Grammar Review
(for People Who Hated Grammar in School--like me)*
When we are writing simple sentences such as “Bob goes to the store” or “My cats like vanilla ice cream,” we rarely have trouble making sure that the SUBJECT (the main person or thing who is doing something in the sentence) agrees with the VERB (the action that the subject is performing) in number. This means that when we have a singular subject (like “Michael”), you have a singular verb (“goes”). If Michael’s friend Keisha shows up to go to the store with him, then we could change our verb to a plural verb and say “Michael and Keisha go to the store.” In these examples, the subject and verb are conveniently situated right next to each other. Where we run into confusion is when the subject and the verb are far apart, as with a sentence like the one below.
The advertising executives behind the “Lose Yourself in Luxury” and the “Make a New You” campaigns study the television and shopping habits of their audiences very carefully. (correct)Just because words that look like a subject or verb are close together, you might be tempted to make them agree instead:
The advertising executives behind the “Lose Yourself in Luxury” campaign studies the television and shopping habits of their audiences very carefully. (incorrect)In a sentence like this one, it is easy to get confused about making sure your subject and verb agree. The subject, or the main person or thing, is executives. The verb, or the action that the subject is doing, is study .
Have you ever watched an action movie? Most movie stars do not do their own stunts for insurance and safety reasons. The studio hires trained stunt doubles to take their places. The pronoun (he, she, it, they) that takes the place of the noun is the stunt double. The antecedent (Abraham Lincoln, Mae Jemison, college graduates, freedom) is the star of the show.
If you are watching an action movie starring Tom Cruise, the stunt double has to look like Tom Cruise. It would look pretty silly if Tom Cruise jumped off the building and we saw a five-foot-tall woman, or two men instead of one, fall to the ground!
Abraham Lincoln is HE
Mae Jemison is SHE
Graduates are THEY
Freedom is IT
Male — Singular Female—Singular Plural—Gender Neutral Singular—Gender Neutral
What about the professor?
If it is not clear from your sentence whether the professor is a HE or a SHE, then you have two options.
1) The professor grades many papers. He or she can spend an hour on just one or two papers. (The equal opportunity option)
2) Professors grade many papers. They
can spend an hour on just one or two papers. (The pluralist option)
Possessive Pronouns
A lot of people get confused when you have a singular antecedent that is gender neutral but refers to something that has a gender. (FREEDOM has no gender, but A PERSON does). What do you do in a case like this?
Any person who wants to feel healthy should start [Their? His or Her?] exercise plan today!If you choose
Any person who wants to feel healthy should start THEIR exercise plan today!Then you are choosing a funny-looking stunt double! You have two stunt doubles (THEIR is plural) jumping off the building as a stand-in for ONE actor!
Instead, take the equal opportunity or pluralist option.
Any person who wants to feel healthy should start his or her exercise plan today! (equal opportunity)OR
People who want to feel healthy should start their exercise plan today! (pluralist)
You have to learn to anticipate comma situations, just like the way you slow down when you are driving in a residential area at 3:30 in the afternoon because you anticipate children outside playing after school. Once you are aware of the four basic comma situations, you will use commas with greater confidence!
Introductory elements are phrases that let your reader know the time and/or setting for your sentence or that make connections between the sentence that you are writing and sentences that have come before. We'll begin a a simple sentence.
In the English language, the subject almost always goes before the verb, and the subject is usually a noun. Therefore, we expect the first noun we see to be the subject. In the sentences above, Bob is the subject. The comma is there to tell your reader that nouns such as DAY, SOCKS, and EXAMPLE are not the subject of the sentence.Bob goes to the store. 1) Time and/or setting: Every day, Bob goes to the store.
After putting on his socks, Bob goes to the store.2) Connecting with other sentences: For example, Bob goes to the store.
Parenthetical elements are phrases usually come between the subject
and the verb, and they usually let your reader know additional details
about the subject. Sometimes a parenthetical is an introductory element
that has wandered into the middle of the sentence. We’ll stay with
“Bob goes to the store.”
1) Describes the subject:The commas are there to let your reader know that you are breaking the subject-verb pattern. Comma #1 says “I’m leaving my subject.” Comma #2 says “I’m coming back to my verb.” For this reason, parenthetical commas almost always come in pairs. Anytime you see that you have words or phrases between your subject and your verb, take the parenthetical out. If your sentence still make sense—even if it isn’t as informative—you’ve probably got a parenthetical. You MIGHT have a harmless prepositional phrase though, such as “The dog under the porch bit me.”Bob, who never washes his socks, goes to the store.2) Wandering introductory element:Bob, for example, goes to the store.
You have to have at least THREE nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs to have a list or a series. “Peanut butter and jelly” is not a list. “Paper or plastic” is not a list. “Ran and jumped” is not a series. If you don’t have a list or a series, then you probably don’t need a comma. When you DO have three elements, then you are in a comma situation. Here are your options for making lists or series.
A, B, and C (This is the no-fault, no trouble option)Which one you choose depends on what you want to say.
A, B, C (This is a perfectly acceptable stylistic choice)
A and B and C (This is also a stylistic choice)
We’ll start with three nouns: peanut
butter jelly
bread
A
B
C
I made a sandwich out of peanut butter, jelly, and bread. (A, B, and C)Now we’ll try adjectives: mean ugly hairy
I made a sandwich out of peanut butter, jelly, bread. (A, B, C)
I made a sandwich out of peanut butter and jelly and bread. (A and B and C)
I have a mean, ugly, and hairy teacher. (A, B, and C)We can also do verbs, but verbs are tricky! woke ate ran
I have a mean, ugly, hairy teacher. (A, B, C)
I have a mean and ugly and hairy teacher. (A and B and C)
This morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, and ran out the door. (A, B, and C)We can also have a list of subjects Gillian Keisha Michael
This morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, ran out the door. (A, B, C)
This morning, I woke up and ate breakfast, and ran out the door. (A and B and C)
Gillian, Keisha, and Michael live on my block. (A, B, and C)Always make sure that your list or series is balanced, which means that each item on your list should be the same part of speech.
Gillian, Keisha, Michael live on my block. (A, B, C)
Gillian and Keisha and Michael live on my block. (A and B and C)
The last few days have been difficult, exhausting, and unhappily. (Incorrect)Warning!
The last few days have been difficult, exhausting, and unhappy. (Correct)
When you have a series of verbs, it can be easy to "slip in" another subject by mistake. If you do this in a sentence like “This morning, I woke up, ate breakfast, I ran out the door,” then you have effectively begun a NEW SENTENCE with a subject and a verb. Your sentence will not be correct. Go to the section called Combining Sentences for an example.
What if you want to connect two sentences? There are two ways to put two sentences together without making either one lose its power and depend on the other one to make sense. For this exercise, we’ll use these two sentences.
Bob goes to the store. Keisha writes a poem.If you want to put these sentences together, then you need two things: a COMMA and a CONJUNCTION.
There a lot of conjunctions to choose from. Which one you use really depends on what you want to say. The best way to remember them all is to remember the word FANBOYS.
We can put our two sentences together using a COMMA and whichever FANBOY works best.For
And
Nor
But
Or
Yet
So
Bob goes to the store, for Keisha writes a poem.To combine sentences this way, you MUST have both a COMMA and a FANBOY.
Bob goes to the store, and Keisha writes a poem.
Bob neither goes to the store, nor does Keisha write a poem. (Nor is a special case)
Bob goes to the store, but Keisha writes a poem.
Bob goes to the store, or Keisha writes a poem.
Bob goes to the store, yet Keisha writes a poem.
Bob goes to the store, and Keisha writes a poem. (Correct)When you combine sentences using a comma but no FANBOY, you have a COMMA SPLICE
Bob goes to the store, Keisha writes a poem. (Incorrect. This is a comma splice)When you combine sentences using a FANBOY but no comma, you have a FUSED SENTENCE.
Bob goes to the store and Keisha writes a poem. (Incorrect. This is a fused sentence)Return to the top of the page
Another way to put two sentences together without taking anything away from either of them is to use a SEMICOLON. You can think of the semicolon as grammatical superglue.
Bob goes to the store; Keisha writes a poem.It’s that easy, but remember, you have to be putting two COMPLETE SENTENCES together. One situation that people can be confused about is using the word however. Look at this example.
Bob goes to the store; however, Keisha writes a poem.Knowing what you do now about commas, you can probably figure out why there is a semicolon before and a comma after the word “however” in the sentence above.
The semicolon combines our two sentences.
The commas is tells us that however is an INTRODUCTORY ELEMENT.
Colons are different from semicolons. Instead of putting two complete sentences together, a colon puts together a COMPLETE SENTENCE and a SENTENCE FRAGMENT.
I ate dinner quickly: peanut butter and jelly on toast.Sometimes people put a colon in where on is not necessary, and the colon can actually make the sentence MORE awkward.
Pennsylvania is a commonwealth: one of only four in the nation.
Executives make decisions about what we like to buy: clothing, shoes, and food.
My favorite movies are the following: Men in Black, Jaws, and The Matrix. (incorrect)If you just have to use a colon, you could tryMy favorite movies are Men in Black, Jaws, and The Matrix. (correct)
I have three favorite movies: Men in Black, Jaws, and The Matrix.
Passive voice is a way of writing a sentence that will hide or minimize the subject. You can usually tell a sentence that is in passive voice because it has a “to be” verb form (is, was, has been, were) next to a past-tense verb form (taken, suggested, followed, created). Sometimes the word “by” shows up as well. Here is an example.
The ball was kicked.What’s wrong with this sentence? Well, you don’t know who kicked the ball, do you?
The ball was kicked by the boy.Now we know who kicked the ball, but we’ve got the boy stuffed all the way at the back of the sentence when he’s the one doing the action.
The boy kicked the ball.This is MUCH better. Now you have an ACTIVE sentence.
Many times, people will use passive voice when they don’t really know who is doing what. The result is usually a vague sentence that could be a lot more specific.
It is suggested that watching too much television can result in developing low self-esteem.The above statement conveys information, but it could both be a lot more specific.
A number of researchers who publish in scientific journals suggest that when people watch more than four hours of television a day, they report feeling less attractive and less successful in their daily lives.People often rely on passive voice because they don’t want to look for more details, but your reader is counting on you to be a clear as possible!
*
I
have stolen large sections of this grammar review from the late Dr. Hank
Ballenger, who taught me how to use a comma.
