Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver, Dez Bryant, said on Twitter: "Common sense is all [sic] need .. real education is learned through experiences my brotha.. I'll let you keep up with where the period supposed to go"

I say, yeah, Mr. Bryant, those periods sit a little different when they're behind some zeroes. It could mean the difference between 1,000,000.00 and 10.00 if you don't keep up with where the period supposed to go. ..my brotha. #knowwisdom

Prepositional Phrases Exercises

Lesson 1
Lesson 2

Parallel Structure Lesson

Pronouns

Antecedents

Lesson 1
Lesson 2

Be a Good Writer

Write short sentences and paragraphs; use active verbs; and write with authenticity, compression, clarity and immediacy (Hemingway).

Use Good Mechanics

Revise for Clarity. Look for:

Words out of order
Extra words
Incomplete sentences
Run-ons or redundant statements of 
Does not make sense

Connect with FANBOYS

Connect with FANBOYS
For. And. Nor. But. Or. Yet. So.
*By the time you reach your senior year of high school, you should be calling FANBOYS conjunctions, which is what they are.
Usage
An em-dash is used like a comma or parenthesis to separate phrases. For example:
  • I sense something--a presence I've not felt since that day—​it was pulling me.
An en-dash is used to connect values in a range or that are related. For example:
  • In years 1969–1984
  • Pages 31–32 of the book
  • The Mavericks beat the Thunder 98–95
  • The teacher has tutoring Monday-Thursday, 11:00 a.m.–⁠1:00 p.m.
A hyphen is used with compound words or a hyphenated name. Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word it is modifying (in other words, two words where the adjective comes before the noun it is describing). For example:
  • Cruelty-free eggs
  • Flip-flop wearing teacher
  • Olivia Newton-John
  • He makes one-of-a-kind abstract art called "Ruined Beauty" in his studio.

An ellipsis is a series of three "dots" that are used when there is an omission of a word or series of words that trails off. If there are four "dots," this means the sentence ends:
  • Ellipsis: Handbags and shoes and perfumes and clothes--you said okay, no problem...
  • Ellipsis with complete sentence: In later weeks, though, you wanted to write home because you had stories to tell...it wasn't just to your parents you wanted to write.

Remember CPOP

Commas Periods & Other Punctuation

Edit for Conventions

Capitalization
Usage
Punctuation
Spelling 

Show, Don't Tell

Don't tell me: There was fruit in the bowl.
Show me: There was mango, papaya and a banana in the large, round, wooden bowl that was aged by twenty-plus years of use.

Don't tell me: The dog ran across the street toward the bank robber.
Show me: Snarling, growling and salivating, the large dog charged across the busy expressway toward the bank robber.

Combine Sentences

Instead of: I was hungry. I ate some cereal.
Combine: I was hungry, so I ate some cereal.
                      
Instead of: My mother drove a convertible sports car. She did not trust me to drive.
Combine: My mother drove a convertible sports car, but she did not trust me to drive.
Avoid Fragments

A fragment is an incomplete sentence. That means, it does not have a subject, verb, or sometimes both. It can also called a dependent clause.