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Word Rogues |
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On English and Writing: Leon Lanzbom |
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 instructor: Leon Lanzbom email: lanzbom@yahoo.com On Grammar
The following section is dedicated to some fairly common grammar misgivings. There are plenty of quagmires in grammar, such as the infamous "comma splice" and its big brother the "run-on sentence," but many of the following lesser known little dibbuks are just as troublesome and seem to pop up when least wanted. You may want to first scroll to the section titled "Mechanics and Grammar" at the bottom of this page. It's a mini- review of the grammar basics. You can then scroll back up here and read about phrases and clauses and all their illegitimate, trouble-making cousins.  Phrase: A group of related words without a subject and a verb together. A phrase is a part of a sentence, not a sentence. You can't just write Guarding the bean sprouts. You must have someone who does the guarding, like Molly in the sentence that follows: Guarding the bean sprouts was a dream-come-true for Molly. *Here, the phrase acts as the subject of the sentence. Use a comma or commas to set off a phrase not important to the meaning of a sentence. The sentence should make sense without the phrase. Even in his car, Derrida ponders the elusiveness of French toast. *We don't need the phrase "Even in his car" to know that Derrida is in awe of French toast. While washing her hair, Jesse could not stop thinking about Godzilla. Professor Cuisinier, the cooking coach, wore one of those big white muumuus. *Here, the phrase, the cooking coach, is embedded. Clause: He constructed a vast labyrinthine of periods, made impassable by the piling-up of clauses upon clauses--clauses in which oversight and bad grammar seemed manifestations of disdain. -- Jorge Luis Borges A clause is a group of related words that has both a subject and a predicate. A clause can be a complete sentence or a part of a sentence. Remember: a predicate is the verb and its related words. The scrod swam chop-chop up the Gulf of Mexico. The predicate tells what the subject does or what the subject is (as in this sentence or the scrod sentence above, the predicate is italicized). 2 types of clauses: 1)Independent 2)Dependent An independent clause forms a complete thought:  Danny O'Day named his dog Farfel. Independent clause = a sentence. A dependent clause needs the rest of the sentence to make sense. Dependent clauses cannot stand alone. Even if they have a subject and a predicate, they do not form complete sentences. [Although the Martians tried,] they couldn't capture the falafel stand. Brittany sees her pet Drosophila melanogaster twice a day [because she loves him]. Coordinating Conjunctions: Join words, phrases, clauses of the same grammatical structure in a sentence. They are the Tapanzee Bridges of the grammar world. And, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. I cannot find my whippoorwill or my wombat. (two nouns) Charo swung her hips but fell off the stage. (two verbs) If the Ruby throated hummingbird and the squirrel dance the tango until morning, they'll sleep all day long. (two dependent clauses) Mary loofahed daily, yet she still showed signs of detritus. (two independent clauses) Subordinate Conjunctions: Subordinate conjunctions carry you into a dependent clause. If the subordinate clause comes first, use a comma between the the dependent clause and the independent clause. No comma is needed if the subordinate clause comes at the end. Some common subordinate conjunctions: After, though, unless, that, as if, whereas, in order that, unless, since, until, because, before, although, so that, while, even though, where. When a sentence starts with a dependent clause (like this one), the subordinate conjunction comes first. It states the circumstances / condition of the independent clause. When Ralph walked in the room, the chickens stopped clucking. The chickens stopped clucking when Ralph walked in the room. _______________________________________________ Simple Sentences A simple sentence is built of a single subject-verb unit. 
Ron runs.The chicken flew the coop. The unicycle has been riden by several sad circus clowns. Yet, a simple sentence can have more than one subject or verb. multiple subjects: Ron and Aryeh run. The chicken and the rooster flew the coop. The unicycle and the ostrich have been riden by several sad circus clowns. multiple verbs: Ron runs and trips. The chicken flew and buzzed the coop. The unicycle has been stolen and riden by several sad circus clowns. We can even have multiple subjects and verbs: The unicycle and the pogo stick and the Schwinn Airdyne had been stolen, ridden, and returned by several sad circus clowns. ____________________________________________ Compound Sentences A compound sentence is built out of two or more simple sentences. 
These are two complete sentences with a subject and verb hooked up
together, and they are usually connected by a comma plus a word to join
the two sentences.The joining words are called coordinating conjunctions because they coordinate the two sentences. the coordinating conjuncions: and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. Carl opened the door, and the ants made their break to freedom. Lois loves to go shopping at Sacks, but Superman can never find anything to match his costume there. Billy loved his asparagus garden, for he was not your average boy. You see? Each of the above can be separated into two sentences, but the coordinating conjunction coordinates them together. Consider the coordinating conjunction as the camp counselors of the word world. The words and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet, are always trying to hook their sentence campers together. There will usually be something in common between the first sentence and the second sentence. In other words, the ideas of both sentences should be related. Superman applies super CPR to Lois, but she still lies limp. (You see how the first part has commonality with the second part?) Superman applies super CPR to Lois, yet Lana wears a leggy skirt. (No relationship here. Writing like this is a no, no!) _____________________________________________ Complex Sentences: A complex sentence is made up of a sentence with a complete thought and a statement of an incomplete thought (one that begins with a dependent word). We are talking about an dependent clause and an independent clause hooked up together. Remember: an independent clause tells a complete thought; a dependent clause tells an incomplete thought. Here's an example of a dependent clause: When I get those P.F. Flyers... Do you feel the tension in the above dependent clause. It's incomplete. It needs more, more, MORE! When I get those P.F. Flyers, I'll be the most popular kid in school. A dependent clause begins with a dependent word. Let's look at a few. Dependent words:
When do we use complex sentences?  When we want to emphasize one idea over another. Before I left the house, I fed my pet cockatiel. What we want to emphasize here is this guy fed Cessna. I fed my pet cockatiel is a complete thought. Before I left the house is subordinated to the complete thought. This technique of giving one thought more emphasis than another is called subordination. With subordination, the part of the sentence starting with the dependent word or the subordinator will always be the less emphasized part of the sentence. But if you want to emphasize leaving the house you would write: After I fed my pet Cockatiel, I left the house. Do you see how the use of the the word after causes the first half of the sentence to emphasize I left the house? Read it again. This is important stuff and will give your writing a tremendous boost. It depends on what you’re trying to express. If you want I left the house as the emphasis of the sentence, you would leave that clause independent. But, like all the grammar we've learned in this class, it depends on context.  Check out the context in the following sentence:After I fed my pet cockatiel, I left the house. But when I got to my office, I realized I had forgotten my keys for the third time this week. And in this one: Before I left the house, I fed my pet cockatiel. Cockatiels are very picky eaters, and if Cessna does not find a piece of mango in her birdseed, she gets into a huff. Can you feel the difference between the above two sentences? One emphasizes the forgetting of the keys; the other emphasizes the feeding of Cessna, the cockatiel A very important point to remember is to make the last part of your sentence the emphatic part. Emphasize your main thought at end of your sentence and pick up that thought in the beginning of your next sentence. Comma Splices and Run-Ons:  The Comma Splice: When one independent clause (a complete sentence) is followed by another independent clause, never use a comma between them, use a period or a semicolon or a comma followed by a joining word. Not this: Yosef has diverse taste in magazines, he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. But this: Yosef has diverse taste in magazines; he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. Or this: Yosef has diverse taste in magazines. He reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. Of course, you can join two independent clauses with a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet). Yosef has diverse taste in magazines, for he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. But, if the second clause is preceded by an adverb, such as however, moreover, therefore, or thus, a semicolon should be used. Yosef has diverse taste in magazines; therefore, he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. Important style point: If the clauses are short, a comma can be used: Yosef reads magazines, magazines read Yosef. Participle: First, let's explain a verbal: a verbal is a verb that acts like an adjective, a noun, or an adverb. A participle is a verbal that acts like an adjective (describes nouns). Present participles end with -ing; past participles end with -ed or -d or -en, but can take on other forms such as burned/ burnt. Laughing, laughed; surfing, surfed; burning, burned (burnt) We combine a participle with other words to create a participle phrase. A participle phrase is an entire phrase that acts like an adjective. Filled with angst, Cohen watched his fingers threaten him with death.  Dangling Participle: Watch for words that end with -ing or -ed at the beginning of a sentence. Make sure these words address the right word latter in the sentence. Doing the Hucklebuck, the minnow followed Annie. *Get it? Who is "doing" that famous dance, the Hucklebuck? Annie or the minnow? Doing the Hucklebuck, Annie was followed by the minnow. Charred to a crisp, Mom threw out the tofu. *Was it Mom or the tofu that was charred to a crisp? Charred to a crisp, the tofu was thrown out by Mom. Pronoun Reference: After Jimmy spilled liquid nitrogen on Charlie, he told his teacher. Who told the teacher? Jimmy or Charlie? After Jimmy spilled liquid nitrogen on Charlie, Charlie told the teacher. Quotation Marks: Always place commas and periods inside the quotation marks. Always place colons and semicolons outside the quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation points can either go inside or outside quotation marks. Most times, question marks and exclamation points will go inside the quotation marks. On being told that Roland Barthes just died, Ralph asked, "How could they tell?" Arturo screamed: "Here's five dollars. Go buy yourself some needle-nose pliers!" Nericcio howled: "Lanzbom's Mousecot is a total ripoff of my Dawg!" In the above, the punctuation refers to what is quoted. 
But the question mark or exclamation point go outside the quotation marks if not part of the quotation. Did you know that in da Vinci's notes, they found a reference to "Perry Mason"? She had the nerve to tell me, "Money talks, nobody walks"! In the above, the punctuation refers to the whole sentence. How to Use Quotations Use a colon when a quote is introduced by an independent clause: Judith Ortiz Cofer tells us: “It was as if the heart of the city map were being gradually colored in brown—café- con-leche brown. Our color" (156). A comma follows when the quote is melded into the sentence: When asked what writing forms she uses, Amy tan says, “I use them all---all the Englishes I grew up with” (38). Use no punctuation with the word “that”: Comparing our minds to the ocean, Steven Kings says that “I think that our minds are the same nutrient bath all the way down to the bottom, and different things live at different levels" (20). Quotes can be placed at different parts of your sentences. This operandi adds variety to your writing. Beginning “I preferred, much preferred, my version,” Maya Angelou writes in “The Angel of the candy counter" (153). Middle Bell hooks tells the reader that “As I wrote, I felt that I was not concerned with accuracy of detail as I was with evoking in writing a state of mind, the spirit of a particular moment”(164)—a good lesson for all writers of autobiography. End In “Judgment of the Birds,” Loren Eiseley explains: “It is commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart form his fellows and live for a time in the wilderness" (105). Long Quotations Place quotations longer than four typed lines in a free-standing block of typewritten lines, and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented one inch from the left margin, and maintain double-spacing. Your parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark. When quoting verse, maintain original line breaks. (You should maintain double-spacing throughout your essay.) Click here for the OWL Online Writing Lab's example of a long quote. Scroll down a bit, and you'll find it. Articles These little guys cause big problems for some people, especially when English is a second language. There are only three articles: a, an, the. That’s it. Memorize those three tiny words, and you will know all the articles in the English language. Articles are like little adjectives that do not describe but point to nouns. There are two types of articles: definite and indefinite The is definite. A is indefinite. When we use the definite article, we point to a definite noun. When I ask for the T.V. dinner, I want a particular T.V. dinner, such as the braised tempeh with brown rice and wilted field greens. But when we use the indefinite article, we point to an indefinite noun. If I ask for a T.V. dinner, I’m feeling like any T.V. dinner, the braised tofu, or perhaps, the Hungry Man Side ‘o Beef. Follow? Think of a this way: A/an goes before singular unspecified nouns. The goes before specified nouns. To show generality of plural nouns you need no article: I fear mice that drive. You don't have to write the mice in this sentence. I gobble salami sandwiches. You don't have to write the salami here. Use a/an in front of singular nouns that can be counted.  Frank drank martini. Wrong. Frank drank a martini. Ah, that’s better. Roy brought wildebeest to school. Nope. Roy brought a wildebeest to school. Now you're talking. Do not use a or an in front of singular nouns that cannot be counted. May I have a rice? No way, Jose. May I have the rice? Yes, you may. Do not use the with singular proper nouns (except for huge places like the ocean or the solar system or the East) Do not use the with plural non-count nouns: (the) Bugs are found in every bed. No need for the here. In South Jersey, (the) chicken is preferred over fish. Use the word chicken without the. Direct Objects See if your verb is a linking verb or an action verb. If you have a linking verb, you will not have a direct object. A direct object will always be a noun or pronoun, so look for words that point to nouns, like an article. Look at your verb and ask “Whom” or “What” after the verb. Your answer will be the direct object. She tossed me her spatula. Now ask, she tossed whom or what? She did not toss me. She tossed the spatula. The “spatula” is what is being tossed, not me. So there is your answer. “Spatula” is your direct object. _______________________________________  Indirect ObjectsAn indirect object is a noun or pronoun found between the verb and the direct object. To find the indirect object move the suspected word to the right of the direct object and ask “to” or “for.” She tossed the spatula “to” me. “Me” is the indirect object. So you can see that a sentence must have a direct object to have an indirect object. ___________________________ Subject and Object Pronouns The form of a pronoun will depend on where it is placed in your sentence.
Subject pronouns will be subjects of your sentence. They tumble down the hill. "Who" or "what" tumble down the hill? They! The pronoun “they” is your subject. Always use subject pronouns after the "be" verb form. (be, am, are, is, was, were, been, being, etc.) Woe is me. Wrong! Woe is I. Ah, much better. Use subject pronouns after the words "than" or "as." You sleep deeper than I. We like the beach as much as they. Object pronouns will be the objects of verbs or prepositions. Larry wrote him. She ran with me. I ate dinner with Roberto and her. (not she) _______________________________________ On Subjects and Verbs Words that come between subjects and verbs should be handled with care. Take this sentence for example: The hamburger with the double order of french fries (is/are) not as tasty as I thought. The subject hamburger is singular, so the verb must be singular as well. We must use the verb is for the verb and subject to agree even though it feels wrong. The prepsositional phrase, with the double order of french fries, which comes between the subject and the verb, does not affect agreement. Prepositional phrases are real trouble makers. Don't be fooled by the object of a preposition--learn what a prepositional phrase is. By identifying the prepositional phrase, you can avoid subject-verb agreement problems. The hamburger with the double order of french fries is not as tasty as I thought.  A preposition is usually a word that will show position or time. Imagine a bird flying toward a tree. Anything that bird can do to the tree will be a preposition: in the tree, around the tree, through the tree, over the tree, under the tree, at the tree, along the tree, from the tree, onto the tree, etc. As far as time goes: at noon, during the siesta, in the fall, until tomorrow etc. There are other prepositions that do not fit in these catagories: the words for, of, or like are examples. So watch out for these guys, especially the word of. You might try placing parentheses around the prepositional phrase, reading the sentence without the phrase. This way, you'll be sure of the subject. The taste of peaches has/have always attracted me. The taste (of peaches) has always attracted me. A prepositional phrase is a prepostion and the noun that follows it plus any modifiers that might find their way in between. The noun that follows the preposition is called the "object" of the prepositition. Prepostion + noun at home. At= preposition / home=noun(object of preposition) Preposition + modifier(s) + noun in the old car in=preposition/the=modifier (article)/ old=modifier(adjective)/ car=noun (object of preposition) Remember this rule: The subject will never be found in a prepositional phrase. ______________________________________________ Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns always take singular verbs.
Everyone on the beach screams (not scream) at the mud shark. Nobody twists (not twist) the way she does. Each of the students has (not have) a beautiful sandwich for lunch.  Verbs must agree with subject no matter their placement in a sentence:Near my closet hides Chris Ware. *here the famous illustrated novelist, Chris Ware, is the subject; the verb he comes after must be singular. Near my closet hide Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse. *here we use a plural verb because we have a plural subject: Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse. Interrogatives are sentences with different verb placement: Where are those sea anemones? *the word anemones is the subject here, so we must use the plural verb are. Watch your subject-verb placement with sentences that begin with the words there, here, who, which, what, and where. Compound Subjects When the word and joins subjects a plural verb should be used: Chris Ware and Quimby the Mouse are a demanding couple. Esther and Haman are the life of the party. When subjects are joined by or or nor or contain either. . .or, neither. . .nor, the verb agrees with the subject closest to the verb: After the last incident, neither Cha Cha nor her cousin eats BBQ. Neither the barista nor her helpers make a decent soy mocha latte extra hot no whip. Predicate Nominatives The predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb. It acts almost like an adjective, describing the subject.  Like adjectives, it will usually answer which, what kind of, how many.Carl is a detective of the heart. Which word describes Carl? Detective. “Of the heart” is a prepositional phrase and will not be the predicate nominative. Notice that “of the heart” does not describe Carl. “Of the heart” acts like an adjective to the word "detective" here, describing “what kind of” detective Carl is. The predicate nominative will not be found in a prepositional phrase. So every sentence with a linking verb may not have a predicate nominative. Ralph is in the doghouse. “In the dog House” is a prepositional phrase, not the predicate nominative. It does not describe Ralph. Nouns common and proper Common Nouns: two ways to find out if you have a noun: 1) Nouns can be pluralized. 2) Nouns can have an article in front of them. The dog brought home a picture of his hero Snoopy. "Dog" can be pluralized if you add an "s" to it. "Dog" can have an article in front of it. "home" can be pluralized. "Home" can have an article in front of it. Get the idea? Check out the words "picture" and "hero," and you'll see it works for the two noun tests. Proper Nouns Proper nouns give formal names to nouns. They are usually capatilized and can be longer than one word. Also, the tests that work for common nouns do not work for proper nouns. You can't say the New Yorks, or I'm going to New Yorks. I just read the book, The Sound and the Fury. What sort of nouns do we have in the above sentence? Put them to the tests. Book: you can pluralize book, and you can put an article before it. So we found a noun! The Sound and the Fury is a proper noun. It gives a formal name to William Faulkner's book, and it is capatilized. Even though there are several words, look at it as one noun. Names and dates are also proper nouns. Personal Pronouns (see also subject and object pronouns above) Personal pronouns are like proper nouns, but they don't use capitals. 1) rename persons or things. 2) Like proper nouns, personal pronouns do not follow articles and do not form plurals by adding s as many nouns do. Here's a chart of personal pronouns
Let's bring some of the above together into one basic lesson.  Mechanics and Grammar Articles: a, an, the These three little words are all the articles in the English Language. Articles are like little adjectives that point to nouns. ________________________________ Nouns: common and proper The chihuahua is yappy. Is here tells you something about the subject, the "chihuahua." The subject is your key to finding the verb. Find out what the sentence says about the subject, and you'll find the verb. Can you put I, you, he, she, it, or they, in front of the potential verb? If you can, you have your verb.
Contractions, interrogatives, adjectives, adverbs, and modification: Contractions Two parts of speech in one word. Contractions are built out of pronouns and linking verbs. You + are = you’re She + will = she’ll Interrogative Sentences An interrogative sentence asks a question. A sentence that asks a question separates the helping verb from the main verb. Did Crandall run into the shack? Did = helping verb Run = main verb Adjectives Many adjectives have antonyms: Big/small Tall/short Happy/sad Adjectives will make sense between articles and nouns that are places, persons, or objects. The tiny lake The happy boy A red thermos Many adjectives are found to the left of nouns. This is not always the case because they can also be found to the right of linking verbs. Memorize this: Adjectives will answer one or more of the following questions. Which_____________? What kind of_____________? How many______________?
Adverbs often deal with time. Adverbs can be moved to another place in the sentence. Adverbs often end in –ly Memorize this: Adverbs will answer the following questions: When? How? Where? To what extent? Why? Won’t is a contraction of will not. Not is an adverb for will. It answers “how” or "to what extent" you will do something in the contraction “won’t.” Modification Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns. Adverbs modify or describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
Simple Sentences  A simple sentence is built of a single subject-verb unit.Ron runs. The chicken flew the coop. The unicycle has been riden by several sad circus clowns. Yet, a simple sentence can have more than one subject or verb. multiple : Ron and Aryeh run. The chicken and the rooster flew the coop. The unicycle and the ostrich have been riden by several sad circus clowns. multiple verbs: Ron runs and trips. The chicken flew and buzzed the coop. The unicycle has been stolen and riden by several sad circus clowns. We can even have multiple subjects and verbs: The unicycle and the pogo stick and the Schwinn Airdyne had been stolen, ridden, and returned by several sad circus clowns. Compound Sentences A compound sentence is built out of two or more simple sentences. These are two complete sentences with a subject and verb hooked up together, and they are usually connected by a comma plus a word to join the two sentences. The joining words are called coordinating conjunctions because they coordinate the two sentences.  the coordinating conjuncions:and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. Carl opened the door, and the ants made their break to freedom. Lois loves to go shopping at Sacks, but Superman can never find anything to match his costume there. Billy loved his asparagus garden, for he was not your average boy. You see? Each of the above can be separated into two sentences, but the coordinating conjunction coordinates them together. Consider the coordinating conjunction as the camp councilor of the word world. The words and, but, for, nor, or, so, and yet, are always trying to hook their sentence campers together. There will usually be something in common between the first sentence and the second sentence. In other words, the ideas of both sentences should be related. Complex sentences: A complex sentence is made up of a sentence with a complete thought and a statement of an incomplete thought (one that begins with a dependent word).  We are talking about an dependent clause and an independent clause hooked up together. Remember: an independent clause tells a complete thought; a dependent clause tells an incomplete thought. Here's an example of a dependent clause: When I get those P.F. Flyers... Do you feel the tension in the above dependent clause. It's incomplete. It needs more, more, MORE! When I get those P.F. Flyers, I'll be the most popular kid in school. A dependent clause begins with a dependent word. Let's look at a few. Dependent words:
When do we use complex sentences? When we want to emphasize one idea over another. Before I left the house, I fed my pet cockatiel. What we want to emphasize here is this guy fed Cessna. I fed my pet cockatiel is a complete thought. Before I left the house is subordinated to the complete thought. This technique of giving one thought more emphasis than another is called subordination. With subordination, the part of the sentence starting with the dependent word or the subordinator will always be the less emphasized part of the sentence. But if you want to emphasize leaving the house you would write: After I fed my pet Cockatiel, I left the house. Do you see how the use of the the word after causes the first half of the sentence to emphasize I left the house? Read it again. This is important stuff and will give your writing a tremendous boost. It depends on what you’re trying to express. If you want I left the house as the emphasis of the sentence, you would leave that clause independent. But, like all the grammar we've learned in this class, it depends on context. Check out the context in the following sentence: After I fed my pet cockatiel, I left the house. But when I got to my office, I realized I had forgotten my keys for the third time this week. And in this one: Before I left the house, I fed my pet cockatiel. Cockatiels are very picky eaters, and if Cessna does not find a piece of mango in her birdseed, she gets into a huff. Can you feel the difference between the above two sentences? One emphasizes the forgetting of the keys; the other emphasizes the feeding of Cessna, the cockatiel A very important point to remember is to make the last part of your sentence the emphatic part. Emphasize your main thought at end of your sentence and pick up that thought in the beginning of your next sentence. Comma Splices and Run-Ons:  The Comma Splice: When one independent clause (a complete sentence) is followed by another independent clause, never use a comma between them, use a period or a semicolon or a comma followed by a joining word. Not this: Yosef has diverse taste in magazines, he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. But this: Yosef has diverse taste in magazines; he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. Or this: Yosef has diverse taste in magazines. He reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. Of course, you can join two independent clauses with a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet). Yosef has diverse taste in magazines, for he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. But, if the second clause is preceded by an adverb, such as however, moreover, therefore, or thus, a semicolon should be used. Yosef has diverse taste in magazines; therefore, he reads All About Beer, Chevy Truck World, and Redbook. Important style point: If the clauses are short, a comma can be used: Yosef reads magazines, magazines read Yosef. On Subjects and Verbs  Words that come between subjects and verbs should be handled with care. Take this sentence for example: The pie for the guests is not as tasty as I thought. The subject pie is singular, so the verb must be singular as well. We must use the verb is for the verb and subject to agree. The words,for the guests, which come between the subject and the verb, do not affect agreement. Don't be fooled by the object of a preposition--learn what a prepositional phrase is. By identifying the prepositional phrase, you can avoid subject-verb agreement problems. Remember this rule: the subject will never be found in a prepositional phrase. A Little Bit about Prepositions Let's see if we can make some sense out of this prepositional phrase business. Look at the following sentence: The hamburger with the double order of french fries (is/are) not as tasty as I thought. The subject hamburger is singular, so the verb must be singular as well. We must use the verb is for the verb and subject to agree even though it feels wrong. The prepsositional phrase, with the double order of french fries, which comes between the subject and the verb, does not affect agreement.  Prepositional phrases are real trouble makers. Don't be fooled by the object of a preposition--learn what
a prepositional phrase is. By identifying the
prepositional phrase, you
can avoid subject-verb agreement problems. The hamburger with the double order of french fries is not as tasty as I thought. A preposition is usually a word that will show position or time. Imagine a bird flying toward a tree. Anything that bird can do to the tree will be a preposition: in the tree, the tree, around the tree, through the tree, over the tree, under the tree, at the tree, along the tree, from the tree, onto the tree, etc. As far as time goes: at noon, during the siesta, in the fall, until tomorrow etc. There are other prepositions that do not fit in these catagories: the words for, of, or like are examples. So watch out for these guys, especially the word of. You might try placing parentheses around the prepositional phrase, reading the sentence without the phrase. This way, you'll be sure of the subject. The taste of peaches has/have always attracted me. The taste (of peaches) has always attracted me. A prepositional phrase is a prepostion and the noun that follows it plus any modifiers that might find their way in between. The noun that follows the preposition is called the "object" of the preposition. Prepostion + noun "at home": at= preposition / home=noun (the word "home" is the object of preposition) Preposition + modifier(s) + noun "in the old car": in=preposition/the= article/old=modifier(adjective)/ car=noun ("car"=object of hte preposition) Let's repeat the rule: The subject will never be found in a prepositional phrase. ______________________________________________ Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns always take singular verbs.
Everyone in the line screams (not scream) for his money back. Nobody, out of thousands of volunteers, twists (not twist) the way she does. Each of the students has (not have) a beautiful, roast tofu sandwich for lunch. Verbs must agree with subject no matter their placement in a sentence:  Near my closet hides Chris Ware.*here the famous illustrated novelist, Chris Ware, is the subject; the verb he comes after must be singular. Near my closet hide Chris Ware and Krazy Kat. *here we use a plural verb because we have a plural subject: Chris Ware and Krazy Kat Interrogatives are sentences with different verb placement: Where are those sea anemones? *the word anemones is the subject here, so we must use the plural verb are. Watch your subject-verb placement with sentences that begin with the words there, here, who, which, what, and where. Compound Subjects When the word and joins subjects a plural verb should be used: George Herriman and Krazy Kat are a demanding couple. Esther and Haman are the life of the party. When subjects are joined by or or nor or contain either. . .or, neither. . .nor. the verb agrees with the subject closest to the verb: After the last incident, neither Cha Cha nor her cousin eats BBQ. Neither the barista nor her helpers make a decent soy mocha latte extra hot no whip.  |
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