Possessive = the ___ of ___ / the ___ belonging to ___. The Smiths (family, plural, no apostrophe) are having a BBQ. The Smiths' BBQ (belonging to the family) is at 2 p.m. Mr. Smith's BBQ (belonging to Mr. Smith). The Joneses' house (belonging to the Joneses). Mr. Jones's house. The Church's fund / the churches' fund.

Rules: 1) Any singular noun → add 's (Chris's book, Jess's sweater). 2) Any plural noun NOT ending in s → add 's (children's playground). 3) Any plural noun ending in s → add only ' (girls' locker room). Check context: the zebras' stripes (many zebras) vs the zebra's stripes (one zebra); the babies' bottles vs the baby's bottles.

Never put apostrophes in possessive pronouns: hers, its, his, theirs, whose, yours, ours, mine, my. Its' DOES NOT EXIST. “The dog is chasing its tail” (possessive) vs “It's a sunny day” (it is). Would of DOES NOT EXIST — would've does.

There / their / they're: THERE is a place (here is inside there). THEIR refers to people (there is an I in THEIR). THEY'RE = they are. THERE'S = there is.

Apostrophe exercise answers: 1) Kinya's — correct · 2) ours — no apostrophe · 3) possesses — no apostrophe · 4) clocks — no apostrophe · 5) buzzes — no apostrophe · 6) The Larsens — no apostrophe (family name, plural) · 7) puppies — no apostrophe · 8) shouldn't — correct · 9) knees — no apostrophe · 10) Kimberly's — correct · 11) we've — not we'ave · 12) theirs — no apostrophe · 13) pool's (possessive: the pool's surface) · 14) pools (verb: sunlight pools — no apostrophe) · 15) Delores's — correct · 16) brownies — no apostrophe · 17) tries — no apostrophe · 18) harasses — no apostrophe · 19) Marcus's · 20) means — no apostrophe.

Run-ons and fragments — READ THE WHOLE SENTENCE. Correct: “He sat on the dock, and he threw stones.” / “He sat on the dock; he threw stones.” / “He sat on the dock. He threw stones.” / “When he sat on the dock, he threw stones.” WRONG: “He sat on the dock, he threw stones.” (comma splice). A fragment does not express a complete idea.

Semicolon = a period for tightly connected thoughts. It separates two complete thoughts. It can NEVER replace a comma. However / therefore / consequently / moreover are NOT conjunctions: “She knew she was wrong; however, she refused to apologize.” ✓ / “She knew she was wrong. However, she refused to apologize.” ✓ / “She knew she was wrong, however, she refused to apologize.” ✗ / “She knew she was wrong; however she refused…” ✗ (needs the comma after however). Exception — interrupter: “She knew, however, that she was wrong.” ✓

Compound sentence vs compound verb: S V, and/but/or S V → comma. “Mary washed the dishes, and then she dried them.” S V and V → NO comma. “Mary washed the dishes and then dried them.” Trap: “She gave me a lift to the airport, and then went to visit her sister.” — no subject after and, so no comma is needed in the correct version; and don't switch tense for no reason (no progressive –ing unless needed).

Colon: the part before it MUST be a complete thought. Then a list or a conclusion: “I went to the store and bought the following items: sugar, flour, eggs, and butter.” / “When she left the test room, she knew one thing for certain: she had aced the exam.”

Commas — the rules: 1) After two or more introductory prep phrases/clauses: “At the end of the street, I saw a red light.” / “Because it was raining, the game was cancelled.” (No comma when the clause comes second: “The game was cancelled because it was raining.”) 2) Compound sentence before and/but/or. 3) Items in a series (3 items = 2 commas). 4) Two adjectives for one noun — use the “and” test: “The huge, red trunk” ✓ / “The beautiful young girl” (young is essential — no comma). 5) NEVER a comma in front of a verb unless setting off an appositive or non-essential clause. 6) Parentheticals/interrupters get commas both sides: “She knew, however, that she was wrong.” / “He knew he was wrong, but, in fact, he refused to apologize.” 7) Dashes come in pairs: “You need to study all the material—I think you know what I mean—before the exam.” 8) Dates/places: “In 2001, the United States suffered…” (first comma separates the date; no comma after America needed in “In 2001, the attack on America that came to be known as 9/11…”).

Essential vs non-essential clauses: If removing the clause changes the meaning, it's essential → NO commas. If not, commas both sides. “All of the farmers who bought their properties last year will get a check.” (essential). “My Uncle Joe's farm, which was purchased last year, will receive a rebate.” (non-essential). “The girls who were sitting in the back row won the prize.” (needed — no commas). “My dog Alvin, who is always hungry, swiped a bone.” (extra — commas). That is usually essential; which is usually non-essential. Appositives (noun clusters) and participial phrases follow the same rule: “My dog Alvin, the best dog in the world, swiped a bone.” / “My dog Alvin, usually lying in wait, swiped a bone.” Titles take NO commas: “The president of the class, Joe Smith, is running” — the comma pair sets off the name as an appositive here; but “President of the class Joe Smith” as a title phrase is not the same thing — on the SAT, set off a name appositive with commas.

Drill punctuation →

Present perfect: have/has + past participle — action that began in the past and continues into the present. “I have always wanted to visit Greece, so I plan to go next year.”

Past perfect: had + past participle — two past actions, not at the same time; had is the farther-back one. “I had always wanted to visit Greece, so I went last year.” / “I failed that test that I had studied for.”

Future perfect: will have + past participle — completed at a specified future time. “By this time next year, you will have completed all your standardized tests.”

Conditionals: “If I would have known, I would have gone.” ✗ → “If I had known, I would have gone.” ✓ / “Had I known, I would have gone.” ✓

Tense trap: “The clock (keeps, has kept, had kept, kept) perfect time for over forty years from 1778 till 1820.” — a finished past span → kept.

Farther vs further: FARTHER = distance (far). FURTHER = additional (ideas, time). Than vs then: THAN = comparison (“taller than I am”). THEN = time (“I will see you then”). Fewer vs less: FEWER = countable (fewer calories, fewer cavities, fewer snowflakes). LESS = uncountable (less fat, less tooth decay, less snow). Redundancy: cut it — “the clean and spotless kitchen” (pick one), “he begged and pleaded” (pick one), “wowed the audience ~~with his speaking~~.”

Drill tricky pairs →

SAFEGUARD — cover the connector, read the two ideas without it, feel how they fit, then choose.

ADDITION (equal idea): also, in addition, likewise, not only…but also, in the same way, equally important, moreover, furthermore, additionally, too, again, and, equally.

SEQUENCE: first, second, third, then, next, last. If the author gives three reasons and this is the second, it must be equal to #1 and #3.

OPPOSITES: but, although, in contrast, different from, on the other hand, on the contrary, in spite of, even so/though, still, unlike, yet, albeit, even though, instead, whereas, despite, conversely, otherwise, however, nevertheless, nonetheless, regardless, notwithstanding, granted.

EXAMPLES: for example, for instance, in other words, to put it differently, as an illustration, in this case, for this reason, namely, in particular, in detail, including, to demonstrate, to clarify, to explain, to enumerate.

EMPHASIS: indeed, certainly, especially, specifically, expressly, particularly, in fact, such as.

EFFECT / CONSEQUENCE: thus, therefore, accordingly, consequently, as a result, hence, because, for this reason, then.

Connectors to know: because, as a result, since, as · consequently, therefore · moreover adds a fact · conversely says the opposite · whereby = from which (adds a related fact) · wherein = inside of.

SANDWICH TECHNIQUE — for add/delete/sequence questions: bracket the sentence or phrase, mark the spots, plug it in at each spot and read. Ask: does it fit here, or does it repeat, contradict, or break the flow? Works for: “The writer is thinking of adding sentence X — should he?” / “Should he delete the preceding sentence?” / “Where does this sentence belong — after 1, after 3, before 5, after 6?” Go vertically (sentence by sentence), not horizontally. For sequence puzzles, mark spots first, then look for clues in the other sentences.

For add-a-second-way questions: the new idea must actually be a second, different way — not a repeat and not an unrelated idea. Example from the page: protecting a computer from viruses — “Don't download documents that have been sent to you” and “Use anti-virus programs frequently” are genuinely different methods; “Use grammar check” is not a virus method at all.

Drill transitions →

PARALLEL: whatever is on one side of AND / BUT / OR must be on the other side — same form. “Swimming, running, and biking” (not “to bike”).

Dangling modifiers (POOR PATTY): the modifier must describe the subject that follows it. “Traveling to California, Bob's luggage got lost.” ✗ → “Traveling to California, Bob lost his luggage.” ✓ “Nailed to the gate, Patty saw a sign.” is the joke version — the sign is nailed, not Patty → “Patty saw a sign nailed to the gate.” ✓

Misplaced modifiers: put the phrase next to what it describes. “The kids went out for recess and played from the classroom.” ✗ → “The kids from the classroom went out for recess and played.” ✓ “At five years of age, my grandmother bought me a pony.” ✗ (who was five?) “The vacuum cleaner has a compartment that empties itself when pressing a button.” ✗ (who is pressing?)

Comparisons must be logical — no double comparisons: “The songs of humpback whales are longer than birds.” ✗ → “…longer than the songs of birds” / “than those of birds.” ✓ “More rarer” ✗ → “rarer.” ✓

NEVER use WHICH for people. Use who/whom for people, which/that for things.

Relative pronouns: who, whose, whom, which, that. Demonstrative: this, that, these, those.

Drill modifiers →