A Student’s Guide to Lite Marking

Lisa Kurz
Campus Writing Program

Marginal Notations

AGR (agreement)
FRAG (fragment)
MM (misplaced modifier)
CS (comma splice)
REF (reference)
PRED (illogical predication)
//STR (parallel structure)
Wordy
Choppy
Unclear
Awkward
Good

Symbols

circles locating errors confined to one or two words
wavy underlines noting larger errors
checks praising good word choices
straight underlines highlighting well-put phrases or sentences
arrows and question marks pointing out puzzling connections of words

Grammar—Very Loosely Defined

The experts are in surprising disagreement about what errors one must avoid, but most educated people would agree that a well-written piece should not contain any of the following errors.

1) [AGR] Errors in agreement.

The number of fatalities have been increasing in recent years.
The subject (“number,” not “fatalities”) is singular; the verb is plural.
Everyone who plays the lottery has their chance to win.
“Everyone” is singular; the pronoun “their” is plural.

2) [FRAG] Sentence fragments.

The man crying his eyes out in the rain.

If a dog whined for even thirty seconds.
This is not a grammatically complete sentence.

3) [MM or DM] Misplaced and dangling modifiers.

Concentrating on his studies, the music was not even heard.
“Concentrating on his studies” does not modify the subject, “music.”
She had an emerald in her earlobe which was one of the biggest in the world.
Was her earlobe or the emerald the biggest in the world?

4) [CS] Comma splices.

Sport makes a person strong and brave, on the other hand, art makes a person gentle and sensitive.
Two sentences are connected, incorrectly, by a comma (after “brave”)
Coleridge wrote “Frost at Midnight,” however, he did not mean Robert Frost.
Two sentences are connected, incorrectly, by a comma (after “Midnight.”)

5) [REF] Faulty pronoun references.

Chris sent Bill a letter every day while he was in the hospital.
Does the word “he” refer to Chris or to Bill?
The shower tiles leaked and water ruined the carpet. This drove Bill over the edge.
What does the word “This” refer to?

6) [PRED] Illogical predication.

The double helix model of DNA is an example of hard work.
What is an example of hard work—the model of DNA, or something about the model?
An adherence to the Monroe Doctrine cannot imagine Nicaraguan independence and self-sufficiency.
How can an adherence to a doctrine imagine (or not imagine) anything?

7) [//STR] Parallel structure.

I like running, cycling, and to swim.
The items in the list of activities should all be the same part of speech: “running, cycling, and swimming” or “to run, to cycle, and to swim.”
Weber demonstrates his biases through his sources and disregarding countries that do not fit his model.
The two phrases at the end of the sentence should be parallel in structure: for example, “. . . his sources and his disregard for . . .”

Style—More Loosely Defined Still

8) Wordy: in need of condensing

9) Choppy: a rough ride for the reader from one idea to the next

10) Unclear: enough said

11) Awkward: tortured syntax

(Portions of this Guide were taken from Douglas Hunt’s “No-Tears Marking.”

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