Problem-solving recipes

A step-by-step procedure for every problem type this course teaches — what to do first, what to do next, and how to tell which case you're in.

What are you being asked to do?

Start with what you're actually looking at.

A word, and you're not sure which of the eight parts of speech it is — Identify a word's part of speech runs the eight-step decision tree, from noun down to interjection, using the tests each section in Chapter 2 taught. It works whether the word's job is obvious or ambiguous.

A group of words, and you're not sure if it's a phrase, a dependent clause, or a complete sentence on its own — Classify a clause as independent or dependent runs the two-question test (subject-verb pair, then does it stand alone) on anything you hand it.

A sentence, and you can't tell where the subject or the verb actually is — Find the subject when it isn't obvious handles compound subjects, prepositional phrases in the way, and the three patterns that hide a subject outright (a command, a question, a there-is/there-are opener). Find the verb and classify it runs the fixed helper-then-main, action-or-linking order on any verb or verb stack.

A sentence, and you need to name its type — Classify a sentence's type sorts anything into simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex, and names which of the five numbered structures is doing the joining.

You have two correct, complete sentences and just want to join them into one — this is the decision root: a period (two separate sentences), a comma plus a FANBOYS word, a semicolon alone, a semicolon plus a conjunctive adverb and a comma, or a subordinator, either leading or trailing. Fix a run-on three ways walks through picking among exactly these five, once you've decided how the two ideas relate to each other.

One sentence that might be two jammed together — Find a run-on and name its degree locates the seam and tells a first-degree run-on (nothing between the clauses) from a second-degree one (a FANBOYS word missing its comma), or clears the sentence.

One sentence, and you can already tell it's a run-on, a comma splice, or a fragment — Fix a run-on three ways walks through every legal repair once you've spotted the boundary error itself.

One sentence, and you're not sure the verb matches its subject — Check subject-verb agreement, especially when the subject is buried inside a longer phrase, is an indefinite pronoun (everyone, each, neither), is a collective noun (team, committee, staff), or is part of an or/nor pair.

One sentence, and you're deciding whether a comma belongs at a specific spot — Place a comma walks the decision tree across every comma rule this course teaches, in the order to check them: joining, introductory, nonessential, fixed convention, then the "never" list.

A verb, and you need to know whether it takes an object — Test whether a verb is transitive or intransitive runs the what? test on the verb in this sentence (and settles lie/lay, sit/set, rise/raise).

A pronoun, and you're torn between two forms (I/me, who/whom) — Choose the subject or object form of a pronoun drops the other person from a pair and answers with he or him.

A list, or a comparison with than, that reads as if it wobbles — Check a list or comparison for parallel structure names the form after each marker and brings the odd one out into line.

A sentence that starts one way and finishes another (the reason is because, is when, a sentence opening with by) — Check that a sentence's subject and predicate fit reads the subject and main verb together, skipping the middle, then rebuilds around one plan.

A word, and you're not sure whether it needs an apostrophe, or where — Decide where (or whether) an apostrophe belongs sorts ownership from a contraction from a plain plural first, then places the mark.

A sentence, and a modifier seems to be describing the wrong thing — Fix a dangling or misplaced modifier tells the two apart (is the real target present but too far away, or missing altogether) and repairs whichever one you've got.

A whole paragraph or longer draft you're getting ready to send — Proofread a paragraph is the six-pass procedure that catches boundary, agreement, punctuation, word-choice, wordiness, and mechanical errors one category at a time, calling on the recipes above (plus a few more rules besides) along the way.

Telling a phrase, a clause, and a sentence type apart

Classify a clause as independent or dependent

Use when: you're looking at one clause -- inside a longer sentence, or on its own -- and need to know whether it's independent or dependent. A clause can now be triggered by either a subordinator or a relative pronoun.

Goal: a confident independent-or-dependent call for any clause this course can throw at you, plus the one word responsible for the answer

Dependent Clauses and Subordinators

Builds on an earlier, subordinator-only version from Chapter 1 (classify-a-clause); this is the complete one, now that a relative pronoun can trigger a dependent clause too.

Classify a sentence's type

Use when: you need to name a sentence as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex, whether for parsing, punctuating, or matching it to a rule that depends on its type

Goal: the correct one of the four sentence-type labels, plus (for compound and complex) which of the five numbered structures is doing the joining

The Five Sentence-Joining Structures, Side by Side

Finding the subject or the verb

Find the subject when it isn't obvious

Use when: you need to name the true subject of a sentence. This matters most when it's padded with modifying phrases, doubled up into a compound, or hidden by one of three patterns: a command, a question, or an opener like there is or there are.

Goal: the one noun or pronoun the sentence is about, stripped of every phrase, modifier, and disguise sitting in the way

Finding the Subject When It Hides

Find the verb and classify it

Use when: you've spotted a word (or a stack of words) doing a verb's job. You need to know whether it's the main verb or a helper, and if it's the main verb, whether it's an action verb or a linking verb.

Goal: the correct label for every verb in the stack -- helper or main, and if main, action or linking -- found by asking the same two questions in the same fixed order every time

Action, Linking, and Helping Verbs

Test whether a verb is transitive or intransitive

Use when: you need to know whether a verb in a sentence takes a direct object -- to find the object, or to choose between lie/lay, sit/set, or rise/raise

Goal: a label for the verb in this sentence (transitive, with its direct object named, or intransitive), decided by the what? test and never by how many words follow the verb

Transitive, Intransitive, and Objects

Fixing a broken sentence boundary

Find a run-on and name its degree

Use when: a sentence feels long or breathless and you suspect two complete sentences are jammed together

Goal: the exact seam between two independent clauses, and a label for what sits there -- nothing (first degree), a FANBOYS word with no comma (second degree), or a legal join (not a run-on at all)

Run-Ons: First and Second Degree · extended later in this course

Finds the seam and names the degree; the fix is the next recipe.

Fix a run-on three ways

Use when: you've found a run-on -- two independent clauses sitting together with no legal joiner, or with a FANBOYS word but no comma in front of it

Goal: a correctly punctuated sentence, chosen deliberately from the menu of legal repairs, not just the first fix that comes to mind

Fix It Three Ways

Checking agreement and pronoun case

Check subject-verb agreement

Use when: you need to confirm a verb matches its subject, especially when the subject is buried in a longer phrase, is an indefinite pronoun, a collective noun, or part of an or-nor pair

Goal: the verb form that matches the sentence's true subject, not the noun that happens to sit closest to it

Tricky Subjects

Choose the subject or object form of a pronoun

Use when: you're choosing between I and me, he and him, she and her, we and us, they and them, or who and whom

Goal: the form that matches the pronoun's job in its own clause: the subject form if it does the action, the object form if it receives the action or follows a preposition

Pronoun Case and Who vs. Whom

Placing a comma

Place a comma

Use when: you're deciding whether a specific spot in a sentence needs a comma, and which rule (if any) governs it

Goal: the correct comma decision at that spot, backed by a structural rule -- never a guess about where you'd pause

Commas You Must Not Use

Deciding on an apostrophe

Decide where (or whether) an apostrophe belongs

Use when: you're looking at a word that might need an apostrophe -- a possible possessive, a possible contraction, or just a plain plural -- and need to know if an apostrophe belongs at all, and where

Goal: the correctly placed apostrophe, or the confident decision that none belongs, backed by which of the three jobs the word is doing

Contractions, and Its vs. It's

Fixing a modifier

Fix a dangling or misplaced modifier

Use when: a sentence's modifier is describing the wrong thing -- either because its real target is present but too far away (misplaced), or because its real target was never named in the sentence at all (dangling)

Goal: a sentence where every modifier sits next to, or clearly attaches to, the thing it is meant to describe

Dangling Modifiers

Proofreading a whole draft

Proofread a paragraph

Use when: you have a finished paragraph or longer draft and need to catch errors a single read-through would miss

Goal: a paragraph checked systematically, one error category at a time, instead of relying on one read-through to catch everything at once

The Six-Pass Procedure

The most complete procedure -- runs every rule the other recipes cover, plus punctuation, word-choice, and mechanics passes, one category at a time.

Identifying a word's part of speech

Identify a word's part of speech

Use when: you're looking at a single word inside a sentence and need to name which of the eight parts of speech it is -- noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, or interjection

Goal: a confident part-of-speech label for the word, backed by a specific test from the section that taught that category -- never a guess based on the word's usual job or its spelling

The Same Word, Different Jobs

The decision tree that sorts any word into one of the eight categories, using the tests each section taught.

Writing parallel lists and comparisons

Check a list or comparison for parallel structure

Use when: a sentence lists two or more items joined by commas, and, or or, or compares two things with than or as...as

Goal: every item (or both sides of the comparison) in the same grammatical form, and both sides of a comparison naming the same kind of thing

Parallel Structure

Making a sentence's subject and predicate fit

Check that a sentence's subject and predicate fit

Use when: a sentence sounds off even though the spelling and punctuation are fine, especially one built on the reason is, is when, is where, a sentence that opens with by, or just because

Goal: a subject and a predicate that fit each other, in grammar and in meaning

Sentences That Hold Together