Grammar Essentials That Wreck Grades

Good ideas still lose points when the grammar is sloppy. These are the mistakes graders see most. Fix these and your writing instantly looks sharper.

Run-ons and fragments

• ●Run-on: two complete sentences jammed together. Wrong: I ran the ball I scored. Fix it with a period, a comma plus and, or a semicolon: I ran the ball and I scored.
• ●Fragment: an incomplete sentence missing a subject or verb. Wrong: Because he was tired. Fix it: He sat down because he was tired.

Subject-verb agreement

• ●A singular subject takes a singular verb: The player runs.
• ●A plural subject takes a plural verb: The players run.
• ●Watch for words between them: The box of cleats is heavy, not are heavy, because box is the subject.

Commas, its, and the their family

• ●Comma basics: use a comma before and, but, or so when it joins two complete sentences, and between items in a list.
• ●Its vs it's: it's means it is. Its shows possession. If you can swap in it is, use it's. Otherwise use its.
• ●Their, there, they're: their shows possession, there is a place, they're means they are.