WEEK 1-3

Students’ Online Orientation Seminar

WEEK 2-3
VMGO & Review on the Structure of English
INTRODUCTION

One of the most important jobs of a technical writer is to make sure that the
information published is correct. Thus, grammar is not just about preventing errors and
knowing. Grammar gives strength to every language. It is essential to learn grammar to
become a good writer and speaker. On this module, we will review on the structure of
English or in simple terms, the grammar. Since grammar is plays a vital role in technical
writing, might as well to get familiarized with the rules as well as its usage.

Pre-Competency Checklist
Let us check first your familiarity with our first topic, a review on Structure of English.
DIRECTIONS: Choose the correct usage of verbs that agrees with the subject in the
sentence by underlining your answer.
1. Either my father or my mother (is, are) coming to the meeting.
2. George and Tamara (doesn’t, don’t) want to see that movie.
3. The movie, including all the previews, (take, takes) about two hours to watch.
4. All of the CDs, including the scratched one, (is, are) in this case.
5. There (was, were) fifteen candies in that bag.

Learning Resources

subject-verbagreement-120823085311-phpapp02.pdf
sentencefragments-150318101207-conversion-gate01.pdf
sentence-140723160348-phpapp01.pdf
runons-avoiding-on-sentences-1212725055521109-8.pdf
danglingmrs-150202064534-conversion-gate01.pdf
writing-i-week-9-1-parallelism-130519164756-phpapp01.pdf
sentencestructurepowerpoint-130918233717-phpapp02.pdf
https://www.time4writing.com/writing-resources/paragraph-writing-secrets/
https://libguides.newcastle.edu.au/writing-paragraphs/structure
 Explore
REVIEW ON THE STRUCTURE OF GRAMMAR

A. S-V Agreement
Basic Rule
Singular subjects must have singular verbs. Plural subjects take plural verbs.
RULES ON SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
1. The pronoun “YOU” always takes a plural verb.
Examples:
 You were invited to come.
 You are asked to clean the room.
 You sing so well.
2. If a sentence begins with HERE or THERE, the verb agrees with the subject
which follows it.
Examples:
 Here are the ways on how to preserve meat.
 There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor.
3. If two subjects, one single and one plural, are connected by EITHER/OR or
NEITHER/NOR, the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
Examples:
 Neither the players nor the coach is joining.
 Either the conductor or the singers are attending the concert.
4. A singular subject followed by intervening words or phrases such as WITH, AS
WELL AS, IN ADDITION TO, ACCOMPANIED BY, TOGETHER WITH
and NO LESS THAN, takes a singular verb.
Examples:
 Jake, accompanied by his sisters, is enrolling in PCC.
 Daddy, as well as my brothers, is enjoying the party.
5. Singular subjects joined by AND require a plural verb, except when they mean
one thing.
Examples:
 Larry and Mercy are reading novels.
 My teacher and friend is here.
6. Two singular subjects joined by EITHER/OR or NEITHER/NOR take a
singular verb.
Examples:
 Either Mommy or Daddy is coming with me at the outbound.
 Neither Ferdie nor Dulce is waiting for you.
7. If a singular subject is followed by a phrase containing a plural noun, the verb is
singular
Examples:
 One of the boys is yelling so loud.
 One of the members is against the rule.
8. The indefinite pronouns SEVERAL, FEW, BOTH, MANY , OTHERS are
 always plural.
Examples:
 Both were asking to be freed.
 Several are seeking justice
9. The indefinite pronouns SOME, MOST, ALL, NONE are singular or plural
according to the meaning of the sentence.
Examples:
 Some of the girls were absent.
 Some of the ice cream is left.
10. When any of the following indefinite pronouns is the subject, the verb is singular:
EVERYBODY, EACH, NO ONE, ANOTHER, ANYBODY, NOBODY,
EVERY, NOTHING, EVERYTHING, ANYONE, EITHER, NEITHER,
EVERYONE, SOMEBODY, SOMEONE.
Example:
 Every man and woman in this hall is a member.
11. Expressions of time, money, weight, and distance are singular even if the form is
plural.
Examples:
 Two years is a long time to wait.
 One million dollars was given back to the owner.
12. When the amount of money refers to separate units, the verb is plural.
Examples:
 Five 25-centavo coins were found.
 Sixty 100-peso bills were added to the budget
13. The following words are always plural: PANTS, TROUSERS, PLIERS,
SCISSORS, SHEARS, TONGS. However, if the word PAIR is used, the verb is
singular.
Examples:
 The pants are torn into two.
 The pair of scissors was placed on the table.
14. Certain nouns, though plural in form, are singular in meaning and therefore take
singular verbs.
Examples:
 Mathematics is my favorite subject.
 The latest news is alarming to the public.
15. When the word is preceded by A, it takes a plural verb. When it is preceded by
THE, it takes a singular verb.
Examples:
 A number of students are waiting outside.
 The number of students outside is not recorded yet.
16. These nouns may be singular or plural in meaning: ATHLETICS, GENETICS,
POLITICS, GYMNASTICS, STATISTICS. When the noun refers to an
organized activity, it is singular; when the noun refers to the activities of
individuals within a group, or to varied activities, it is plural.
Examples:
  Gymnastics is very popular among girls.
 The gymnastics shown in the field today were outstanding.
17. The name of a country is always regarded as singular.
Examples:
 The Bahamas has beautiful beaches.
 Philippines is a wondrous place.
18. Adjectives used as nouns are considered plural.
Examples:
 The poor are to be helped.
 The efficient are what this country needs.
19. Collective nouns may be singular or plural depending on whether the individual
members are acting individually or collectively. These nouns are: COMPANY,
GROUP, COMMITTEE, CROWD, JURY, FLOCK, TEAM.
Examples:
 The committee is against the plan. (acting collectively-singular)
 The committee are of different opinion. (acting individuallyplural)
20. In the use of mathematical expressions, the following are accepted:
Examples:
 Seven plus three is ten.
 Seven and three are ten.
 Five times two are ten.
 Five minus two is three.
21. Titles of books, plays, articles, movies, etc. are regarded as singular even though
words in the title may be plural.
Examples:
 “In Dreams Begin Responsibilities” is a story by D. Schwartz.
 “Great Expectations” is a mustread novel.
22. Names of organizations take a singular verb when the whole organization is
referred to, and a plural verb when the members are referred to.
Examples:
 Lopez and Sons is a successful organization.
 Lopez and Sons are holding a two-day annual meeting
23. If a sentence begins with the expletive IT, the verb is always singular even if the
subject that follows the verb is plural.
Examples:
 It is the schools which must assume the responsibility.
 It is us who must take care of the environment.

B. Sentence Structure
How do you vary sentence structure? You will want to use a variety of sentence
structures in your writing. There are four types of sentences:
- Simple Sentence
- Compound Sentence
- Complex Sentence
- Compound/Complex Sentence

Think of a complete sentence like this….

If there is a missing subject or missing verb……
The sentence is considered a fragment…..
Examples:
• Went to the store.
• Before I take my test.
• The best class in the world!
• Over the river and through the woods.
• James, a student in first block.
Quick comma lesson
Only use a comma to separate two independent clauses joined by a conjunction.
Comma? Simple or Complex Sentence?
• After school I am going to the store and to the mall.
• I like to watch baseball games and she likes to watch football games.
• English class is my favorite subject and my best subject.
• Jamie bought all of her materials for school and she covered all of her books last
night.
• My brother drove me to school and dropped me off.
Dependent clauses cannot stand alone. They are like baskets that need to be attached
to a basic sentence.

Quick Overview of Clauses

1. Adjective clauses (tell what kind or which one)
Start with- that, which, who, whom, whose, before, since, when, where, why.
Example:
• The sun never shines on days when I can enjoy it. • We ate cookies that were
made from rice.

2. Adverb clauses (tells where, when, in what way, to what extent under what
condition or why)
List of subordinating conjunctions: After, since, when, although, so, that, whenever,
as, supposing, where, because, than, whereas, before, that, wherever, but, that, though,
whether, if, though, which, in order, that, till, while, lest, unless, who, no matter, until,
why, how, what, even though
Example:
I will help you with your history whenever you ask.
He ran as if he had a twisted ankle.
 Jean wanted to stay longer because the band was good.
*If clause is at the beginning or in the middle Of sentence it needs to be set off by commas

3. Noun clauses (functions as the noun)

Subject:
• Whomever you bring will be welcome
Direct Object:
• The nomads can find whatever water is in the desert.
Indirect Object:
• The teacher gave whoever presented an oral report extra credit.
Predicate Nominative:
• The big question is whether he will be allowed to play on the team.
Object of a Preposition:
• They store their food in plastic or whatever containers they have.
C. Fragments
What is a Fragment?
Fragment: a group of words that is missing a part of a complete sentence
Reminder: A complete sentence includes a subject (noun) and an action (verb), and it
must express a complete thought.

➢ How to Spot a Fragment?

Ask yourself:
✓ Does the group of words have a subject?
✓ Does it have a verb?
✓ Does it express a complete thought?
✓ If the answer to any of these questions are no then the group of words create a
fragment.

Examples of Sentence Fragments

The car was very old. But stylish.
Because he wanted to be up early. He knew he needed to go to sleep.
Feeling depressed. Jan walked home silently.

Where is the Fragment?

➢ Brittany was a little nervous about Monday. Because of her first grammar
activity presentation.
A. Brittany was a little nervous about Monday.
B. Because of her first grammar activity presentation.
C. Neither of them
D. Both of them  Why?

Where is the Fragment?

➢ The flowers smelled sweet. Like fruit or candy.
A. The flowers smelled sweet.
B. Like fruit or candy.
 C. Neither of them.
D. Both of them.

Why?

When are Fragments Unacceptable?

❖ Professional Writing:
▪ Every Word Counts
▪ Fragments can make your writing confusing
▪ Fragments make your writing informal
Examples: Formal Essays and other writing assignments
Examples: Cover letters

When are Fragments Acceptable?

❖ Professional Writing:
▪ To create a casual or conversational tone.
Example: Does this mean that we should follow the rule of fragments
all the time in our writing? Not necessarily.
❖ Advertising:
▪ To create a casual tone, but with a punch.
Examples:

❖ Creative Writing:
▪ To convey a sense of fragmentation and to give a stronger description 
Example: “IT was a brain. A disembodied brain. An oversized brain,
just enough larger than normal to be completely revolting and
terrifying. A living brain. A brain that pulsed and quivered, that seized
and commanded. No wonder the brain was called IT.” (p. 158, A
Wrinkle in Time, Madeline L’Engle)
▪ In dialogue
Example: “I can’t. Too much work to do.”
Example: “Ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.”
Example: “I’ve searched everywhere,” she said, defeated. “Except,
perhaps, the drugstore on Main Street.”

D. Avoiding Run-on Sentences

Avoiding Run-on Sentences
The length of a sentence has nothing to do with whether or not a sentence is
considered a run-on. An over-exuberant, run-off-at-the-mouth, 400-word gorilla of a
sentence can be structurally fine. A run-on sentence is one in which two clauses have
been connected incorrectly.
E. Parallelism

Parallelism
1. Parallelism is the linking together of similar grammatical parts in a sentence.
2. Items in a series must have parallel structure.
3. Using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas are equally
important.
4. To have parallel sentence structure, related ideas or ideas joined by and, but, or, nor
or yet should be presented in the same grammatical structure (e.g., all infinitives, all
gerunds, all nouns, all prepositional phrases).
Parallel Structure
Parallel Structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more
ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at three levels:
 Word
 Phrase
 Clause
ACTIVITY:
Directions: Rewrite each sentence to fix all parallelism errors
1. It is easier to tell the truth than lying to people you love.
2. Managing your money well is to be prepared for the future.
3. The project plan is creative but a risk.
4. The witness described the suspect as tall, lightskinned, and with a beard.
5. Jim wanted to scare us by telling us a ghost story and he showed us a horror movie.
6. He wanted three things out of college: to master a skill, to make good friends, and learning
about life.
7. Betty has intelligence, honesty, and she is funny.
8. Good writing requires you to plan outlines, write several drafts, and revision
9. I left my job for several reasons: the pay was poor, long hours, I found the work tedious
and equipment was dangerous.
10. The man’s two-hour speech was tiresome, inaccurate, and it was not necessary.
11. The assistant manager's duties are to arrive early, open the office, payroll management
and supervising the staff.
12. We knew that George would become an entrepreneur because he had ambitious plans,
independence, and he never wanted to take a vacation.
F. Misplaced and Dangling Modifier
What Is A tfisplaced tfodifier?
 A modifier is a word, phrase, or clause that describes or changes the meaning of
another word, phrase or clause in some way.
 A misplaced modifier means that there is a separation of space between the word,
phrase, or clause and the modifier.
 When a modifier is misplaced, your meaning gets really fuzzy.
Dangling tfodifiers
 Live things and machines do actions – if there is an action verb in your sentence,
there must also be a living thing or a machine that does the action.
 Whenever you have dangling modifier, you must add words to the sentence.
Simply rearranging the sentence will not fix the problem.
 G. Paragraph Structure

What is a paragraph?
A paragraph develops ONE main idea through a series of related sentences. This main
idea is usually introduced in the first sentence of the paragraph, called the topic sentence.
The idea is then developed further through the sentences that follow.
A paragraph is usually around 250 words and consists of five or six sentences, although
this can vary depending on the purpose of the paragraph, and the length of the piece you are
writing. Paragraphs play an important role in writing because they provide a framework for
organising your ideas in a logical order. Using a clear structure for your paragraphs helps
guide the reader through your written work.
Paragraph Structure
A useful way of understanding paragraph structure is to think of it as a block that is divided
into three sections: the beginning, the middle, and the end.
A basic paragraph follows this structure:

Topic Sentence (TS) - the beginning

• Needs to state ONE idea clearly

• Useful Tip: Always put the most important information first!

Supporting Sentences (SS) - the middle

• Elaborates and explains the idea introduced in the topic sentence

• Provides evidence and examples
• Explains the evidence or example included - why is it relevant?

Concluding Sentence (CS) - the end

• Makes links: back to the main idea of the paragraph; back to research question or
of the assign topic paragraph

When to start a new paragraph:

• Start new main points or new ideas in a new paragraph. If you have an extended idea
across multiple paragraphs, each new point within that idea should have its own
paragraph.
• Use a new paragraph to introduce a contrasting or different position. Use a clear topic
sentence to identify the main idea.
• If the paragraph becomes too long or the material is overly complex, you will need to
 create a break to make your writing more readable. Try splitting long paragraphs into
two shorter paragraphs. This means you will need to write a new topic sentence at the
start of the new paragraph.
• Introductions and conclusions are usually written as separate paragraphs.

How do you write a paragraph?

A basic paragraph structure usually consists of five sentences: the topic sentence, three
supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence. But the secrets to paragraph writing lay in
four essential elements, which when used correctly, can make an okay paragraph into
a great paragraph.

1. Element #1: Unity. Unity in a paragraph begins with the topic sentence. Every
paragraph has one single, controlling idea that is expressed in its topic sentence,
which is typically the first sentence of the paragraph. A paragraph is unified around
this main idea, with the supporting sentences providing detail and discussion. In
order to write a good topic sentence, think about your theme and all the points you
want to make. Decide which point drives the rest, and then write it as your topic
sentence.
2. Element #2: Order. Order refers to the way you organize your supporting sentences.
Whether you choose chronological order, order of importance, or another logical
presentation of detail, a solid paragraph always has a definite organization. In a well-
ordered paragraph, the reader follows along easily, aided by the pattern you’ve
established. Order helps the reader grasp your meaning and avoid confusion.
3. Element #3: Coherence. Coherence is the quality that makes your writing
understandable. Sentences within a paragraph need to connect to each other and work
together as a whole. One of the best ways to achieve coherency is to use transition
words. These words create bridges from one sentence to the next. You can use
transition words that show order (first, second, third); spatial relationships (above,
below) or logic (furthermore, in addition, in fact). Also, in writing a paragraph, using
a consistent verb tense and point of view are important ingredients for coherency.
4. Element #4: Completeness. Completeness means a paragraph is well-developed. If all
sentences clearly and sufficiently support the main idea, then your paragraph is
complete. If there are not enough sentences or enough information to prove your
thesis, then the paragraph is incomplete. Usually three supporting sentences, in
addition to a topic sentence and concluding sentence, are needed for a paragraph to be
complete. The concluding sentence or last sentence of the paragraph should
summarize your main idea by reinforcing your topic sentence.

Discussion Board
Answer thequestion below:
From the topic A-G, which one do you find it easy to learn/understand? Which one is
difficult? Why?
 Post-Competency
DIRECTIONS: Fix the dangling modifier in the sentences below. Rewrite the sentence
correctly.
1. Leaving quickly, my car lights were left on.
2. After explaining that I had lost my wallet, the waiter allowed me to pay by check.
3. To complete a degree in anthropology, at least two history courses must be taken.
4. Once filled with ink, Gina can write for hours before the pen runs dry.
5. In selecting her next car, cost was determined by Linda’s paycheck.