Part 1 Flashcards
(24 cards)
agreement
Subjects and verbs agree when they are both singular or both plural.
14-4
Commas are not breaths. Punctuation marks are road signs to help readers predict what comes next.
Underlining and italics
- Underline or italicize the names of newspapers, magazines, and books
- Underline or italicize words to emphasize them.
Case
Case refers to the grammatical role a noun or pronoun plays in a sentence.
Ellipses
Ellipses are spaced dots.
- Use ellipses to indicate that one or more words have been omitted in the middle of quoted material.
- In advertising and direct mail, use ellipses to imply the pace of spoken comments.
Square Brackets
Use square brackets to add your own additions to or changes in quoted material.
Dangling Modifier
A modifier dangles when the word it modifies is not actually in the sentence.
Misplaced Modifier
A misplaced modifier appears to modify another element of the sentence than the writer intended.
Parallel Structure
Items in a series or list must have the same grammatical structure.
Prediction Errors
The predicate of a sentence must fit grammatically and logically with the subject.
Quotation Marks
- Use quotation marks around the names of brochures, pamphlets, and magazine articles.
- Use quotation marks around words to indicate that you think the term is misleading.
- Use quotation marks around words that you are discussing as words.
- Use quotation marks around words or sentences that you quote from someone else.
Comma Splices
A comma splice or comma fault occurs when two main clauses are joined only by a comma (instead of by a comma and a coordinating conjunction).
Run-On sentences
A run-on sentence strings together several main clauses and, but, or so, and for. Run-On sentences and comma splices are “mirror faults.”
Fused Sentences
A fused sentence results when two or more sentences are fused or joined with neither punctuation nor conjunction.
- To fix the error, add either punctuation or a conjunction.
Sentence Fragments
In a sentence fragment, a group of words that is not a complete sentence is punctuated as if it were a complete sentence.
Apostrophe
- Use an apostrophe in a contraction to indicate that a letter has been omitted.
- To indicate possession, add an apostrophe and an s to the word.
- Use an apostrophe to make plurals that could be confused for other words.
14-5
Use punctuation to make your meaning clear to your reader.
Colon
- Use a colon to separate a main clause and a list that explains the last element in the clause.
- Use a colon to join two independent clauses when the second clause explains or restates the first clause
Comma
- Use commas to separate the main clause from an introductory clause, the reader’s name, or words that interrupt the main clause.
- Use a comma after the first clause in a compound sentence if the clauses are long or if they have different subjects.
- Use commas to separate items in a series.
Dash
Use dashes to emphasize a break in thought.
Hyphen
- Use a hyphen to indicate that a word has been divided between two lines.
- Use hyphens to join two or more words used as a single adjective.
Parentheses
- Use parentheses to set off words, phrases, or sentences used to explain or comment on the main idea.
- Use parentheses for the second of two numbers presented both in words and in figures.
Semi-colon
- Use semicolons to join two independent clauses when they are closely related.
- Use semicolons to separate items in a series when the items themselves contain commas.
Period
- Use a period at the end of a sentence.
- Use a period after some abbreviation.
