashwin wanted to take a drive into the city, but the cost of fuel was too high.
● And, but, for, or, nor, so, and yet can all act as conjunctions.
●Preposition: work in combination with a noun or pronoun to create phrases that modify
verbs, nouns/pronouns, or adjectives.
●Prepositional phrases convey a temporal, or directional meaning.
●Example 1: Rajeev climbed up the brick wall of the house.

7. Building Blocks...
Direct – Indirect Speech
●To quote the actual words of the speaker. This method is called Direct Speech.
●We may report what the speaker said without quoting his/her exact words. This method is
called Indirect Speech or Reported Speech.
●Example: Direct: Arvind said, “I am very busy now.”
●Indirect: Arvind said that he was very busy then.
●In Direct Speech, inverted commas is used to mark off the exact words of the speaker. In
Indirect Speech inverted commas is not used.

8. Building Blocks...
Use of who,whom, whoever and whomever
●Use the he/him method to decide which word is correct.: he = who ; him = whom
●Example: Who/Whom wrote the letter?
●He wrote the letter. Therefore, who is correct.
●Example: For who/whom should I vote?
●Should I vote for him? Therefore, whom is correct.
●Him + he = whoever; him + him = whomever.
●Example: Give it to whoever/whomever asks for it first.
●Give it to him. He asks for it first. Therefore, Give it to whoever asks for it first.
●Example: We will hire whoever/whomever you recommend.
●We will hire him. You recommend him. Therefore, we will hire whomever you recommend.
“ Are you starting to sound like a hooting owl?”

9. Subject – Verb Concord
Basics
The basic rule states that a singular subject takes a singular verb, while a plural subject
takes a plural verb.
NOTE: The trick is in knowing whether the subject is singular or plural. The next trick is
recognizing a singular or plural verb.
Hint: Verbs do not form their plurals by adding an s as nouns do. In order to determine
which verb is singular and which one is plural, think of which verb you would use with he or
she and which verb you would use with they.
Example: talks, talk.
Which one is the singular form? Which word would you use with he? We say, "He talks."
Therefore, talks is singular. We say, "They talk." Therefore, talk is plural.

10. Subject – Verb Concord
Important Rules
1.Two singular subjects connected by or or nor, neither/nor require a singular verb.
2.Example: My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
3.Example: Neither Akshay nor Ajay is available.
4.The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and
somebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.
5.Examples: Each of the girls sings well.
Every one of the cakes is gone.
6.NOTE: Everyone is one word when it means everybody. Every one is two words
when the meaning is each one.
7.Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods of time.
Examples: Ten dollars is a high price to pay.

11. Subject – Verb Concord
Important Rules
1.Two singular subjects connected by or or nor, neither/nor require a singular verb.
2.Example: My aunt or my uncle is arriving by train today.
3.Example: Neither Akshay nor Ajay is available.
4.The pronouns each, everyone, every one, everybody, anyone, anybody, someone, and
somebody are singular and require singular verbs. Do not be misled by what follows of.
5.Examples: Each of the girls sings well.
Every one of the cakes is gone.
6.NOTE: Everyone is one word when it means everybody. Every one is two words
when the meaning is each one.
7.Use a singular verb with sums of money or periods of time.
Examples: Ten dollars is a high price to pay.

12. Commonly confused words...
1. Your vs You're
___right about the changes.
2. It’s vs Its
The laptop is overheating and____ making that funny noise again.
3. There vs Their
The managers are in____weekly planning meeting.
4. Then vs than
The accounting department had more problems____ we did.
5. Different than vs different from
This setup is different____ the one at the main office.
6. I vs Me?
Mom and ___were happy to have her along.
If the concept is clear...just proof read.

13. Commonly confused words...
7. Between vs Among
The printer is ___ the computer and the photocopier.
8. In vs At
I work __ ValueNotes.
9. Lose vs Loose
Don't __ your keys.
10. Can vs May
___I ask you a few questions?
11. Fewer vs Lesser
There should be ___ books on the table.
If the concept is clear...just proof read.

14. Parallelism Errors
●The most common parallelism error is not completing the second construction.
●Example : Shivani likes to run and dance.
●Shivani likes to run and to dance.
●Example: Aasha likes to study in the afternoon and then playing later on in the evening.
●Aasha likes to study in the afternoon and then to play later on in the evening.
●Fix the parallelism errors:
a)We liked the film 'Titanic' because there was action, love, romance and has some songs as
well.
b)Mrs. Mirza loves to complain about the food and service in our hotel.
c)As we neared the airport, you could hear the jets.

15. Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers
A misplaced modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that is improperly separated from the word it
modifies / describes.
Because of the separation, sentences with this error often sound awkward, ridiculous, or
confusing.
•Example: On her way home, Radha found a gold man's watch.
•On her way home, Radha found a man's gold watch.
A dangling modifier is a phrase or clause that is not clearly and logically related to the word or
words it modifies (i.e. is placed next to).
Unlike a misplaced modifier, a dangling modifier cannot be corrected by simply moving it to a
different place in a sentence.
•Example: Having been fixed the night before, Prachi could use the car.
•Since the car has been fixed the night before, Prachi could use it.

16. Conditionals
Will, could and would
●Type of structure used for talking about possibilities in the present or future.
●The sentences have two parts – the if clause and the main clause.
●e.g. If it rains I will stay home.
●3 types of conditionals:
●Conditional 1: Here a situation arises if a particular condition is met.
●e.g. If I win the match I will celebrate.
●Conditional 2: Unreal or improbable situation. It provides an imaginary result.
●e.g. If they had had time, they could have built the wall in 2 days.
●Conditional 3: Past situation with hypothetical results.
●e.g. If I had won the prize, my life would have changed.

17. Indianisms
‘‘Please revert back’’ : Revert = to return to a former habit, practice, belief, condition, etc.:
They reverted to the ways of their forefathers.
'Improvise'
verb (used with object)
•to make, provide, or arrange from whatever materials are readily available: We improvised
a dinner from yesterday's leftovers.
•verb (used without object)
•to compose, utter, execute, or arrange anything extemporaneously: When the actor forgot
his lines he had to improvise.
No words like: Prepone, Updation, Softwares, criterias, jargons.
Remove all the ings wherever possible.
“ I'm loving it...”

18. Thumb Rules for effective writing...
Use concrete rather than vague language.
•Vague: The weather was of an extreme nature on the ghats.
•Concrete: Mahabaleshwar had very cold weather last week.
Use active voice whenever possible. Active voice means the subject is performing the verb.
•Active: Alok hit the ball.
•Passive: The ball was hit. (Notice that the responsible party may not even appear when using passive
voice).
Avoid overusing there is, there are, it is, it was, and so on.
•Example: There is a case of meningitis that was reported in the newspaper.
•Correct: A case of meningitis was reported in the newspaper.
•Even Better: The newspaper reported a case of meningitis. (Active voice).
To avoid confusion, don't use two negatives to make a positive.
•Incorrect: He is not unwilling to help.
•Correct: He is willing to help.

19. Thumb Rules for effective writing...
Use similar grammatical form when offering several ideas. This is called parallel construction.
•Correct: You should check your spelling, grammar and punctuation.
•Incorrect: You should check your spelling, grammar, and punctuating.
If you start a sentence with an action, place the actor immediately after or you will have created
the infamous dangling modifier.
•Incorrect: While walking across the street, the bus hit her.
•Correct: While walking across the street, she was hit by a bus. OR
•She was hit by a bus while walking across the street.
Place modifiers near the words they modify.
•Incorrect: I have some pound cake Mollie baked in my lunch bag.
•Correct: In my lunch bag, I have some pound cake that Mollie baked.
If in Doubt, Cut it Out!

20. One small mark, a whole new meaning...Punctuations
 Apostrophe for plurals
e.g. The boy’s will go to the school tomorrow. (Incorrect) (boys)
The comma splice
e.g. The car costs $10000, I am going to buy it. (Incorrect) (, and I)
 Quotation marks for emphasis
e.g. This gift is “free”! (Incorrect) (This gift is free!)
Multiple punctuation marks
e.g. The man was silent…… (Incorrect) (The man was silent...)
The missing comma after introductory elements
e.g. Before going to school Joe stopped at my house. (Incorrect) (school,)
Exercising comma sense!!