Guide
to Grammar & Writing
Guide to Grammar & Writing is an impressive interactive guide.
It is divided into six major categories: Word & Sentence Level;
Paragraph Level; Essay & Research Paper Level; Ask Grammar, Quizzes,
and Search Devices; Peripheral Devices; GrammarPoll, Guestbook, Awards.
The Principles of Composition section is for writers in English composition
courses and features handouts on Getting Started, Structure, Tone,
Transitions, Editing, Logic, Formats, Rhetorical Patterns, Argumentative
Essays, Research Papers, and more. There are also 150+ computer-graded
quizzes to test knowledge of grammar and you can submit a question
about English usage or grammar. The Guide to Grammar and Writing is
sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation, a nonprofit
organization that supports scholarships, faculty development, and
curriculum innovation.
OWL
at Purdue University
Purdue
University has the most comprehensive OWLs (Online Writing Labs) on
the Web and received over 23 million hits during the 2002-2003 academic
year. The web site contains hypertext workshops and subject tutorials
on writing various types of papers, teacher
resources , huge collections of links
to help users find
information on the Internet, PowerPoint
presentations about writing that can be downloaded for use in
classes or individual study, and web pages that cover all aspects
of writing. The Purdue OWL also contains a list of handouts
organized by category and a list of interactive
practice exercises. Topics include General Writing Concerns (Planning/Writing/Revising/Genres),
Research and Documenting Sources, Punctuation, Capitalization and
Spelling, Sentence Construction, Parts of Speech, English as a Second
Language, Exercises/Answer Keys, and Professional Writing (and Writing
in the Job Search). You can also receive their free Writing Lab Newsletter,
which contains articles and information about tutoring.
Parallelism
Parallel
structure
Purdue OWL handout with definition and examples
Parallel
Form
From Guide to Grammar and Writing. Most of the descriptions and examples
in this section are taken from William Strunk's Elements of Style.
Quiz
on Parallel Structures
Nine multiple-choice questions with answers.
Second
Quiz on Parallel Structures
In this exercise a text-area is provided where you can rewrite the
sentence in question. You may either rewrite the entire sentence or
click on Suggested Beginning for a suggested start to that sentence
(which you can then finish).
Gettysburg
Address (Parallel Forms)
Click on the movie icon at the bottom for a brief "slide-show"
that will illustrate some of the various patterns of parallelism within
the Gettysburg Address.
Biblical Passages
in Parallel Form
These passages are taken from the King James Version of the Bible
to illustrate uses of parallel form.
Subject-Verb Agreement
"Making
Subjects and Verbs Agree"
-handout on fundamentals from the "Grammar, Punctuation, and
Spelling" section of the Purdue OWL
Exercises
with answers
-twenty-three in total
"Subject-Verb
Agreement" from Guide to Grammar and Writing
-includes a PowerPoint presentation and three online quizzes with
answers and explanations.
Verb Tense Consistency
Students sometimes change verb tenses unnecessarily in their writing
and create confusion for the reader. These online resources can help
kids understand the importance of verb tense consistency and provide
them with helpful self-directed exercises and quizzes:
Resources from the Purdue OWL and Guide to Grammar and Writing:
Verb
tense -- chart
interactive chart with examples
Active
tenses -- handout
contains descriptions and examples of the tense system
Verb
tense inconsistency -- handout
example sentences with nonstandard or inconsistent usage in red
Controlling
Shifts in Verb Tense -- handout
Tense
Consistency -- Exercises
with answers
Verb
tense consistency -- Exercises
this interactive exercise is based on Carolyn Chute's novel The Beans
of Egypt, Maine
A
Quiz in Identifying Tenses
interactive self-quiz with answers
A
Quiz in Verb Tenses and Sentence Order
interactive self quiz with answers
