Review basic grammar rules for military writers

Basic Grammar and Structure 1
Navy Public Affairs Support Element Training
Review Basic Grammar and Structure
Instructor Hours: 2.0
Practical Exercises: 0
Peer Review: 0
Supplemental Material:
1) PowerPoint: Review Basic Grammar and
Structure
2) Handouts: None
3) Videos:
a. “Word Crimes” by Weird Al Yankovic
b. “Grammar Nazis” by College Humor
c. “Conjunction Junction” by School
House Rocks (Optional)
d. “Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here”
by School House Rock (Optional)
e. “Prepositions” by School House Rock
(Optional)
4) Books: Reference the A.P. Guide to Style, the
Navy Style Guide, local dictionaries and
thesauruses.

Basic Grammar and Structure
Trainer Notes STATE: Welcome! This particular topic is NOT a review of the
structure and grammar of the entire English language. This review will
cover basic sentence structure, but beyond that only goes into areas of
grammar that Sailors in the fleet have a history of struggling with.
NPASE has determined the content of this review by surveying our
own leadership (First Classes, Chiefs, and PAOs) as well as the
leadership of several carriers, amphibious assault ships, and overseas
PA offices. Members of both NPASE East and NPASE West have
combined this data to determine the specific parts of grammar and
structure we need to review.
Slide – Objectives
STATE: By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
• Review basic sentence structure
• Review participles
• Review prepositions
• Review punctuation
• Review correct word choice
• Avoid double negatives!
• Parallel structure
• Discuss active vs. passive voice
STATE: What is language? One may consider language a machine—
a machine whose function is to convey ideas. Grammar can be viewed
as the mechanical workings of that machine. A basic understanding of
grammar and structure allows one to operate the machine of language
with far more precision and success than someone who is unfamiliar
with how and why the English language works as it does.
STATE: Think of it as a car. You do not need to be an automotive
expert to know that a basic familiarity with the mechanics of a car can
both save you money (by letting you do minor repairs yourself), and
operate the vehicle more successfully (by knowing its limits and when
you need to take it to a professional mechanic). There seems to be a
resistance on the part of many writers to learning grammar, but
grammar is simply the mechanical workings of the tool (language)
writers employ.
Navy Public Affairs Support Element Expeditionary Skills Courses
Objectives
59

Trainer Notes Objective: Sentence Structure
Slide – Sentence structure 1
STATE: Sentences are basic units of communication. Letters build
words, and words name specific items and actions. However, isolated
words are not able to communicate anything beyond the item or action
they name. A sentence is a combination of words that conveys a
complete thought. A thought generally has a subject and an action.
This is reflected in the basic, simple sentence. A simple sentence has a
subject and action, such as “I ran.” The simple sentence can be short
(two words here) or much, much longer. But it conveys a single
thought.
Slide – Sentence structure 2
STATE: A two-word sentence, although complete, does not offer
much information most of the time. “I ate” is a complete thought, but
the obvious question arises: “What did I eat?” To answer this we add
objects.
STATE: In English we have direct and indirect objects. Direct objects
follow transitive (action) verbs. “I” is the subject; “ate” is the
transitive, or action, verb; “soup” is the direct recipient, or object of
that action. Every correctly written sentence has at least an implied
object. “I ate” is a complete sentence, and the obvious implication is
that I ate some unnamed object.
STATE: Indirect objects are more rare. When someone or something
gets the direct object, that someone or something is the indirect object.
•Clauses are groups of words that have a subject and a verb.
•Independent clauses express a single complete thought. A
simple sentence is an independent clause: “I flew the kite.”
•Dependent clauses don't express a complete thought. They
need to be connected to an independent clause in order to
make sense. They depend on independent clauses.
Basic Sentence Structure
•A simple sentence has at least two parts: subject and predicate
(verb). A third part (the object) can be added to provide more
detailed information.
•Subject: The actor doing the action
•Predicate (verb): The action being done
•Object: The item or person being acted upon
Example: I ate.
Example: I ate the soup. (A direct object is included.)
Basic Sentence Structure

Trainer Notes
STATE: For example, if one says, “I built my granddaughter a
sandcastle,” the granddaughter is the indirect object. “I” is the subject,
“built” is the verb, “sandcastle” the direct object of build. Therefore,
“granddaughter” is the indirect object receiving the direct object (the
sandcastle).
Slide – Complex sentences
STATE: Complex sentences are not sentences with a lot of words.
True, a long, wordy sentence might be complicated, but the term
“Complex Sentence” actually refers to a sentence in which a simple
sentence is paired with a dependent clause to add more information. A
“dependent clause” is a phrase (group of words) that cannot stand alone
as a sentence. The clause is dependent on the independent clause to
make sense. In a sense, it’s “subordinate” to the independent clause, so
you need to us a subordinating conjunction to hook up the two
properly.
Slide – Compound sentences
STATE: Now, whereas complex sentences are a combination of an
independent clause and a dependent clause joined by a subordinating
conjunction, a compound sentence is the joining of two equal,
independent clauses. Compound sentences have to be correctly
compounded or else the collision results in a run-on sentence.
A complex sentence is created by joining two clauses. One clause
is independent, the other clause is dependent and therefore
subordinate to the independent clause. To do this you will use a
subordinating conjunction.
Examples: After I came home, I made dinner.
We visited the museum before it closed.
Examples of subordinating conjunctions include: before, after,
because, though, even though, while, when.
Complex Sentences
Compound Sentences
A compound sentence consists of two
or more or simple sentences
(independent clauses) joined together.
These are normally connected by
coordinating conjunctions because
each clause is “equal” to the other.
Example: I kicked the ball and it hit Tom.
Independent clauses must be correctly compounded or else clauses
collide unpleasantly. A comma alone doesn’t always prevent the
crash. There are four ways to correct this.

Trainer Notes
STATE: Let’s look at an example of a run on sentence. There are four
ways to fix it:
Slides – Compounding a sentence
STATE: Let’s look at another example. There a usually multiple
ways to fix a grammatical problem. Many depend on the “voice” of the
writer involved. A good editor/coach will not necessarily re-write the
sentence in their voice, but help their writer fix it in the writer’s voice:
Slide – Run-on Sentence
DIRECT: There are nearly as many ways to fix this run-on sentence
about Katrina and the swings at the playground as there are students in
this class. As an editor, don’t be so wedded to your way of writing that
you stifle your writers. Help them develop their voice and style while
helping them learn proper grammar.
Slide – Sentence Fragments
STATE: Sentence fragments are incomplete sentences. They leave the
reader “hanging” by leaving questions unanswered.
Run-on sentence: “This cup is cracked and I don’t want it.”
1: Make two sentences:
Example: This cup is cracked. I don’t want it.
2: Use a conjunction and a comma:
Example: This cup is cracked, so I don’t want it.
3: Embed one clause using a dependent word:
Example: If this cup is cracked, I don’t want it.
4: Embed one clause by reducing a verb to a verbal:
Example: I don’t want this cracked cup.
Compound Sentences
A run-on sentence runs on and on and on like an electric
rabbit in a TV commercial.
Example: “Those swings are just her size and are the
ones Katrina always chooses when she comes
here to play.”
How do you fix it?
Run-on Sentences
Sentence Fragments
Sentence fragments are incomplete
thoughts or ideas pretending to be
complete sentences.
A fragment creates unanswered
questions for the reader. For
example, the fragment “Although I
dance” will leave readers hanging.
The reader will be left wondering “Although I dance…then what?”

Trainer Notes STATE: Believe it or not, how we speak vs. how we write are two
very different communication experiences. In verbal conversation,
only about 30% of the information you receive from the sender comes
from the actual words they say. Study communication theory and
you’ll learn that nearly 70% of the information you receive comes from
non-verbal cues such as body language, tone of voice, facial
expressions, etc. This is why we can speak using sentence fragments
and poor grammar, but the message still makes sense. The 70% of
information provided by the non-verbal cues fills in the gaps.
STATE: When writing, you have only the words to convey the story
to your reader. They cannot see any of the non-verbal cues that provide
so much information during face-to-face conversations. Therefore
complete sentences are critical to ensuring you are telling the story you
want to tell.
Slides – Sentence or Fragment?
STATE: Let’s go through these examples. See if you can identify any
sentence fragments. Remember, just because a sentence is silly doesn’t
mean it’s not a proper sentence. If there are fragments hidden among
these examples, see if you can identify why it’s a fragment and not a
sentence.
DIRECT: Have student volunteers review each sentence or fragment.
NOTE: Number 3 is a fragment because there is no subject actually
identified in the sentence. Pizza cannot eat itself; it has to be eaten by
someone.
NOTE: Number 5 is a fragment because “instead” is a conditional
word. It sets up the condition (and question) of “instead of what?”
STATE: Remember, no a proper sentence, simple or compound,
conveys one complete thought. It might not give the reader a lot of
information, but it gives the reader enough information for the thought
to make sense.
Which of the following are complete sentences and which are fragments?
1) The shipwrights completed the hull on time.
2) Sarah Jane Smith wrote about the story.
3) The pizza was eaten and gone.
4) Ferrets sank the Titanic.
5) He walked instead.
6) The fans were turned by the new motor.
There is no subject; who or what
acted on the pizza?
“Instead” is a dependent word. We
have to know instead of what to make
this thought complete.
Sentence Fragments

Trainer Notes STATE: Pronouns are words that can substitute for a proper noun.
The word the pronoun replaces is called its antecedent. This allows for
variety in writing and avoids having to repeat the name of the proper
noun over and over. Sometimes multiple antecedents will need a
singular pronoun, or an indefinite pronoun (such as “everybody”—
signifying a large group with no defined limit) will need a plural
pronoun.
DIRECT: Have different student volunteers reach line time on the
next two slides:
Slides – Pronouns 1 and 2
STATE: Pronouns are not a huge problem in journalism. Most of the
time it is a matter of a writer moving quickly and typo-ing the wrong
pronoun into a space in which it doesn’t make logical sense.
Slide – Possessive case 1
STATE: There are a couple of common errors that happen when trying
tor write in the possessive case. These usually happen when listing
people separately who are operating as a group or when using
hyphenated nouns.
Pronouns
1. Antecedents joined by “and” require a plural pronoun.
Example: Anna and Shawn have their assignments.
2. Antecedents joined by “or” and “nor” require a pronoun that
agrees with the antecedent closest to the pronoun.
Example: Neither the students nor Professor Hawkins brought his
books to class.
3. When plural words come between a singular word and its
pronoun, a singular pronoun is still required.
Example: Each of the three men arranged for his group to
receive the best equipment.
4. Some indefinite pronouns (such as “both,” “few,” and “many”) take
plural possessive pronouns:
Example: Many have failed on their first attempt.
5. Some indefinite pronouns can require either singular or plural possessive
pronouns depending on their meaning in the sentence. Examples are
“everyone” and “everybody.”
Example: If everyone is ready, call them in to the classroom.
Pronouns
1) If writing about two people or places that share possession of
an object, add the possessive case to the second noun.
Example: Alex and Sarah’s project was perfect.
2) Add the apostrophe ‘s’ to the end of the compound
words or the last word in the hyphenated noun.
Example: My brother-in-law’s car broke down.
Possessive Case

Trainer Notes
Slide – Possessive Case 2
STATE: Remember personal pronouns never use an apostrophe to
show ownership. So the possessive of “her” is “hers” with the ‘s’
added directly to the word.
Slide – Possessive Case 3
STATE: Finally, “it” is perhaps the most abused word in the English
language when it comes to delineating the possessive case from the
contraction of “it is.” Always remember, “it’s” is the contraction. The
possessive form of “it” has no apostrophe at all.
STATE: Let’s take a brief look at subject verb agreement. Subjects
and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or
plural). Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a
subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.
STATE: A lot of MCs, perhaps because of moving too fast trying to
meet a deadline, muddle their agreement when writing in the present
tense. In the present tense, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite
ways. Plural nouns normally have an ‘s’ added to the end. Singular
verbs normally have an ‘s’ added to the end of the word. Take a look:
Slide – Subject-verb 1
3) When two nouns indicate ownership, but the ownership is
not of the same item, each noun is written in the appropriate
possessive case.
Example: Jennifer’s and Andrew’s projects were both
turned in late.
4) Personal pronouns (i.e., my, his, her, your, their, etc.) never use
an apostrophe to show ownership.
Possessive Case
Hold on! What about “it”?!
“It’s” is a contraction of “it is.”
“Its” is the possessive case.
Examples: The dog was happily chasing its ball. (Possessive)
It’s certainly a nice day! (Contraction of “it is”)
Possessive Case

Trainer Notes STATE: Now there is one place where many writers still have trouble,
and that is the “is / are” debate. “Is” and “are” are forms of the verb “to
be.” “To be” is one of the most dynamic verbs in the English language.
Make sure you ae using the correct form to make the subject and verb
agree:
Slide – Subject-verb 2 and 3
Quick Review
STATE: Let’s go over what we’ve studied.
ASK: What is a run-on sentence? Answer: Two improperly
compounded complete sentences.
ASK: What is a complex sentence? Answer: A sentence comprised of
an independent clause with a dependent clause joined to it.
ASK: What is the difference between a subordinating conjunction and
coordinating conjunction? Answer: Subordinating conjunctions join
an independent and a dependent clause into a complex sentence. A
coordinating conjunction joins two independent clauses into a
compound sentence.
ASK: What is the proper way to make “sister-in-law” possessive?
Answer: “sister-in-law’s”
STATE: Good review. Let’s take a look at one of the most mangled,
but potentially humorous, parts of writing: modifiers! Modifiers
literally modify other words. Like paint on a ship, they
add color by describing the other words. A modifier should be placed
next to the word it describes.
STATE: Adjectives modify nouns and pronouns. Adverbs modify
verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Misplacing a modifier can
completely alter the meaning of a sentence. You have to be careful to
ensure you are telling the story you want to tell, and not inadvertently
spinning a different yarn!

Trainer Notes DIRECT: Have a student volunteer read the three sentences and
discuss the distinct meaning of each. Emphasize how simply moving
the single word “just” completely alters each sentence:
Slide – Modifiers 1
STATE: The last example on this slide, “The waiter brought the
pancakes to the table dripping with syrup,” can mean the pancakes or
the table was dripping with syrup. Which is it?
STATE: Readers can pick up a lot from context, however you must
remember that each individual’s “context” is largely shaped by their
experience, education level, professional training, etc. Without non-
verbal cues to clarify things, a misplaced modifier that would otherwise
make sense in a conversation can make a written sentence ridiculous.
The goal of good writing is to use proper grammar—the mechanics of
the language—to reduce the reader’s need to figure things out through
context to an absolute minimum. In this way you are as assured as
possible of telling the story you want to tell.
STATE: Limiting modifiers are often abused in speech, but must be
used correctly in writing. There are two more specific modifier
problems to look at:

Trainer Notes
STATE: Be careful of “squinting” modifiers that could go in either of
two directions. Make sure you are clearly modifying the right word(s)
to get across the meaning you want.
STATE: The infamous “dangling participle” occurs with alarming
regularity in speech…but in speech the non-verbal cues help fill in the
gaps. Simply put, a dangling participle happens when you neglect to
specify the subject in the sentence.
Objective: Participles
STATE: Now that we’ve touched on participles, we’re going to take a
closer look at them. The word “participle” seems to strike fear into the
hearts of English students across the country, but the participle is
simply one form, or one part of a verb’s various forms.
Slide – Participles 1

Trainer Notes STATE: To put it in the proverbial nutshell, the point of verb forms is
to denote the time an action took place: recent past, long past, present,
near future, far future, etc. For example, the simple past tense indicates
something just happened. The past participle of the same verb
indicates the action happened a while ago.
STATE: Present participles are easy to spot. They always end in
“ing.” Past participles are where things get a bit trickier because some
verbs are regular (take the normal “ed” suffix for simple past tense),
but others are irregular, changing their entire form as they shift through
the tenses. A good dictionary can help you figure out the conjugation if
you get stuck. But remember the time factor involved—past participles
tend to indicate something happened a while ago while present
participles indicate the action is happening now and is on-going.
STATE: Within the shift of verbs through their various forms,
participles play a key role in helping us convey complex ideas.
DIRECT: Have student volunteers read the slide.
STATE: The ability of participles to act in many different capacities
(besides the time factor usually connoted by a verb’s shift through the
various tenses) gives our language a great deal of flexibility. “Run” is
a verb. But the reality of participles allow us to use “run” as a
gerund—a noun. Thus we can say someone “had a great run while
running during the command’s fun run.”

Trainer Notes
Objective: Prepositions
STATE: Another element of grammar that seems to get a bad rap is
the humble, innocent prepositional phrase. Writers are often told in
copious amount of red ink to never start a sentence with a prepositional
phrase, but many do not know what a preposition actually is.
Slide – Prepositions 1
STATE: Prepositions simply show an object’s location. That location
may be in space (by the door) or its location in time (at midnight). This
is why starting sentence with a prepositional phrase is not the best
writing; it creates a rather passive sentence. We’ll look at active vs.
passive voice later in more detail, but suffice it to know that opening
with the object’s location is generally very passive.
Slide – Prepositions 2
STATE: To create a prepositional phrase, you simply have the
preposition, any optional modifiers, and then the noun, pronoun, or
gerund.
STATE: Some prepositional phrases also function as subordinating
conjunctions. These are after, as, before, since, and until.
Remember—a subordinating conjunction properly connects a
dependent clause to an independent clause. These particular
prepositions are all conditional words, therefore they set up a clause
that is dependent on the rest of the sentence, such as: “I’ll get new
running shoes after the race.” The phrase “after the race” cannot stand
alone as a separate sentence.
Prepositions indicate a subject’s location. This location could be in
space or in time:
Example: The Sailor is in CVIC.
Example: The Sailors were on the bridge at midnight.
Prepositions
Prepositional phrases are formed in the following manner:
Preposition (location) + optional modifier + noun, pronoun, or gerund
Examples: According to us
According to = preposition; us = pronoun
Under the stove
Under = preposition; the = modifier; stove = noun.
At school
At = preposition; school = noun.
Prepositions

Trainer Notes
Objective: Punctuation (Part 1)
STATE: Punctuation is as critical to our language—and to good
writing—as is subject-verb agreement. Punctuation defines where
sentences, and therefore ideas, start and stop.
Slide – Commas 1
STATE: It’s funny to say that commas save lives, but in a literary
sense they really do. A comma has man uses. It can provide the
logical pause when you join the parts of a complex or compound
sentence. It sets off phrases so that one part of the sentence stands
separately from the other.
Slide – Commas 2
STATE: One of the most common mistakes is to use a comma to
“splice” together two independent clauses. The writer is usually trying
to create emphasis, but this sort of splice is grammatically incorrect. A
semi-colon is one way to fix it, and we’ll look at that later.
DIRECT: Have the students suggest ways to fix this sentence.

Trainer Notes
Slide – Apostrophes 1
STATE: Most words using apostrophes in English are pretty straight
forward. However, some words, like “women” or “men” are plural,
but use an apostrophe “s” to make them possessive—as if they were
singular instead of plural words.
STATE: Other words, such as deer or moose¸ are both singular and
plural. To make them possessive you add an apostrophe “s” as if they
were singular. In this case, the context HAS to carry the thought for
the reader, so make sure the full sentence contains enough information
to alert your reader that two deer or five moose were involved, and not
just one.
Slide – Apostrophes 2
STATE: If you are listing two or more people and showing possession
as a group, you’ll only put an apostrophe “s” on the final person’s
name. However, if you are showing ownership for these people’s items
singularly, the each person gets the apostrophe “s.”
STATE: Let’s do a quick review.
ASK: What causes a dangling participle? Answer: Failure to specify
a subject in the sentence.
ASK: What is a gerund? Answer: Using a verb as a noun.
ASK: What do present participles always end in? Answer: “ing”
ASK: What do prepositions indicate about a noun? Answer: Location

Trainer Notes
Slide – Break!
STATE: We have covered quite a bit of material. Time for a ten-
minute break!
** ** ** **
Objective: Punctuation (Part 2)
STATE: Welcome back! I hope you had a good break.
STATE: Semi-colons and hyphens are two of the most misunderstood
and abused punctuation marks. However, the A.P. Stylebook has a
chapter on punctuation that covers both. We’re going to highlight the
most common uses of semi-colons and hyphens before moving on.
Slide – Semi-colons 1 and 2
STATE: Use semi-colons as a means to joining two complete
sentences when you want to link up related material to create emphasis.
Semi-colons are also used when you have list several items that also
need commas (such as listing several cities and their states).
When taking the
break at the end of
the lesson, remind
students that time is
measured from the
master clock in the
classroom, not their
watches.
Semi-colons are used to connect two independent clauses. Use them
to show a greater pause than a comma but less than a period.
A semicolon can replace a period if the writer wishes to narrow the
gap between two closely linked sentences for emphasis:
Original Sentence: I need coffee every morning. I get headaches
without it.
Add a semi-colon: I need coffee every morning; I get headaches
without it.
Semi-colons
You can use a semi-colon instead of a comma when compounding two
complete sentences (again, to create emphasis):
Example: Bring any two items on deployment; however, pens
and candy are in short supply.
When one or more items in a series contains a comma, add a semi-
colon to alleviate some confusion.
Example: The class contained people from Denver, Colorado;
Miami, Florida; San Jose, California; Spokane, Washington;
and other places as well.
Semi-colons

Trainer Notes
Slide – Hyphens 1
STATE: Hyphens are another misunderstood punctuation tool.
However, like all punctuation tools, the point of using a hyphen is to
clarify your meaning. For example, if you do not hyphenate “small
business” when writing about small-business owners, then you have,
quite literally, just written the president was talking to business owners
who are short of stature.
Slide – Hyphens 2
STATE: A number of Navy terms require hyphenation. These will
not be covered in the AP Stylebook, but you can find them in the Navy
Style Guide. A few of the most common are shown here. You can find
the Navy Style Guide on Navy.mil
Slide – Hyphens 3
STATE: “Fast-attack” and “guided-missile” must be hyphenated.
These are important because these two phrases must be used on first
reference when naming a ship of that type. However, “aircraft carrier”
is not hyphenated because it is a specific type of ship. There are
several types of submarines, so “fast-attack” is used as an adjective to
delineate one specific class of submarine.
According to the A.P. Stylebook, use hyphens to avoid confusion, but
use them sparingly:
Example: “The president talked to small-business
owners” makes far more sense than “The president talked
to small business owners.”
Hyphens
The Navy Style Guide provides guidance on using hyphens in Navy
writing. A few examples are shown below.
Active-duty (if it is an adjective): “All active-duty personnel must
participate.”
Aircraft designations and squadrons: SH-60B, HS-10
All-hands: (when it is a compound modifier): “We have an all-hands call
this afternoon.”
Dry-dock: (when used as a verb) “We need to dry-dock the ship.”
Hyphens
Fast-attack -and- Guided-missile: (when used as an adjective) “The
guided-missile cruiser and fast-attack submarine pulled into port.”
Half-mast: “The flags are flown at half-mast today.”
Hyphens

Trainer Notes
Slide – Hyphens 4
STATE: Finally, do not hyphenate these terms. “Commander in
chief” is perhaps the term that is most common written incorrectly.
However, per the Navy Style Guide, you do not hyphenate it.
Objective: Correct Word Choice
STATE: The English language contains many words that sound alike,
but have completely different meanings. If you use the wrong word,
but spell it correctly, a computer’s spell-check function will not pick it
up, and you risk the grammar-check function mission it too. Using the
correct word is critical in order to both get across the meaning you
want, and to keep yourself sounding professional. We’re going to take
a look at some of the most commonly muddled words.
Slide – Word choice 1 and 2
DIRECT: Have student volunteers read over the examples.
According to the A.P. Stylebook, use hyphens to avoid confusion, but
use them sparingly:
Example: “The president talked to small-business
owners” makes far more sense than “The president talked
to small business owners.”
Hyphens
There are a number or words in the English language that sound alike,
but have very different spellings and meanings. Pay attention to detail!
Accept / Except – “Accept” is a verb indicating the action of taking
something. “Except” means something is left out or set aside:
Example: The CO said she would accept the MWR committee’s
advice, except she wanted an independent treasurer.
Affect / Effect – “Affect" is a verb. The word "effect," 95% of the time,
is a noun:
Example: The new policy’s effect was not immediately
noticed by most of the affected Sailors.
Correct Word Choice
Good / Well – “Good’ is an adjective which modifies a noun.
“Well” is an adverb and refers to the manner in which a thing is
actually done:
Example: The Sailors had a good run, and therefore they did
well on their annual PRT.
Ordinance / Ordnance — One is a piece of legislation, usually by a
city. The other blows up…loudly:
Example: The city passed an ordinance banning the use of
firework ordnance by anyone under the age of 18.
Correct Word Choice

Trainer Notes
Slide – Word Choice 3
STATE: Perhaps the most abused words on this short list we’ve
glanced at are “ordinance” and “ordnance.” Many people we surveyed
did not know the word “ordinance” exists. The more you read, and pay
attention to what you read, the more you will discover how rich in
vocabulary the English language is.
Objective: Avoid Double Negatives
STATE: We often talk one way, and write another way. Part of this is
because verbal communication is 70% non-verbal cues (facial
expression, inflection, etc.) and only 30% is the actual words. If you
study communication theory you’ll find this is true. This is why good
writing is critical—you only have the printed words to convey your
meaning clearly.
Slide – Double negatives
STATE: What might work in verbal communication makes no sense
in written communication. Write clearly.
DIRECT: Have a student or two recommend a fix to this sentence.

Trainer Notes
Objective: Parallel Structure
STATE: Parallel structure allows you to create lists that are pleasing,
simple to read, and interesting. In order to ensure a true parallel
structure exists, pay attention to your nouns and verbs. If the first item
is a noun, then the following items must also be nouns; if the first
action is a simple past tense verb, then make the other items simple past
tense verbs as well.
DIRECT: Have a student read over the two slides:
Slide – Parallel 1 & 2
STATE: Let’s do a quick review.
ASK: What is the proper word for a piece of legislation from a city?
Is it “ordnance” or “ordinance”? Answer: “Ordinance”
ASK: True or false—you hyphenate “commander in chief”? Answer:
False
ASK: Why do you hyphenate “fast-attack” for a submarine but not
“aircraft carrier”? Answer: There are several types of submarines, so
“fast-attack” is being used as an adjective. There is only one type of
ship called an “aircraft carrier.”
ASK: In order to assure parallel structure, what must you ensure
about your verbs? Answer: They are all the same tense.

Trainer Notes
Objective: Active vs. Passive Voice
STATE: We are on the home stretch and about to examine perhaps
the biggest problem writers have—slipping into passive voice instead
of writing actively.
Slide – Active 1
STATE: Simply put, an active-voice sentence has the subject actively
doing something. If you re-order the sentence to show the object being
acted upon by the subject, instead of the subject acting on the object,
you have slipped into passive voice.
STATE: Active-voice sentences are dynamic, energetic, and usually
shorter than passive sentences. Active-voice can cover all tenses (past,
present, and future).
Slide – Active 2 & 3
(Note the transition that will happen when you “click” after getting
the students to answer the question on slide 2).

Trainer Notes
STATE: Passive sentences can be identified several ways.
DIRECT: Have a student read over the slide:
Slide – Active 4
STATE: Switching from passive into active voice is very simple. All
you need to do is reorder yours words so that the subject comes first in
the sentence and is shown to be actively acting on the object in
question. For instance, “The pizza was eaten by the girls” becomes
“The girls at the pizza.”
STATE: So the question comes up (and it’s a legitimate question), is it
ever ok to use passive voice? You tell me? What do you think?
Slide – Active 5 & 6
(NOTE: Click for the transition only AFTER surveying student
opinion on this issue.)
DIRECT: Have a student read slide 6.
Slide – Active 7
DIRECT: Have a student read the examples on slide 7

Trainer Notes
STATE: Passive voice can be used by a clever writer to direct the
reader to the most important part of a story or emphasize something. It
is a tool, and like all tools it works well if used for the right job.
However, please be aware that most of your writing should be in active
voice. Overall active voice is more dynamic. It works for brevity in
your writing and
ASK: Do you have any questions on anything we’ve covered during
this topic?
Wait a minute before moving on.
Objective: Final Review
Slide – Final Review
ASK: What is the purpose of a prepositional phrase? Answer: To
show an objects location.
ASK: True or false—prepositions show location in space and time?
Answer: True
ASK: What is the difference between “ordnance” and “ordinance”?
Answer: “Ordnance” are explosives and “ordinances” are city
legislation.
ASK: What is a participle? Answer: A form of a verb indicating the
time in which the action took place.
ASK: Does a past participle tend to indicate an action took place just
recently, or a longer time in the past? Answer: A longer time in the
past.
ASK: What verb form indicates the action just happened? Answer:
The simple past tense form.

Trainer Notes
ASK: What is the difference between a complex and a compound
sentence? Answer: Complex sentences are made up of a single
complete sentence hooked up to a dependent clause with a
subordinating conjunction whereas compound sentences are two
complete sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction.
ASK: True or false—you hyphenate words to provide clarity when
writing? Answer: True
ASK: Semi-colons are used in lists to separate units that include
commas, such as when you list several cities and their states. What
else can semi-colons be used for? Answer: To join up two complete
sentences in a way that creates emphasis.
ASK: What is a misplaced modifier? Answer: A modifier that could
modify different parts of the same sentence, thus creating confusion.
Slide – Objectives
STATE: In this lesson we have:
STATE: Grammar is simply the mechanics of how our language
works. Having a working knowledge of the mechanics of language
will enable you to be a much more effective writer.
ASK: Does anyone have any final questions?
DIRECT: Take a 10 minute break!
When taking the
break at the end of
the lesson, remind
students that time is
measured from the
master clock in the
classroom, not their
watches.

Review basic grammar rules for military writers

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