6. Basic Grammar Rules

Top Ten

Elementary Rules of Usage

The bittersweet flavor of youth – its trials, its joys,

its adventures, its challenges – is not soon forgotten.

Use a singular verb form after the following:

each, either, everyone, everybody, neither, nobody, someone.

EX:

Everybody thinks he or she has a unique sense of humor.

A compound subject formed of two or more nouns joined by and almost always requires a plural verb.

When both halves of the subject is singular, so is the verb.

When half of the subject is singular and the other half plural, focus on the subject nearest the verb

If both halves are plural, then so is the verb.

Ties or ascots are required.

Walking slowly down the road, he saw a woman accompanied by two children.

The word walking refers to the subject of the sentence, not to the woman.

If the writer wishes to make it refer to the woman, he must recast the sentence:

He saw a woman, accompanied by two children, walking slowly down the road.

Participial phrases preceded by a conjunction or by a preposition, nouns in apposition,

adjectives, and adjective phrases come under the same rule if they begin the sentence.

On arriving in Chicago, his friends met him at the station.

When he arrived (or, On his arrival) in Chicago, his friends met him at the station.

A soldier of proved valor, they entrusted him with the defense of the city.

A soldier of proved valor, he was entrusted with the defense of the city.

Young and inexperienced, the task seemed easy to me.

Young and inexperienced, I thought the task easy.

Without a friend to counsel him, the temptation proved irresistible.

Without a friend to counsel him, he found the temptation irresistible.

Basic Grammar Rules

Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's.

I met them on a Cunard liner several years ago. Coming home from Liverpool to New York.

He was an interesting talker. A man who had traveled all over the world, and lived in half a dozen countries.

In both these examples, the first period should be replaced by a comma, and the

following word begun with a small letter.

BUT

It is permissible to make an emphatic word or expression serve the purpose of a

sentence and to punctuate it accordingly:

Again and again he called out. No reply.

The writer must, however, be certain that the emphasis is warranted, and that he will

not be suspected of a mere blunder in punctuation.

Do not break sentences in two

Exceptions are the possessives of ancient proper names in -es and -is, the possessive Jesus', and such forms as for conscience' sake, for righteousness' sake. But such forms as Achilles' heel, Moses' laws, Isis' temple are commonly replaced by

the heel of Achilles

the laws of Moses

the temple of Isis

The pronominal possessives hers, its, theirs, yours, and oneself have no apostrophe.

The Lopezes’ three children are identical triplets.

It’s (contraction)a wise dog that scratches its (possessive) own fleas.

Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write,

Charles's friend

Burns's poems

the witch's malice

Colon

Your dedicated whittler

requires three props: a knife, a

piece of wood, and a back porch.

A colon may introduce a quotation that supports or contributes to the preceding clause.

The squalor of the streets reminded her of a line from Oscar Wilde: “We are

all in the gutter, but some of us are

looking at the stars.”

Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation.

A colon tells the reader that what follows is closely related to the preceding clause.

Dash divides, while hyphen joins

things together

User-friendly, part-time, up-to-date

Dash and hyphen

Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or a summary.

EX:

His first thought of getting out of bed– if he had any thought at all – was to get back in again.

Violence — the kind you see on

television — is not honestly violent — there lies its harm.

Understanding is that penetrating quality of knowledge that grows from the following theory, practice, conviction, assertion, error, and

humiliation.

EX:

red, white, and blue

He opened the letter, read it, and made a note of its contents.

When writing, it’s a good idea to include the last comma before the and.

P.S. If you don't use comma before AND, at least be consistent.

In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last.

Do not join independent clauses by a comma

Stevenson's romances are entertaining; they are full of

exciting adventures.

It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before

dark.

OR

Stevenson's romances are entertaining. They are full of

exciting adventures.

It is nearly half past five. We cannot reach town before

dark.

UNLESS THERE IS A CONJUCTION

Stevenson's romances are entertaining, for they are full of

exciting adventures.

It is nearly half past five, and we cannot reach town before dark.

Semicolon

Mary Shelley’s works are entertaining; they are full of engaging ideas.

It is nearly half past five; we cannot reach town before dark.

If two or more clauses are grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark is a semicolon, not a comma.

Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas

The audience which had at first been indifferent became more and more interested.

Marjorie's husband, Colonel Nelson paid us a visit yesterday.

My brother you will be pleased to hear, is now in perfect health,

- Non-restrictive relative clauses are, in accordance with this rule, set off by commas.

Similar clauses introduced by where and when are similarly punctuated.

In 1769, when Napoleon was born, Corsica had but recently been acquired by France.

Nether Stowey where Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a few miles from Bridgewater.

- which, when, and where are non-restrictive

This rule is difficult to apply; it is frequently hard to decide whether a single word, such as however, or a brief phrase, is or is not parenthetic. If the interruption to the flow of the sentence is but slight, the writer may safely omit the commas. But whether the interruption be slight or considerable, he must never omit one comma and leave the other.

Subject-Verb Agreement

The number of the subject determines the number of the verb.

Words that intervene between subject and verb do not affect the number of the verb.

A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject