Week 14 · Lecture outline

Week 14 — Lecture Outline · Editing: Grammar, Mechanics & Common Errors

English Composition · ENGL 1A Fall 2026 · Prof. Lindgren Fictional sample

Course: English Composition (ENGL 1A) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Lindgren
Objectives covered: Objective 7 — Edit locally for grammar and mechanics; correct the most common surface errors (fragments, comma splices, run-ons, agreement, punctuation).
SLOs touched: A (produce clean, audience-aware prose by editing the surface so it doesn't undercut the writing)
Meeting pattern: 2 sessions × 75 min = 150 min. Segment minutes below total ~150; scale to your own pattern.

Conventions-integrity note (load-bearing this week): every example sentence below is the instructor's own illustration, attributed to no one, and has been mechanically checked. A sentence labeled a comma splice truly is two independent clauses joined by only a comma; a sentence labeled correct truly is correct; an error example contains the named error and no other distracting error. The fixes shown are all valid. Cross-checked against Purdue OWL (Run-ons/Comma Splices/Fused Sentences; Sentence Fragments; Independent and Dependent Clauses) and Khan Academy Grammar. Verify any sentence yourself before you teach it; that is the week's skill.

Week at a Glance


The week's big question	"When my ideas are right, how do I catch and fix the small errors that make a reader stop trusting the writing — without breaking my own voice?"
By the end of the week, students can…	(1) proofread on purpose (read aloud, slow down, one error type at a time); (2) tell a fragment from a comma splice from a run-on/fused sentence; (3) fix a comma splice/run-on five valid ways (period · semicolon · comma + FANBOYS · subordinate one clause · dash/colon where apt); (4) fix subject–verb agreement and pronoun agreement/reference; (5) fix the high-frequency punctuation errors — commas, apostrophes (possession vs. contraction), its/it's, semicolons.
Key vocabulary	proofreading, editing, independent clause, dependent (subordinate) clause, sentence boundary, fragment, comma splice, run-on / fused sentence, coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS), subordinating conjunction, semicolon, subject–verb agreement, pronoun–antecedent agreement, pronoun reference, apostrophe, possessive, contraction, its/it's
Materials	slides (Deck 14), the week's readings (Purdue OWL + Khan Academy) + the linked grammar video, one approved chatbot (Gemini / Claude / ChatGPT) for the AI-critique moment and the tutorial
Timing note	8 segments, ~150 min total. Session 1 = Segments 1–4 (~75). Session 2 = Segments 5–8 (~75).

Segment 1 — Hook & the Promise (8 min) · Session 1 opens

Hook. Put one sentence on a slide and have the room read it aloud, together:

"The deadline is tomorrow, I still haven't started my essay."

Ask: "Did you feel the little stumble in the middle?" That stumble has a name — a comma splice — and it is one of the three most common errors in college writing. Then put up its ugly cousin:

"I proofread my essay twice I still missed three typos."

"This one has the opposite problem — nothing between the two halves. That's a run-on." And the third:

"Because I waited until the night before."

"This one just… stops. It's a piece of a sentence — a fragment." Three errors, ten seconds, no terminology required to feel them.

The promise (write it on the board): "By Friday you'll spot a fragment, a comma splice, and a run-on on sight — and fix each in more than one valid way, without breaking what you meant."

Why it matters line (memory hook): "Revision makes the writing right; editing makes the reader trust it. Both, or the work underperforms."

Segment 2 — Proofreading Is a Skill, Not a Vibe (16 min)

Plain language first. Last week you revised — you re-saw ideas, structure, and argument. This week is the other pass: editing and proofreading, the surface clean-up that happens last. The mistake almost everyone makes is "reading through it once to catch anything wrong." Your brain auto-corrects what it meant to write, so errors sail right past.

Three proofreading moves that actually work (put them on a slide):
- Read it aloud. Your ear catches what your eye skips. A run-on makes you run out of breath; a fragment leaves you hanging; a comma splice makes you stumble. Free, fast, and ruthless.
- Slow down — make it unfamiliar. Read bottom-to-top sentence by sentence, or print it, or change the font. Anything that stops you from skimming.
- Hunt one error type at a time. One pass just for sentence boundaries. Another just for apostrophes. Another just for agreement. Looking for "everything" finds nothing.

Frame the week's target list (one slide): fragments · comma splices · run-ons · subject–verb agreement · pronoun agreement & reference · punctuation (commas, apostrophes, its/it's, semicolons). "These five or six account for the overwhelming majority of the marks you'll ever see in a margin. Learn the test and the fix for each, and you've covered most of editing."

Misconception + cure:
- ❌ "Editing is just running spell-check."
✅ Cure: spell-check can't hear a comma splice, can't tell its from it's, and will happily approve a grammatically clean sentence that means the wrong thing. The tool flags some typos; you catch the errors that matter.

Segment 3 — The Three Sentence-Boundary Errors (24 min)

Plain language first — build the one tool that unlocks all three. A sentence boundary problem is really a problem of independent clauses. An independent clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought — it can stand alone as a sentence. A dependent (subordinate) clause has a subject and verb but can't stand alone, because a word like because, although, when, since, if leaves the thought hanging.

The one test for the whole week (slide it, repeat it): "Can each side stand alone as its own sentence?" That question diagnoses all three errors.

Now name the three errors — with verified examples:

① Fragment — an incomplete sentence (a dependent clause or a phrase punctuated as if it were whole).
- Fragment: "Because I waited until the night before." → Starts with the dependent marker because; it has a subject and verb but cannot stand alone — the thought is incomplete. ✗
- Fragment: "Such as comma splices and run-ons." → A phrase, no subject + verb at all. ✗
- The trap to name now: a fragment isn't always short. This one is long and still a fragment:

"Even though I had read the assignment carefully, outlined all three body paragraphs, and set aside a whole afternoon to write."
It's one big dependent clause (it opens with even though) — there is no independent main clause, so it can't stand alone. Length is not the test; clause structure is.

② Comma splice — two independent clauses joined by only a comma. A comma is not strong enough to join two complete sentences.
- Comma splice: "The deadline is tomorrow, I still haven't started my essay." → [The deadline is tomorrow] stands alone; [I still haven't started my essay] stands alone; only a comma sits between them. ✗
- Comma splice: "Revision reshapes ideas, editing cleans up sentences." → Both halves stand alone; comma only. ✗

③ Run-on / fused sentence — two independent clauses with no punctuation between them at all.
- Run-on: "I proofread my essay twice I still missed three typos." → [I proofread my essay twice] + [I still missed three typos], nothing between them. ✗
- Run-on: "The library closes at midnight the computer lab stays open later." → Two complete sentences fused. ✗

The relationship (put it on a slide):

Fragment = too little (not even one complete sentence). Comma splice = two complete sentences, weak glue (just a comma). Run-on = two complete sentences, no glue at all.

Segment 4 — Misconceptions + Quick Interaction (12 min) · Session 1 closes (~75)

Name the misconceptions out loud, then cure each:

❌ "A comma can join two sentences if the idea flows."
✅ Cure: no — a comma between two independent clauses is a comma splice, every time, however nicely the ideas flow. Joining needs a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction.
❌ "A long sentence is automatically a run-on."
✅ Cure: length is not the test. A long sentence can be perfectly correct, and a short string can be a fragment. The test is clause structure — how many independent clauses, and what's between them.
❌ "'Its' always needs an apostrophe because it shows possession."
✅ Cure: its (no apostrophe) is the possessive; it's is the contraction for it is / it has. Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe (its, hers, ours, theirs). (Full drill in Segment 6.)
❌ "Every 'and' needs a comma before it."
✅ Cure: you add the comma when and joins two independent clauses ("I revised the draft, and I edited the sentences"), not when it joins two words or phrases ("I revised and edited the draft" — no comma).

Interaction — Name That Error (rapid-fire, ~6 min):
Put five short strings on a slide; for each, students call out fragment / comma splice / run-on / correct — solo (15 sec), then confirm with a neighbor.
1. "Editing comes last, revision comes first." → comma splice (two ICs, comma only).
2. "Although I checked the whole paragraph twice." → fragment (dependent clause alone).
3. "My thesis was clear my evidence was thin." → run-on / fused (two ICs, no punctuation).
4. "I read the paper aloud, and I caught two run-ons." → correct (comma + coordinating conjunction joining two ICs).
5. "Proofreading slowly, one error type at a time." → fragment (a phrase, no main clause).
Debrief: the same test cracked all five — can each side stand alone, and what's between them?

Segment 5 — Worked Move: One Splice, Five Fixes + Fix a Fragment (24 min) · Session 2 opens

Hook back in: "Last session we named the errors. Today we fix them — and the good news is that one comma splice has at least five correct fixes. You pick the one that fits your meaning and rhythm."

The worked move — do it at the board, thinking aloud. Start with one verified comma splice:

✗ "The deadline is tomorrow, I still haven't started my essay." (two independent clauses, comma only)

Fix it five valid ways (each one verified correct):
1. Period — make two sentences. → "The deadline is tomorrow. I still haven't started my essay." (Cleanest, safest. When in doubt, use a period.)
2. Semicolon — keep them close, no conjunction. → "The deadline is tomorrow; I still haven't started my essay." (Use when the two ideas are tightly linked.)
3. Comma + coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS). → "The deadline is tomorrow, so I still haven't started my essay." (FANBOYS = For And Nor But Or Yet So — the comma goes before the conjunction. Here so names the relationship.)
4. Subordinate one clause (turn one into a dependent clause). → "Although the deadline is tomorrow, I still haven't started my essay." (Now one clause leans on the other; note the comma after the opening dependent clause.)
5. Dash or colon where it fits (use sparingly, when the second clause explains or lands the first). → "The deadline is tomorrow — I still haven't started my essay." (The dash adds emphasis; a colon would work if the second clause explained the first.)

Put the five fixes on a slide (the keeper):
Period · Semicolon · Comma + FANBOYS · Subordinate one clause · Dash/colon (where apt).
Same five fixes repair a run-on, since a run-on is the same structure (two ICs) missing its glue entirely.

Before/after — fix a fragment by attaching or completing it. Take the verified fragment:

✗ "Because I waited until the night before." (dependent clause, can't stand alone)

Attach it to a main clause: → "I rushed the whole essay because I waited until the night before." ✓ (Now the dependent clause leans on a complete sentence.)
Complete it / drop the marker: → "I waited until the night before." ✓ (Remove because; what's left is a complete sentence.)

And the long fragment from Segment 3, fixed by giving it a main clause:

✗ "Even though I had read the assignment carefully, outlined all three body paragraphs, and set aside a whole afternoon to write."
✓ "Even though I had read the assignment carefully, outlined all three body paragraphs, and set aside a whole afternoon to write, I still froze at the first sentence." (The dependent clause now attaches to an independent main clause.)

Misconception + cure:
- ❌ "There's one right way to fix a comma splice."
✅ Cure: there are several correct fixes; they differ in rhythm and emphasis, not correctness. A period is plainest; a semicolon signals a tight link; and/but/so names the relationship. Choose for meaning, then move on.

Segment 6 — Agreement & the Punctuation That Trips Everyone (22 min)

Subject–verb agreement (plain language first). The verb has to match its real subject in number — and the real subject is often not the noun sitting right before the verb.
- Error: "The list of common errors are on the syllabus." → The subject is list (singular); of common errors is just a prepositional phrase. → ✓ "The list of common errors is on the syllabus."
- Error: "Each of the students need a printed copy." → Each is singular. → ✓ "Each of the students needs a printed copy."
- The cure (slide it): "Find the real subject; ignore the words between it and the verb."

Pronoun agreement & reference (one slide). A pronoun must (a) agree with what it stands for and (b) clearly point to one thing.
- Reference problem: "When the writer met with the editor, she was nervous." → She could be either person. → Fix by naming: "When the writer met with the editor, the writer was nervous."
- Agreement note: in formal academic writing, make the pronoun match its antecedent in number (a student … they is now widely accepted as a singular they; when in doubt for a graded paper, rephrase to a plural subject — students … they — to sidestep the dispute entirely).

The apostrophe — possession vs. contraction (the big one). An apostrophe does two unrelated jobs, and mixing them up is the most common punctuation error in the language.
- Possession: add 's to a singular owner, just ' to a plural owner already ending in s.
- "the student's draft" = one student's draft. "the students' drafts" = several students' drafts. ✓
- Contraction: the apostrophe marks missing letters. "do not" → "don't", "it is" → "it's".
- The famous trap — its vs. it's (slide it, drill it):
- its = possessive, no apostrophe: "The essay lost its focus in the third paragraph." ✓
- it's = it is (or it has): "It's easy to confuse revising with editing." ✓
- Error: "Its been a long semester." → means It has → ✓ "It's been a long semester."
- The test: read it as "it is." If that's nonsense, you want its (no apostrophe). Possessive pronouns — its, hers, ours, theirs, yours — never take an apostrophe.

Commas & semicolons, fast (one slide of the high-frequency cases):
- Comma + FANBOYS between two independent clauses (Segment 5).
- Comma after an introductory element: "After I read it aloud, I caught the run-on."
- Commas around a nonessential aside: "My draft, which I'd rushed, was full of fragments."
- Semicolon between two closely related independent clauses (no conjunction): "Revision is global; editing is local."
- Don't put a comma between a subject and its verb, and don't comma-splice — the two errors a comma most often causes.

Segment 7 — Technology Workflow + The AI-Critique Moment (24 min)

Plain language first — your editing toolkit.
1. Read aloud (your built-in run-on/fragment detector).
2. One pass per error type — boundaries, then apostrophes, then agreement.
3. A grammar checker as a flag, not a judge — your word processor or a tool may underline something; it's a prompt to look, not a verdict. It misses comma splices, mangles its/it's, and "corrects" correct sentences.

Technology workflow — the word processor + a chatbot, used the right way: a chatbot can point at possible errors, but on editing it is genuinely dangerous, because it does three bad things confidently — it over-corrects, it changes your meaning, and it "fixes" sentences that were already correct. So you never accept its edits wholesale; you check each one against the rule.

AI-critique moment (students verify, not consume) — this is the signature move of the week:

Take a short paragraph of your own that has at least one real error and at least one correct sentence. Paste it to an approved chatbot with: "Fix the grammar in this paragraph. List each change you made and why."
Then audit every single change:
1. Did it fix the boundary, or just move a comma? A real comma-splice fix uses a period, a semicolon, or a comma + conjunction — not a comma shuffled to a new spot.
2. Did it change your meaning or your voice? Watch for it swapping your plain wording for stiff boilerplate, or "tightening" a sentence into something you didn't say.
3. Did it "fix" something that was already correct? Chatbots routinely flag a perfectly good sentence and "improve" it into an error or into blander prose.
Write down at least one change you reject and why, citing the rule. That's the lesson: the tool proposes; you decide what was actually wrong. The habit all term — the tool drafts, you judge — has its sharpest test right here, where a confident wrong "correction" can quietly break a clean sentence.

(Preview of the danger one notch up: in a research paper, this same over-eager AI will "fix" a citation into a format that's wrong, or "correct" a quotation into words the author never wrote. Editing is where you practice the reflex of checking every change against the source/rule before you accept it.)

Segment 8 — Callback, Tease & Hand-off (10 min) · Session 2 closes (~75)

Callback + tease:
- Callback: "Two weeks, two passes. Week 13 was revision — re-seeing the big stuff. Week 14 is editing — cleaning the surface so it doesn't undercut the writing. Strong writers do both, in that order: re-see first, polish last."
- Tease next week: "We've now built the whole writing process — invent, draft, revise, edit. Next week we close the loop: you'll reflect on how you write, assemble a portfolio, and write the introduction that frames it. The metacognition that makes all of this transfer to your next class is Week 15."

Hand-off (the week's graded work):
- Lecture Tutorial 14 (AI tutor, share-link submission) — fragments, comma splices, run-ons, agreement, punctuation.
- Quiz 14 (end of week, closed to AI) and Discussion 14 ("Rules, Audience, or Gatekeeping?").
- Assignment 14 ("Editing Workshop") — find and fix fragments, comma splices/run-ons, agreement, and apostrophe/its-it's errors, naming the fix you used.
- Writing Studio 14 ("The Proofreading Pass") — clean up a paragraph riddled with sentence-boundary errors, self-/peer-review it, then coach and critique it with a chatbot.

Instructor FAQ — Common Stumbles

Student says / does	Quick cure
Calls a long sentence a "run-on" because it's long.	Length isn't the test. Ask: how many independent clauses, and what's between them? A long sentence with correct punctuation is fine.
Tries to fix a comma splice by adding another comma.	A comma is the problem, not the fix. Use a period, a semicolon, or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction — or subordinate one clause.
Writes it's for the possessive.	its = possessive (no apostrophe); it's = it is/it has. Test by reading it as "it is." Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe.
Matches the verb to the nearest noun.	Find the real subject and ignore the prepositional phrase between it and the verb ("The list of errors is…," not "are").
Thinks a fragment must be short.	Fragments can be long. "Even though I had read the whole thing twice…" is a long fragment — it's all one dependent clause with no main clause.
Accepts every "correction" a chatbot makes.	The AI over-corrects, changes meaning, and "fixes" correct sentences. Audit each change against the rule; reject the wrong ones.
Edits while still revising (or skips editing entirely).	Two passes, in order: re-see the big stuff first (revision), clean the surface last (editing). They are different jobs.

Scope flag

This outline stays within Objective 7's editing half — proofreading strategy and the highest-frequency surface errors (fragments, comma splices, run-ons, subject–verb and pronoun agreement, and core punctuation incl. apostrophes/its-it's). Global revision, concision, sentence variety, and voice were Week 13 and are only called back here. Reflection and the portfolio are Week 15. We do not attempt a full grammar handbook (no exhaustive tour of every tense, modifier, or punctuation mark) — the goal is the common errors a first-year writer actually makes and can fix. No real authors are quoted this week; every example sentence is the instructor's own illustration, attributed to no one, and each has been verified (an error example contains the named error; a "correct" example is correct). Rules cross-checked against Purdue OWL and Khan Academy Grammar.

~ Prof. Lindgren's edition · Fall 2026 · built with thecoursemaker.com