Syntax: Conventions of Standard English

Question 1

Subject-verb agreement

Answer 1

def. - The agreement of of your subject and verb in a sentence.

eg. ,
1. The dog barks. (barks = sing).

2. The dogs bark. (bark =plural).

Question 2

3rd-person singular verb usually ends with s.

give an example.

Answer 2

1st person: I talk. (We eat)

3rd person: She talks. (They eat)

Question 3

What is the connection of singular and plural to “do” and “does”?

Answer 3

“Does” are for singulars.

“Do” are for plurals.

eg.,

Do they know?

Does he know?

Question 4

Pronoun-antecedent agreement

Answer 4

Def. Pronoun-antecedent means pronoun that is used on the previous noun.

eg.,

1. Julian rode her bike to the grocery store. She bought some garlic and spoon.

Question 5

Sentence Fragments

Answer 5

def. Don’t tell the whole story. It might tell a subject but not the predicate or it might tell the predicate but not the subject.

eg.,

1. The whole story.
2. Began three years ago.
3. Because of the snowstorm.

Question 6

Run-ons

Answer 6

def. Two independent clauses together in one sentence without punctuation or conjunctions.

eg.,

1. We bought nails we bought hammer. (run-on)
   * To fix these sentence, you must put a comma or a coordinating conjunction in order to combine these two independent clauses together.*

Question 7

Comma splices

Answer 7

def. Two independent clauses inappropriately joined a comma.

eg.,

1. I love Li’l Tony 2, it’s my favorite movie in the Li’l Tony franchise.
   * In order to fix these, we must add a comma and a conjunction. In addition, we can also put a semicolon.*

Question 8

Dangling Modifiers

Answer 8

def. When a word or phrase does not describe another word or phrase.

eg.,

1. Flashing lightning and thunder, the little bunny struggled through the storm.
   * Flashing lightning and thunder does not describe the little bunny.*

Question 9

Parallel Structure

Answer 9

def. Gives a style and harmony to the structure of the sentence.

eg.,

1. I love cleaning, cooking, and sweeping.

Instead of this:

1. I love cleaning, cooking, and clean the bathrooms.