1. I definitely have struggled all semester with commas. I think I have gotten better through out the semester and have a better understanding of the rules, but I forget them sometimes or am confused about when I am supposed to use them, even when I look through the AP stylebook.
Example: Quiz #11 question 5:
After listening to the song, Erica’s headphones stopped working.
I revised it incorrectly:
Erica’s headphones stopped working, after she listened to the song.
2. Hyphens are always a problem for me as well.
Example: Quiz #6 question 5:
goal-line stand
not
goal-line-stand, which is what I wrote.
3. Passive and active voice. I’ve read through Stovall several times on this issue, and it basically states to avoid words such as “is” or “was”. I understand there’s more to it than just avoiding those words, so I do that (avoid past tense helping verbs) and try to make my sentences more direct but I am still getting comments on my papers from you saying my sentences are passive.
Example: Quiz 16
“The streets were filled with cyclists.” Even looking at the sentence now, I’m not sure how to make that active.
Maybe,
“Cyclists riding on the street.” or “Cyclists filled the street.”