Middle School Grammar Problems
Common Usage, Grammar and Spelling Problems in Student Writing
Jun 9, 2008
When middle school students start the writing process, inevitably many of them will make the following MUGS (Mechanics, Usage, Grammar and Spelling) mistakes. Focusing on one or two grammar problems at a time will help students better than marking everything that is incorrect. Many students become overwhelmed with the amount of teacher marks on a paper.
Before Giving a Writing Assignment
Discuss a couple of these problem areas with the students before giving a writing assignment.
R-O or run-on--Two sentences “run together” without proper punctuation. Example: I am hungry I want to eat.
Frag. or fragment—This is not a complete sentence. It is missing either a subject or a verb. Or, it is not a complete thought. Example: In her first book.
CS or comma splice--Two sentences have a comma between them instead of a period or semicolon. Example: I want a hot dog, I think they have them at the concession stand.
Rambling Sentence—Three or more sentences hooked together with the word and. To avoid this, only use two ands per sentence. Example: I had a dog named Sue, and she was quite cute, and she never barked, and she was my favorite dog.
Usage—The word is spelled correctly but the word used is not correct. Examples: The weather is to cold. (too) Sue is there dog. (their) Morgan is the girl that he likes. (who--Please use who when referring to a person. Use that when referring to anything other than a person.) I like her cause she is funny. (because--Please note that the word cause is not short for because. Cause means to make something happen.)
Punctuating book and magazine titles—Capitalize and use italics. Example: The name of my book is Call of the Wild.
Possessives: Use ‘s or s’ to show possession. Example: Darleen has Jessica’s bottle of perfume.
Quotes: Start with quotation marks, and the first word needs to be capitalized. A comma needs to go after the last word quoted and quotation marks need to close the quote. Example: “I think I am going to cry,” said Jeanie.
After the Writing Assignment
Make a transparency for the overhead of actual student mistakes that were a focus of the writing assignment. No names need to be included when going over the mistakes. Write the sentence exactly as the student wrote it. Discuss with the class why the sentence was incorrect. It is best if every student has a "mistake sentence" on the transparency.
It may take a couple of days to go over all of the mistakes, but students will have a much better understanding of the MUGS problem areas.
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