The complete idiot guide part 20 pps

Run-Ons and Comma Splices: It Could Be a Stretch A on sentence is two incorrectly joined independent clauses.. Be sure to use a comma before the coordinating conjunc-tion in a compound

Chapter 1 3 : Sentence and Sensibility 1 7 J

You Could Look It Up

A sentence fragment is

a group of words that does not express a complete thought A fragment is the same as a dependent clause

Fragments: Lost in Place

As its name suggests, a sentence fragment is a group of words that do not express a

complete thought Most times, a fragment is missing a subject, a verb, or both Other times, a fragment may have a subject and a verb but still not express a complete thought Fragments don't discriminate: They can be

phrases as well as clauses

There are three main ways that fragments

occur And here they are:

• Fragments occur when a dependent

clause masquerades as a sentence For

example:

• Because Lincoln Logs were

in-vented by Frank Lloyd Wright's son

• Because the most common name

in the world is Mohammed

• Fragments also happen when a phrase is

cut off from the sentence it describes

For instance:

• Used to cure fleas and ticks

• Hoping to keep the ceiling from

collapsing

• You can also create a fragment if you

use the wrong form of a verb For

example:

• The writer gone to the office

• The pearl being the main

ingredi-ent in many love potions

Danger, Will Robinson

Don't be misled by a capital letter at the beginning of

a word group Starting a group

of words with a capital letter doesn't make the word group a sentence any more than putting a comb on a hen makes her a rooster

Quoth the Maven

Experienced writers often use fragments to create realistic-sounding dialogue They know that few people ever speak in complete sentences, regardless

of what we'd like to think

You can correct a fragment two ways:

• Add the missing part to the sentence

Fragment: In the cabinet over the bookshelf

Complete: I keep extra supplies in the cabinet over the bookshelf

1 7 ^ P a r t 3 : Usage and Abusaqe

• Omit the subordinating conjunction or connect it to another sentence

Fragment: When you go to the party

Complete: When you go to the party, be sure to head straight for the shrimp

and caviar and chow down

Run-Ons and Comma Splices: It Could Be a Stretch

A on sentence is two incorrectly joined independent clauses A comma splice is a

run-on with a comma where the two independent clauses run together When your sen-tences run together, your ideas are garbled For instance:

• Most people who drink coffee don't know where it comes from it is actually the fruit of an evergreen tree

• Robert Wadlow was the tallest person who ever lived he was 8 feet 11 inches tall when he died in 1940

So far, so good, but there are two important facts to realize about run-ons:

• Run-ons are not necessarily long Some can be quite short, in fact For instance:

• She walked he ran

• Birds chirp cows moo

• The second clause of a run-on often begins with a pronoun

• Godzilla wants to sleep he is exhausted from destroying Tokyo

You can correct a run-on sentence in one of four

You Could Look It Up w a y s L e t»s u s e Godzilla as our example

A run-on sentence 's ^ Separate the run-on into two sentences with end two incorrectly joined independ- , , , , i A i- punctuation such as periods, exclamation marks, ent clauses A comma splice is a i run-on with a comma where the a n d question marks

two sentences run together. # Godzilla wants to sleep He is exhausted

from destroying Tokyo

• Add a coordinating conjunction {and, nor, but, or, for, yet, or so) to create a

com-pound sentence

• Godzilla wants to sleep,/or he is exhausted from destroying Tokyo

Chapter 1 3 : Sentence and Sensibility 1 7 5

• Add a subordinating conjunction to

cre-ate a complex sentence

• Godzilla wants to sleep, because he is

exhausted from destroying Tokyo

• Use a semicolon to create a compound

sentence

• Godzilla wants to sleep; he is

exhausted from destroying Tokyo

Seventh-Inning Stretch

Take a few minutes to fix the fragments and run-ons in these two anecdotes

1 In the late 1900s, the man who was shot out of the cannon every day At the

Barnum and Bailey Circus decided to quit his wife had asked him to find a less risky way of making a living P T Barnum hated to lose a good man So he sent him a message, "I beg you to reconsider—men of your caliber are hard to find."

2 In 1946, Winston Churchill traveled to Fulton, Missouri, to deliver a speech

Which turned out to be his famous Iron Curtain address And to be present at the dedication of a bust in his honor After his speech, a rather attractive and

ample woman approached the wartime prime minister of England and said, "Mr Churchill, I traveled more than a hundred miles this morning For the unveiling

of your bust." Churchill, who was known far and wide for his quick wit, replied,

"Madam, I assure you, in that regard I would gladly return the favor."

Answers

Possible responses:

1 In the late 1900s, the man who was shot out of the cannon every day at the Barnum and Bailey Circus decided to quit because his wife had asked him to find a less risky way of making a living P T Barnum hated to lose a good man, so he sent him a message, "I beg you to reconsider—men of your caliber are hard to find."

2 In 1946, Winston Churchill traveled to Fulton, Missouri, to deliver a speech,

which turned out to be his famous Iron Curtain address, and to be present at the dedication of a bust in his honor After his speech, a rather attractive and ample woman approached the wartime prime minister of England and said, "Mr

Churchill, I traveled more than a hundred miles this morning for the unveiling of your bust." Churchill, who was known far and wide for his quick wit, replied,

"Madam, I assure you, in that regard I would gladly return the favor."

h^_Jy Quoth the Maven

Be sure to use a comma before the coordinating conjunc-tion in a compound sentence, unless the two independent clauses are very short More on this in Chapter 1 6

1 7 6 Part 3 : Usage and Abusage

The Least You Need to Know

• A sentence has a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought

• There are four types of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex

• There are four sentence functions: declarative, exclamatory, interrogative, and imperative

• Fragments are parts of sentences; run-ons are incorrectly joined independent clauses

Chapter

Coordination and

Subordination: What to Say When the Cops Come

In This Chapter

• Learn how to coordinate ideas

• Explore subordination

• Achieve parallel structure

When you write effective sentences, you move beyond mere correctness to writing with style and grace It's like moving from Martha Washington to Madonna, or from a Ford to a Ferrari This chapter introduces you to the nitty-gritty of writing well First you learn how to coordinate and subordi-nate clauses to communicate relationships between two or more ideas Then I show you how to use parallel structure to make sure your ideas are expressed in a logical way

1 7 8 P a r t 3 : Usage and Abusage

Coordination: All the Right Moves

You coordinate your outfits, home furnishings, and dance moves So why not coordinate your sentences to give them some style as well? In the previous chapter, you learned how to connect the parts of a sentence There, I touched on coordinating independent clauses Let's kick it up a notch and get into the nitty-gritty of coordinating independ-ent clauses

Sometimes you want to show that two or more ideas are equally important in a sentence

In such cases, you're looking to coordinate Sentence coordination links ideas of equal

importance This process gives your writing harmony by bringing together related

independent clauses There are four main ways to

You Could Look It Uo coordinate independent clauses You can use:

Sentence coordination

inks ideas of equal importance

Quoth the Maven

Remember to use a comma

between coordinating

conjunc-tions that join two independent

clauses, unless the clauses are

very short

Coordinating

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

for and nor but

or yet

so

conjunctions

• Correlative conjunctions

• either or

• neither nor

• not only but also

• both and

• Semicolons and conjunctive adverbs As you learned in Chapter 4, there are many different conjunctive adverbs Here are some examples:

• ; furthermore,

• ; therefore,

• ; for example,

• ; however,

• A semicolon

C h a p t e r \k: Coordination and Subordination: What to Say When the Cops Come 1 7 9

Mix and Match

Coordination isn't just slapping on a black tie with a white shirt or putting some pars-ley on a leg of lamb No siree; coordination involves using the right word or mark of punctuation to show different relationships between ideas For example, each of the coordinating conjunctions has a different meaning, as the following table shows

Coordinating Conjunctions and Their Shades of Meaning

Coordinating Conjunction Meaning

for

and

nor

but

or

yet

so

Function

because also negative however choice however therefore

to show cause

to link ideas

to reinforce negative

to contrast ideas

to show possibilities

to contrast

to show result

Correlative conjunctions convey balance,

while semicolons and conjunctive adverbs

indicate relationships such as examples,

contin-uation, and contrast A semicolon alone shows

that the ideas are of equal importance

Strictly Speaking

A coordinate sentence is also known as a compound sentence You learned all about compound sentences in Chapter 1 3

Dancing Cheek-to-Cheek

Follow these steps when you coordinate independent clauses:

1 Decide which ideas can and should be combined

2 Select the method of coordination that shows the appropriate relationship

between ideas

Each way to form compound sentences establishes a slightly different relationship

between ideas Often, there's no "right" answer when you're choosing which conjunc-tions and punctuation to use to coordinate ideas With practice, you'll discover that some sentences sound smoother and more logical than others Here are some examples

to help you get your ear in tune:

1 8 0 Part 3 : Usage and Abusâge

Uncoordinated: Years ago most baseball players were recruited right out of high school

or from the minors Today, most play college baseball and then move on to the major leagues

Coordinated: Years ago most baseball players were recruited right out of high school or from the minors, but today most play college baseball and then move on to the major

leagues

Coordinated: Years ago most baseball players were recruited right out of high school or from the minors; however, today most play college baseball and then move on to the

major leagues

But and however are used to show contrast

Danger, Will Robinson

Be careful not to

con-nect unrelated ideas, establish a

vague connection among ideas,

or connect too many ideas in

one sentence The first and

sec-ond errors confuse your readers;

the third causes "stringy

sen-tences."

Uncoordinated: Star Trek was very successful in

syndi-cation It was not a big hit during its original run from 1966 to 1969

Coordinated: Star Trek was very successful in syndica-tion, yet it was not a big hit during its original run

from 1966 to 1969

Coordinated: Star Trek was very successful in syndica-tion; nevertheless, it was not a big hit during its

origi-nal run from 1966 to 1969

Yet and nevertheless are used to show comparison

Don't Strinq Me Alonq

What happens if you go coordination crazy? You end up with a stringy sentence A stringy sentence contains too many ideas connected by coordinating conjunctions or then Repetitious and hard-to-follow, stringy sentences are as annoying as stringy

cel-ery or stringy cheese Here's an example of a stringy sentence:

• Mount Everest is in the Himalayas and it is the world's tallest mountain and so climbing it is very difficult so Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Horgay first climbed

it in 1963 and everyone applauded their achievement

To correct a stringy sentence, place closely related ideas in one sentence, and less closely related ideas in their own sentences Here's a variation that achieves logic as well as emphasis of ideas:

• Because Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, is the world's tallest mountain, climb-ing it is very difficult It was not until 1963 that the first explorers, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Horgay, conquered the mountain to great acclaim

C h a p t e r \k: Coordination and Subordination: What to Say When the (ops (ome 1 8 1

Why Not Give It a Shot?

Take a few minutes to link the following simple sentences by adding coordinating

conjunctions, correlative conjunctions, conjunctive adverbs and semicolons, or semi-colons alone

1 In the Great Fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down Only six people were injured

2 New York stockbroker Bill Wilson and Ohio surgeon Robert Smith both had a drinking problem They joined forces and started Alcoholics Anonymous

3 Most people don't keep their New Year's resolutions for more than a few weeks They don't make resolutions in the first place

4 The oldest female elephant in the herd usually leads the other elephants The other female elephants are ranked below her in age

5 The puppy pulled all the slippers from under the bed She shredded all the toilet paper

Answers

Possible responses:

1 In the Great Fire of London in 1666 half of London was burnt down, but only

six people were injured, (shows contrast)

1 8 2 P a r t ) : Usage and Abusage

2 New York stockbroker Bill Wilson and Ohio surgeon Robert Smith both had a

drinking problem, so they joined forces and started Alcoholics Anonymous,

(shows result)

3 Most people don't keep their New Year's resolutions for more than a few weeks

or they don't make resolutions in the first place, (shows choice)

4 The oldest female elephant in the herd usually leads the other elephants; the other female elephants are ranked below her in age (semicolon shows closely linked ideas)

5 The puppy pulled all the slippers from under the bed, and she shredded all the

toilet paper, (coordinating conjunction shows ideas of equal importance)

Subordination: What I Did for Love

Coordination shows the relationship among equal independent clauses; subordination,

in contrast, shows the relationship between ideas of unequal rank Subordination is

connecting two unequal but related clauses with a subordinating conjunction to form

a complex sentence When you subordinate one part

of a sentence to another, you make the dependent clause develop the main clause Subordination can help your sentence in many ways Here are three biggies:

You Could Look It Up

Subordination is

con-necting two unequal but related

clauses with a subordinating

con-junction to form a complex

sen-tence

Quoth the Maven ,

As you learned in Chapter 3,

subordinating conjunctions link

an independent clause to a

dependent clause There are

many subordinating conjunctions,

including offer, although, because,

before, if, though, since, when,

till, unless, wherever, and where

A more complete list appears in

Chapter 1 2

• To trace ideas unfolding

• To show specific relationships among ideas

• To stress one idea over another

As a result, subordination can give your writing and speech greater logic, coherence, and unity

As with sentence coordination, sentence subordina-tion is more than random switcheroos Subordinasubordina-tion requires logic and thought Follow these four steps to subordinate sentence ideas:

1 Decide which idea or clause is the most impor-tant It will be the information you most want

to emphasize in the reader's mind

2 Designate this as the "main clause."