1. 1. Introduction
a. Hello, welcome to the first Academic Success Center Writing Workshop…
b. We hope this will provide you with a little extra guidance on how to write
college-quality papers
c. (“Before we begin”) If you need any assistance with writing:
i. You can sign up for regular meeting sessions with a tutor (such as
myself) in the Academic Success Center
ii. Or You can see one of the tutors (again, such as myself) in the Oral
and Written Communication Center
2. Contents
a. Today we will be talking about
i. Tenses
ii. Sentence Fragments
iii. Run-on sentences
iv. Subject-Verb Agreement
3. Tenses
a. “Are Verb-based methods used to indicate the time, and sometimes
continuation or completeness, of an action or state in relation to the time of
speaking.”
b. They let your reader know “when” something is happening
c. Three simple tenses: Past, Present, Future
d. And three variation of each: Perfect, Continuous, Perfect Continuous
e. Mind irregular verbs – “you’ll pick up on them over time.”
f. Past tense:
i. Things that are said and done
g. Present Tense:
i. Things in progress
h. Future tense:
i. Things that have yet to happen
i. Perfect Tense:
i. Things that occurred earlier than another time under consideration
in the same sentence
ii. If I wanted to say I did something before I did this other thing earlier
in the day, I’d use the Perfect Tense
j. Continuous Tense
i. Things that was, is, or will be ongoing
ii. Things that aren’t just “one-and-done,” so to speak
k. Perfect Continuous
i. When one things was happening before or another took place
l. “This chart will give you a quick run-down of all twelve. If you have
anything to copy it down with I’ll give you time to do so.”
4. Sentence Fragments
a. “Getting into some of the real problem areas now. Sentence fragments are
one of those things everyone has problems with.”
b. They are sentences that don’t meet all of the requirements.
i. Have a subject

2. ii. Have a predicate
iii. Be a complete thought
iv. Pay attention to these examples. What is wrong with them?
c. Each used a Subordinator at the start
i. Subordinators…
1. Basically: they suggest to the reader that there’s going to be
more to the sentence
ii. These are some common subordinating conjunctions for different
situations
d. “Now, I mentioned Dependent Clauses, but what are they”
i. Thoughts that cannot stand on their own. Thoughts that beg for
more information.
ii. Dependent Clauses supply additional information to Independent
Clauses – thoughts that CAN stand on their own.
iii. In a sentence EITHER can come first or last.
iv. They CANNOT stand on their own, they HAVE to be connected to
an Independent Clause.
5. Run-on Sentences
a. “Whereas Sentence Fragments are sentences that are missing parts, Run-
ons could be understood as ones that try to fit too much in.”
b. “What they really are, though, are sentences joined together without the use
of proper separation.”
c. There are two methods to identify a Run-on sentence:
i. 1) and 2)
ii. USE BOTH TESTS, it’s easy to make a mistake with one or the
other, double check to be sure
iii. Also: very long sentences aren’t always run-ons, but they CAN be
tiring to the reader and professors may also mistake them for Run-
ons.
d. “Now for the important question: how do I fix them?”
i. With the power of proper punctuation!
ii. Examples
iii. You can’t just use a comma. That creates a Comma Splice.
1. If you encounter a Comma splice, either change the
punctuation or add a conjunction (for, and, but; whichever is
appropriate).
6. Subject-Verb Agreement
a. “Subject-Verb agreement is simply the way you word sentences based on
the context of which you’re saying. It makes sure verbs are plural or
singular.”
b. The difference between “he is” and “they are”
c. Be careful when the Subject follows the verb, those can be tricky to spot
d. Ultimately vary based on situation BUT, there are rules to make things
easier:
e. When the subject
i. Is words like “each”, use SINGULAR verbs

3. 1. Nothing will change the number of the SUBJECT
ii. Is words like “none”, Singular OR Plural may be used (depends on
context)
iii. If joined by “and”, use PLURAL verbs
iv. When singular subjects are joined by words like “or”, use a singular
verb
1. Plural subjects joined use plural verbs
v. When one subject is singular the one is plural the verb agrees with
the nearest subject.
vi. When a linking verb is used it agrees with the Subject not the
Complement
1. This is why me saying “when the subject is words like” is
correct
2. Complements are just the words that follow the linking verb,
i.e. “home” in ‘they are home”.
vii. When a collective noun is used, use singular verbs IF they’re
regarded as a unit. Otherwise, pluralize.
1. Family is a unit
viii. When a relative pronoun is used as a subject of an adjective clause
use either a Singular or Plural Verb.
7. Homophone Mistakes
a. “Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation, but different
meanings… And, that said, and you probably know what I’m talking
about.”
b. We’re going to look at Their, There, They’re & To, Too, Two
c. Their, There, They’re
i. Their – shows possession
ii. There – refers to places or existence
iii. They’re – a contraction of “they are”, for the state of a group
d. Take time to look over these, we’re going to practice a little bit
i. They’re / Their / There / There / Their/ They’re / There / They’re /
Their
e. Too, Two, To
i. Too means more than enough, also, or very
ii. Two is the number
iii. To indicates either direction or action
f. And here comes more practice!
i. Too / Two / To / To / Two / Too / Two / To / Too
8. Conclusion
a. And that concludes our workshop, are there any questions?
b. (After questions) Thank you for attending, and place remember to come to
the Academic Success Center or Oral and Written Communication Center
if you ever need any assistance.