This page has gathered resources to help tutors answer commonly asked grammar questions. WC tutors aren't expected to know all of the rules of grammar in the English language. In fact, nobody is! This page is meant to be something you can copy and paste into your CRFs, email appointments, or review together during your in-person sessions.
Make sure to click the drop down boxes for explanations, examples, and website links. You're also welcome to read through this page with your writer. Each section contains external links to grammar pages and youtube videos for visual/auditory learners.
Articles are words used in front of nouns. There are two articles in English: “the” and “a/an.” The only time we don’t use articles is if a noun is uncountable. “The” identifies a specific noun, and “a” identifies a non-specific noun. “Some” replaces “a” when the noun it describes is uncountable. Finally “a” turns into “an” if the word after it begins with a vowel. There are many exceptions to this rule, which you can find at websites listed in at the end of this entry.
Articles are used depending on the situation. In these examples, we will imagine you are getting your friend water. The examples show how the articles you use might change depending on the situation. If you were with your friend, you might start by asking your friend
“Did you want water?”
Because you cannot count the noun water (water is never plural), you would not include an article. You may use a demonstrative pronoun, like “some,” but it is not required. In this situation, you might also ask your friend
“Did you want a bottle of water?”
Here, the noun “a” defines is “bottle,” which can be counted (and can be plural). So, you would use the word “a.” Also, because you’re not getting your friend a specific bottle of water, that was already identified, you would use “a” and not “the.” However, what if you got distracted and forgot to get them a water bottle. You might say,
“Oh! Did you want the bottle of water?”
Because you already referred to getting your friend a bottle of water, your friend knows what water bottle you’re referring to already. Now, you can use the word “the” when referring to the water bottle. Let’s imagine your friend replies to your questions with:
“No, but do you have an orange or an apple?”
Here, we introduce new nouns that have not been previously identified, so we'd use "a". But, because “orange” and “apple” begin with a vowel, the “a” turns into “an.”
For native English speakers, or people who already know a language that uses articles, they tend to come easily. However, students who are learning English and have never used articles before may find articles difficult to learn. If you’re a tutor who has never had to learn articles from scratch, it may be difficult to explain. We hope that this explanation helps you and your writers. You can learn more about articles with the resources below:
A run on is when two sentences are combined without a conjunction or proper punctuation. Sentences are made up of at least one noun and one verb, or a subject and a predicate. Run-ons are not simply a long sentence. There are a few ways to fix run-on sentences.
Add a conjunction
Add a semicolon or colon (which you use depends on the context of the sentence. See more on semicolons and colons here.)
Use a conjunctive adverb
Break it into two sentences with a period
For your simple examples, let’s use the run-on sentence “He threw the apple it hit my head.” You can fix this by first breaking up the sentence into the two independent clauses.
He threw the apple. It hit my head.
This example of changing the run-on sentence does “correct” the issue, but the sentences feel a little bit choppy. So, you might want to keep this sentence all together, but correct the run-on so that the sentence is more clear to the reader. To do this, let’s try a conjunction.
He threw the apple, and it hit my head.
This is a much less choppy sentence. Yet, you might decide that you don’t like adding the word “and,” and instead, you might want to create a sentence that shows the cause and effect of it. you can use many techniques to fix this, the most simple being adding a semi-colon instead of the word “and.”
He threw the apple; it hit my head.
You might be writing a paper that requires a more academic style. If that’s the case, try using a conjunctive adverb, like “however,” “consequently,” or “thus.”
“He threw the apple; thereafter, it hit my head.”
Each of the example sentences reads a little bit differently, but all of them are clear to the reader. So, you have plenty of clear sentences to choose from when you’re changing a run-on sentence into a complete sentence (or sentences).
While a run-on sentence does not have to be long, you might find yourself writing run-on sentences when you write longer sentences most often. Let’s use the following example:
When he threw the apple, it hit my head I started bleeding and freaked out, so I ended up going to the hospital.
“When he threw the apple, it hit my head” is an independent clause and “I started bleeding and freaked out, so I ended up going to the hospital” is an independent clause. Because there is no punctuation between the two independent clauses, this is a run- on sentence. Since this is a long sentence, it is probably best to break this sentence into two sentences, rather than keeping it together like you did in the previous, simple example.
When he threw the apple, it hit my head. I started bleeding and freaked out, so I ended up going to the hospital.
Run-on sentences can be hard to spot, especially when you start writing longer sentences. However, there are many ways to fix them. Exploring ways to turn your run-on sentences into complete sentences can even help you find your voice, or make a statement stand out more.
It’s worth noting that while many grammar “rules” can be broken for stylistic reasons, run-on sentences usually lead to confusion for the reader. Because of this, run-on sentences should generally not be used as a stylistic choice, and they are best to avoid in your writing.
You can check out the following websites for more information:
A fragment is an incomplete sentence. Complete sentences need at least one independent clause. A sentence requires both a subject and an action. Fragments commonly occur when the subject is missing.
As sentences get more complex, it can be harder to figure out if they are fragments. Sometimes, a sentence fragment can have a subject and verb, but still be incomplete. This often happens when a sentence begins with a word that creates complex sentences like “because,” “and,” or “but.”
Simple Example
A sentence fragment without a subject. A simple example of this would be
Throws the apple.
You can make this a complete sentence by including a subject. An example would be
She throws the apple
If you don’t have a subject, you can make this active-voice sentence, a passive-voice sentence.
The apple was thrown.
Complex Example
We can’t forget to bring your cold weather gear. Because it’s snowing, and you don’t want to get wet.
To make the bold sentence complete, you can get rid of the word “because”
We can’t forget to bring your cold weather gear. It’s snowing, and you don’t want to get wet.
You can also combine the two sentences, to make a complex sentence.
We can’t forget to bring your cold weather gear because it’s snowing, and you don’t want to get wet.
It can be hard to find sentence fragments. If it is confusing to the reader, it is best to revise your sentence to be complete. However, many writers use sentence fragments stylistically, and they can be a really fun way to make emphasis in your writing. As with all stylistic techniques, though, try not to overuse sentence fragments.
Check out these websites for more information:
We use commas in many different ways when we write, so it’s impossible to give one explanation on where and when to use them. Instead, you can find a few different ways commas are used below. It's worth reading through, and learning some of the terminology to use when talking about commas. This way, your writer has something to look up some of the things they learned during the session to refresh their memory. You can also share some of the sources linked in each of the areas.
When we list more than two things in a sentence, we use commas to separate them. This is so we can tell the items apart. Items can be single nouns, phrases, or even independent clauses. Typically, there are commas between all of the items in the list, and an “and” separates the last two items.
Some people use a comma between the second-to-last item on the list and the “and,” and some people don’t. This comma is called the Oxford comma. You may or may not use it, just as long as you are consistent in your piece of writing.
Simple
We ate potatoes, chicken, garlic bread, and green beans for dinner.
or
We ate potatoes, chicken, garlic bread and green beans for dinner.
Complex
When walking through a park, she watched as the bird flew through the trees, squirrels buried acorns, and bees collected honey.
or
When walking through a park, she watched as the bird flew through the trees, squirrels buried acorns and bees collected honey.
Coordinating conjunctions are words we use to combine two sentences (or independent clauses). A common acronym used to remember all of the conjunctions is FANBOYS. We always put a comma before the conjunction.
Simple example
I have to ride the bus today, but I don’t want to wait in the rain.
Complex example
I’m excited to start the new semester, yet with the stress of putting together a new schedule and making sure I have all of my course requirements covered, I’m feeling more overwhelmed than excited.
This is when two sentences are joined only by a comma. Sometimes, you also refer to comma-splices as “misplaced” commas. That is, commas that serve no “grammatical” purpose.
Let’s use this example of a comma that joins two sentences,
She threw the apple at me, he hit me.
You can get rid of the comma splice by using a colon instead. You can remove the comma, and use any of the methods described in the “conjoined sentences” section.
As for unnecessary commas, these can show up in any number of ways! Below are just a few examples. The bolded sections show where the comma splice is.
She threw the red, apple.
The apple, dangling precariously from the branch, fell, with a thud.
The apple hit my head, and she laughed, hurtfully.
In all of these examples, you can simply get rid of the bolded comma to get rid of the comma splice.
Comma splices get harder to spot when sentences get more complex. In fact, you might even decide to use a comma splice intentionally to break up a complex example. You actually do this quite a bit on this very website! Let’s look at a few examples where using a comma splice helps the sentence.
During the years that early colonizers arrived in land that is now called America, people noted the plentiful commercializable goods on the land, goods that they would steal and sell to England.
While you could replace this comma splice with a coordinating conjunction, subordinating conjunction, a semicolon, or period; you might decide that comma splice works best. This could be because we’ve already used a lot of coordinating conjunctions, subordinating conjunctions, or semicolons, but you want the sentence to stay together. you might also decide that you don’t want to emphasize the later independent clause of the sentence, and all of the other options feel like they would bring too much attention to it.
You might also use comma splices to emphasize something. Take this example
Behind the castle, there was a long winding pathway, with trees arching over it, and they always just barely caressed the top of your head as you passed, making you think there were bugs crawling on you as you passed through.
Because you want the reader to take note of the trees, since this is what you’re talking about in the next part of the sentence, you put a comma before the word “with,” even though you don’t need it there.
These three common uses of commas do not cover all instances where commas are used. Many non-essential phrases use them. Learn about these by looking up what appositives are or the differences between “that,” “which,” and “who.” For more general comma use, you can take a look at this video and this video, that explain almost many general comma uses.
There are so many comma “rules” it’s almost impossible to know all of them. Even your instructor may not know all the “proper” uses of a comma. It’s worth noting that most people will “break” a comma rule in every essay. Because of their prevalence, commas are the easiest punctuation to use stylistically: just be sure not to over-use them.