Grammar & Punctuation

Guide to Grammar and Writing

Sponsored by the Capital Community College Foundation, this website covers a multiple of grammar and writing concerns on numerous levels; included are word, sentence, paragraph and essay level topics. In addition, there are over 170 interactive quizzes to help you in understanding grammar rules.

American Heritage Book of English Usage

With a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms, this valuable reference work is ideal for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style.

The Elements of Style - William Strunk, Jr.

This classic reference book is a must-have for any student and conscientious writer. Intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature, it gives in brief space the principal requirements of plain English style and concentrates attention on the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated.

Nuts and Bolts of College Writing

This online site, a companion to site to the handbook of the same name, contains page after page of valuable information, mechanics, punctuation, research, evidence, sources, and the writing process.

Grammar Station

This website covers a multitude of grammar issues and even includes a grammar checker.

Parts of Speech

Nouns

University of Ottawa
This website is a comprehensive list and explanation of several forms of nouns to include; noun gender, plurals, possessives, proper, common, concrete, abstract, countable, non-countable and collective.

Pronouns

Guide to Grammar and Writing
This site provides a definition of pronoun and discusses the eight types of pronouns.

Verbs

Guide to Grammar and Writing
This site defines the term verb and discusses thirteen different types of verbs. They also discuss passive voice, conditional verb forms and the verb "to be."

Adjectives

Guide to Grammar and Writing
This web site explores various principles of adjectives including; position, degrees and pre-modifiers.

Articles

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The UNC-CH writing center states that "using articles correctly is a particular challenge for writers whose first language is not English. This handout will address some of the rules that govern article usage in English."

Adverbs

University of Victoria
There are many types of adverbs and adverb phrases. This page will introduce some of the basic types of adverbs and their functions.

Guide to Grammar and Writing
This site offers an in depth look at adverbs and other phrases that are often used with adverbs.

Prepositions

Guide to Grammar and Writing
Discusses prepositions as locator words that classify space and time and this site also explores prepositional phrases.

Purdue University
This handout deals with positive prepositions of location that sometimes cause difficulty: at, on, and in. The handout is divided into two sections. The first explains the spatial relationships expressed by the three prepositions. The second examines more closely the uses of in and on.

Run-ons and Fragments

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
UNC-CH's writing center states "You need this handout if your instructors have returned papers with "frag", "S.F.", "R.O.", "C.S.", or "run-on" written in the margin. You've read the sentences next to those comments, but you still don't know what you did wrong. Or they sound wrong now that you're focusing on them, but you don't know how to fix them."

Punctuation

The Comma

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
According to the UNC-CH writing center, this handout aims to "detail seven easy steps to becoming a comma super hero."

Quotation Marks

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
According to UNC-CH, "used effectively, quotations can provide important pieces of evidence and lend fresh voices and perspectives to your narrative. Used ineffectively, however, quotations clutter your text and interrupt the flow of your argument. This handout will help you decide when to quote and how to quote like a pro."