International Writers’ Workshop

International Writers’ Workshop Week 2 – Grammar Refresher Erica Cirillo-McCarthy Assistant Director of Graduate and ADEP Writing

Today’s Workshop: • Verb Tenses • Prepositions • Editing for Errors • But first – any questions on last week’s workshop – academic writing in English or the Writing Process?

Conjugating Regular Verbs according to TENSE and NUMBER • Present tense: • Singular: • I drive, You drive, He/She/It drives • Plural: • We drive, You (plural) drive, They drive • Past tense: • Singular: • I drove, you drove, he/she/it drove • Plural: • we drove, You (plural) drove, They drove

Present Perfect Tense • Describes an action that began in the past and is still going on in the present (have or has + past participle): • Ex. I have attended CLU for almost three years. (I started attending in the past AND still attend). • Ex. The curriculum has been a topic for faculty meetings for quite some time. (Faculty meetings have focused on curriculum in the past AND still focus on curriculum)

Past Perfect Tense • Describes an action that began in the past and has ended by the time of another past action (had + past participle): • Ex. I had written a strong draft of my personal statement before I met with a tutor. • Ex. The store had sold out by the time I arrived.

Future Perfect Tense • (a little less common) – describes an action that will be completed before or by a certain future time (will have + past participle): • Ex. I will have mastered the English language by the time I complete my studies at CLU. • Ex. If we continue to wait any longer, the plane will have left the airport.

Present Progressive Form • Describes an action currently in progress or for future actions that are to occur at some specific time (to be + -ing verb): • Ex. Sula is studying for her exams. • Ex. CLU is preparing to expand their graduate writing services next semester.

Past Progressive • Describes past actions in progress (was/were + -ing verb): • Ex. Sula was studying intently before I interrupted her. • Ex. Before we discovered the free shuttle, we were walking to school everyday.

Future Progressive • Describes future action in progress (will be + -ing verb): • Ex. I will be taking part in my graduation ceremonies. • Ex. After her big promotion, she will be flying first class.

Applying the rules Verb consistency worksheet tense consistency exercise.docx

Prepositions • Most commonly used prepositions: • at, by, for, from, in, of, on, to, with • Denote or show TIME and PLACE.

TIME • At – at a specific time: at 10:00am, at sunset, at lunch. Ex. We will meet at 2: 30 pm. • On – on a specific day or date: on Saturday, on Dec. 5th. Ex. I defend my dissertation on Sept. 21st. • IN – in a part of a 24-hour period: in the afternoon, in the day time, in a year or month, in a period of time. Ex. I usually tend to be my brightest in the early morning. Ex. 2. Robert gets most of his workout done in the evening right after work. • By – by a specific time or date: by 4:00pm. Ex. I will have this paper completely revised by next Friday.

PLACE • At – at a meeting place or location: at home, at the store. Ex. We can meet at the restaurant to save time. Ex. You can find me at my desk most mornings. Ex. Make a left at the corner of Olson and Moorpark Road. • On – on a surface, on an electronic medium. Ex. I know I put my keys on the table when I came in. Ex. I watched the debates on my laptop. • In – in an enclosed space, in a geographic location, in a print medium. Ex. In the attached document, you will find the necessary information for your trip. Ex. I was born in NY. Ex. I found this quote in Errors and Expectations, a book by Mina Shaughnessy. • By- by a landmark. Ex. I drive by Dodger Stadium every day on my way to work.

Applying the rules Preposition Worksheet PREPOSITIONS _time and place_worksheet.docx

Editing • Come up with a plan that works for you • print it out and read it aloud • Have someone else read it aloud so you “hear” your writing for clarity and flow Consideration of audience • Eliminate redundancy, in word choice, in ideas, in sentence structure • Parallel structure • Get to know your patterns of error and look for those • Finesse the formatting, in text citation, and references page • Go through and make sure all of your sources have a bibliographic entry and that you don’t have a bibliographic entry that you haven’t cited (use the “find” function in Word) • Look for your writing ticks—over usage of certain transitions or phrases

Editing, continued • Understand that editing takes time and can seem tedious • But change your perspective: the heavy lifting is already done! Editing is the easy part! • Give yourself enough time to S-L-O-W-L-Y go over every sentence carefully • A solid editing can mean the difference between a ‘B’ paper and an ‘A’ paper • Graduate writing is all high stakes – meaning it’s worth taking the time to edit well!

International Writers’ Workshop