Category Archives: Grammar Tips

What Is an Indirect Question?

28 Friday Apr 2017

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Question mark 3

We all remember learning in grade school about how to change a statement into a question by simply putting the verb before the subject. Example: Betty was late for her appointment. Was Betty late for her appointment? But then English, being the flexible language that it is, provides a number of variations of that basic pattern. Here are ones using helping verbs:

Betty went by bus to her appointment. Did Betty go by bus to her appointment?

Fernando speaks three languages. Does Fernando speak three languages?

Most of the time we have no problem with asking direct questions like these. The confusion comes sometimes when we forget to change the pattern for direct questions when we want to frame an indirect question. Say you are in the midst of a conversation and these words come out of your mouth: I was talking to Ron yesterday and asked him did he want to go to the game with us tonight. That last part is the correct form for a direct question, but what you actually want is an indirect question: I was talking to Ron yesterday and asked him if he wanted to go to the game with us tonight. You can probably get away with using that hybrid form in speech, but when you write you need to be a little more attentive and use the correct form for indirect questions.

Here are some other examples:

Direct: Is this item for sale?     Indirect: I’d like to know if this item is for sale.

Direct: What did she want to do?     Indirect: Frank wondered what she wanted to do.

Direct: Where has the time gone?     Indirect: I have no idea where the time went.

You’ve noticed, I’m sure, that with these indirect questions the subject and verb are in the same order as in a statement. And there is no question mark at the end. There are, however, other variations that combine indirect questions with direct questions, and so they do end with question marks.

Do you have any idea where the closest restaurant is?

Can you tell me whose jacket this is?

Does he remember when the last bus comes?

Are you going to ask someone if the next train stops here?

Hopefully, this brief explanation will be a reminder to look carefully at the construction of sentences that end with question marks or that have a question embedded in them. If you are a native speaker of English, you can usually tell if a sentence is correct just by the way it sounds–but be aware that patterns in speech are not always as formal as they need to be in writing.

As I may have said before, all the possible variations in English may drive students and English teachers to distraction, but they also increase its flexibility and allow for more nuances in meaning.

Feel free to respond with other examples of indirect questions that you have come across.

 

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Where to Put That Period

29 Thursday Sep 2016

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What’s a run-on sentence? If you’re like many people, you will answer, “It’s a sentence that just runs on and on.” In other words, it’s a sentence out of control: too long with too many words in it.mug-with-teacher-motto

Unfortunately, the term itself is misleading. Length is not the problem at all. We have the freedom in English to make a sentence as long or as short as we want as long as it follows certain conventions of structure.

A sentence can be as short as two words: Gerald died. Or it can be as long as several lines or even an entire paragraph: The day he was supposed to fly to England, the birthplace of his ancestors, Gerald died of a heart attack, an event both tragic and ironic according to his niece Carolyn, who had tried for so long to convince him to make the trip, and now his dream of a lifetime would never come true because he had waited too long to make up his mind.

Obviously, too many long, complex sentences grouped together would slow down anyone’s reading speed, so most writers vary their sentence length to make it more enjoyable for the reader. But part of the attraction of English as a language is the infinite variety of patterns which we can use to string words together.

And it’s that endless variety that makes it difficult to clearly define what constitutes a sentence. But here are a few attempts, using a minimum of grammatical terms: (1) A sentence in English is any group of words with a required subject and verb, to which can be added numerous structures that add meaning to the main statement; (2) A sentence is an utterance that makes sense by itself; and (3) As one of my colleagues put it, a period at the end of a sentence signals a place where your mind can rest before going on to the next idea.

So the next time you are tempted to put a period somewhere just because the sentence is beginning to look too long and you are afraid that it is running on and on, or you are so unsure about where a period should go that you just scatter a few commas here and there for looks, you need to stop and read out loud what you have written. Most of the time, your mind will tell you where one idea stops and another starts. Language has meaning, and our minds are trained to look for meaning in what we read. If your writing is not making sense when you read it aloud, then maybe the fault is not in the words, but in the punctuation–or lack of it. A period in the right place can make a huge difference!

  • * * * * *

If you have another way of explaining where to put periods or if you have any questions about punctuation, feel free to comment. I’d enjoy hearing from you!

Semicolon or Colon – Which One to Use?

11 Monday Apr 2016

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Question Mark 2That little key on my keyboard to the right of the letter L has been kidnapped! If I try to indicate in a sentence what a colon looks like and I put a colon in parentheses, I get a smiley face instead. Only after I go back and type (:) again do I get what I want. Those emoticons are taking over the world!

But don’t let them fool you! Both the semicolon and the colon are still useful and acceptable punctuation marks in English. All you need to do is remember how to use them correctly and you’ll be lauded as a punctuation whiz!

Before we talk about the rules, however, here’s a little history of both marks, compliments of Lynne Truss, author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves. She indicates that both marks have been around in English since probably the Middle Ages. But it took several centuries for grammarians — and writers — to agree on their acceptable usage. They are now considered alike in that both the semicolon and the colon indicate to the reader that more closely related material is coming. They are different in that the semicolon is used between two complete sentences that are closely related in content and/or structure, whereas, in Truss’s words, “A colon is nearly always preceded by a complete sentence [but not necessarily followed by a complete sentence], and in its simplest usage it rather theatrically announces what is to come” (118).

This difference will become clearer once we look at some examples.

SEMICOLONS

A semicolon is often interchangeable with a period. After all, both are used between two complete sentences. But there are a few cases where a  semicolon is still more appropriate.

Case #1: When a conjunctive adverb (consequently, nevertheless, therefore, however, as a result, moreover, etc.) is used between two complete sentences.

     People use the word Kleenex as a generic term that refers to all different kinds of facial tissue; however, this term is still considered a trademark of a specific manufacturer.

     My son didn’t keep his part of the bargain; therefore, he is not going to the rock concert this weekend.

Case #2: When two closely related sentences contain two equally important or parallel ideas but no conjunction is used.

     The young man dreams of conquering the world; the old man wishes he had spent more time with his family.

     My husband loves to go mountain climbing; I’d rather sit on the porch and read.

Case #3: When a sentence already contains a number of commas that might confuse the reader. In this case, the semicolon steps in to divide the endless comma chain into meaningful units.

     Mrs. Studebaker sent party invitations to her hairdresser, Connie; her chauffeur; and her personal shopper, Kim.

     The new officers of the City Club are Tom Jones, president; Charlotte Web, vice president; Yuri Goodfellow, treasurer; and Fran Chickersee, secretary.

COLONS

As mentioned above, colons announce that something that has been hinted at earlier is now coming. But the structure of the sentence needs to meet certain requirements.

Case #1: Lists. Many people feel the urge to put a colon at the beginning of any list. But the colon is appropriate only when the list is introduced by a noun (underlined in the examples).

     A. To make chili, you will need the following ingredients: hamburger, tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, and chili powder.

          A colon would not be appropriate in this version: To make chili, you will need hamburger, tomatoes, kidney beans, onions, and chili powder.

     B. During a European tour, our chorus sang in these cities: Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague.

          A colon would not be appropriate in this version: During a European tour, our chorus sang in Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague.

Case #2: To provide an example of something already mentioned — and create a little suspense!

     On my trip to Florida, I forgot the most important thing: my bathing suit.

     It was the question she had been waiting for all night: Will you marry me?

Now that you know how to use semicolons and colons correctly, go and do likewise. And may the Champions of Correct Punctuation be with you!

____________________

Work cited: Truss, Lynne. Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. New York: Penguin Group (USA), 2003.

Treasure Hunt #2

28 Monday Mar 2016

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As promised, here is a second exercise for you to practice your proofreading skills. Only this time, the stakes are a little higher because there are three kinds of errors rather than just one. So put on your magic glasses and proofread the following essay for a total of 15 errors: 6 errors in missing words or word endings, 5 errors in apostrophe use, and 4 errors in sentence punctuation (placement of periods). Check back next week for the answers. 4/11 – Note: Answers are now posted!Proofreading 3

Writing an Essay

After much experimenting, Sam finally learn (learned) the best way to write an essay for the school magazine there (magazine. There) were several steps, and each step was essential in achieving the goal of good (of a good) essay.

The first step involved making a list of possible topic’s (topics) that he thought would be interesting to his audience and then narrowing his choices until he found the one he liked best. After he decide (decided) what his thesis was going to be. Sam (be, Sam) made a rough outline of main points that would support the thesis and wrote his first draft in one sitting. Sams (Sam’s) tutor had advised him not to worry at this point about punctuation, spelling, or other mechanics but just to concentrate on getting the idea’s  (ideas) down on paper.

The second step involved reading the first draft for it’s  (its) content and organization. Sam improved the paper by adding more explanation where was (where it was) needed, taking out irrelevant material, and strengthening his introduction and conclusion, he (conclusion. He) also proofread this draft for errors in sentence punctuation, word choice, subject-verb agreement, and comma use. Experience with other assignments had taught him that he made those errors most often, so he took time look (time to look) especially for those.

The last and most important step was to put the paper away for a few hour’s, that (hours. That) enabled him to look at it again with fresh eyes. He read it once more for content. Then he took his finger and pointed at each word while reading it out loud in order to find any errors he might have overlook (overlooked) before.

The day he sent the finished essay to his editor, Sam was confident that he had done his best. It was a good feeling to know that he had made progress in producing a well-written and error-free document.

The 15 errors are underlined, and the correct forms are in parentheses. Note that the answer for hour’s, that actually contains 2 errors.

 

Treasure Hunt #1

21 Monday Mar 2016

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HomophonesAs promised last week, I’m posting the first of several proofreading exercises to give you practice in finding your own errors. We’ll start off with one that focuses on only one kind of error: words that are pronounced the same (or nearly the same) but are spelled differently and have different uses. Our English spelling system contains a number of these word pairs (or triplets). They are often a stumbling block for writers and are hard to pick out when proofreading because Spell Check doesn’t flag them. Examples include your/you’re, whose/who’s, though/through, to/too/two, and than/then.

So here’s a short essay for you to proofread for only that kind of error. The challenge is to find the 15 words that are used incorrectly and replace them with the correct words. Take as much time as you want. Accuracy is more important than speed! I’ll be posting the answers next week so you can see how well you did. Now put on those reading glasses or grab that magnifying glass and begin your search!

The Cemetery

Your not going to believe this, but I was once offered the position of manager of a cemetery. The Charles Baber Cemetery in Pottsville, PA was willed to Trinity Episcopal church by Charles  Baber, a member who had established the cemetery many years before. I didn’t no weather to accept the job or not. It was not quite what I was used to, but then it was the only offer I had, so I took it.

The first week on the job I took a tour though the cemetery and the beautiful chapel that had been built opposite the entrance. The cemetery was located on rolling hills just off the center of town and reminded me of  a quite park. There were many different varieties of trees and the remains of a pond were children used to ice skate in the winter. An old barn originally housed the funeral carriage and it’s team of white horses that pulled it in funeral processions passed rows of silent spectators.

In the office of the church, I found several very large books that contained the burial records for the cemetery. The entries dated back to the 1800s and every entry was handwritten. I had too handle the books with great care because some of there bindings were lose. It was also hard to tell sometimes who’s body was in which plot because the plot numbers in the book didn’t always correspond to the map of the cemetery.

Even through the job lasted only a year, I was more then satisfied with what I learned about the history of the cemetery and the people buried there. Its not every day that a job opens up to manage a place that people are dying to get into!

***

Feel free to share this exercise with friends or use it in your classroom. It’s an original essay I wrote a number of years ago and describes a real job I had. Students in my developmental writing classes struggled with it, but those who spent the most time found the most errors. Persistence pays off!

Five Proofreading Tips

14 Monday Mar 2016

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Proofreading 2Are you one of those writers who have a lot to say and can say it well, but who seems to have a blind spot for finding your own spelling errors or misplaced commas? If so, take heart!

After nearly a quarter of a century helping college students improve their writing skills, I’m convinced that it is possible to improve your proofreading ability. It takes concentration, effort, and a willingness to spend a little more time with your writing than you might normally want to do, but in the end what a difference it can make in the quality of your final product! Yes, you may still have to rely on the extra-sharp eyes of a professional (That’s why we’re here!) for a final go-through, but just imagine how much more satisfying it will feel when you can catch some of those pesky errors for yourself!

So if you were unfortunate enough to miss the lesson in school on basic proofreading techniques or are just looking for a  quick review, here are five tried and true ones to get you started.

  1. Be sure to use Spell Check and Grammar Check (or similar programs) but do not rely solely on them. Neither one can read your mind and know what you really wanted to say. Spell Check, for example, will not flag a word like “defiantly,” even though you meant “definitely.” Grammar Check is still not sophisticated enough — and may never be — to cover every possible variation in sentence structure and punctuation available in English.
  2. Don’t proofread immediately after you finish writing something. Put it away for at least an hour, and then come back to it with a clear mind and fresh eyes.
  3. Proofread for only one error at a time. It seems redundant but will help you focus on finding just those words that need apostrophes (or not!) or on searching out all those places where there are missing words and/or word endings.
  4. Use a ruler or your finger to slow down your eye so that you see exactly what is on the page and not what you know should be there.
  5. Read your paper out loud to yourself, again reading only what’s actually on the page. This technique is especially helpful for finding awkward or missing wording or incomplete sentence structure. If it doesn’t sound right to you, then it’s definitely not going to make sense to your reader!

These five techniques have proved to be helpful to other writers who struggle with finding their own pesky errors. Hopefully, they’ll prove helpful to you! But practice makes perfect, so stay tuned.

For the next several weeks, I’ll be posting short proofreading exercises for those who want to test their own ability to find errors in word usage, apostrophes, and sentence punctuation.

Join the fun!

 

Spelling Tip #3: Space or No Space?

15 Monday Feb 2016

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DictionaryBelieve it or not, a space between two words can make a huge difference! No, I’m not talking about life and death issues, but deciding whether or not to use a space can make a real difference in the meaning of what you are trying to communicate.

Here is one real-life example of what I mean: A) The boys were playing along while in the snow.  B) The boys were playing a long while in the snow.

In this case, the meaning of the first sentence is that the boys were going along with whatever was happening and the activity happened to be in the snow. The meaning of the second sentence is that the boys were out playing in the snow for a considerable time. Just one little space –a blank –can change the meaning of a sentence!

In other cases of space or no space, you must choose the right one for the right situation. Here are some more real-life examples:

A) The suspect went into his house at 11 p.m.  B) The suspect went in to find his gun.

A) Sometime last night, the gas station was robbed.  B) That station had been targeted for quite some time.

A) There is always someone willing to help.  B) All ways to solve the problem will be accepted.

Then there are those words that are simply spelled wrong quite frequently. One that makes me see red is the misspelling of “nowadays” as “now days,” and that just doesn’t work! One that I have more tolerance for is “a lot” spelled as one word, “alot.” It is a common error, but still considered an error. Even auto-correct will catch that one.

A similar error is spelling “all right” as “alright.” But in this case, the one-word spelling remains in common and acceptable use. Figure that one out! The explanation in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (www.merriam-webster.com) may shed a little light: “The one-word spelling alright appeared some 75 years after all right itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted alright is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than all right but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing.”

So there you have it! Those little spaces between some words are important. Be sure to pay attention to them when you proofread.

If you’d like to share similar examples, feel free to post them in a comment!

 

Spelling Tip #2: 3 for the price of 1

01 Monday Feb 2016

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possessive pronouns      Our English spelling system is so confusing! Rules are hard to come by, and even if one works in most situations, there are always exceptions you have to remember.

Here is a rule that always works, with no exceptions! And it will take care of three different common errors all in one fell swoop. Three for the price of one — now that’s a bargain worth remembering!

This is the rule: There is never an apostrophe in any of the possessive pronouns.

What are the possessive pronouns, you ask? They are listed in the little box above, but in case you can’t read them, here they are again: her, his, your, their, our, its, my. 

Now, I’m sure you’re never tempted to put an apostrophe in his, even though the word ends in -s. Its, however, is a different story because not only does it end in -s, there is also a word spelled it’s.

And it gets worse. Your doesn’t end in -s, but what about the word you’re? And their doesn’t end in -s either, but what about the word they’re?*

All three of these confusing sets of words can be explained the same way — and hopefully remembered the same way. If you read my earlier post on apostrophes, you’ll remember that there are two absolutely different uses of that punctuation mark: to show possession and to show contraction.

The rule above takes care of the apostrophe for possession: There is never an apostrophe in any of the possessive pronouns.

So the apostrophe in words like it’s, you’re, and they’re must be the second use: to show contraction. And that can be tested out in the following sample sentences.

It’s (it is) going to be a great day!

If you’re (you are) planning to go on the field trip, you need to let Mr. Smith know.

They’re (they are) right on schedule to finish the project by the deadline.

So here is the easy solution to remember: If you want to say it is, you are, or they are, use the pronoun with the apostrophe. If you don’t, then use the other form without the apostrophe. 

Mother’s garden was known for its brilliant colors in the fall.

I can tell that your interests lie elsewhere.

Their flight was cancelled due to the snowstorm.

Voila! Three for the price of one! And that’s a real bargain in our rule-confused English spelling system.

______________

*Unfortunately, there’s also a third form (there) for this word that doesn’t fit the pattern. But it’s easily disposed of. Use there any place where you don’t want a possessive (their) or a contraction (they’re).

There were many reasons for the delay in shipment.

I won’t go there unless I have to.

They’re (contraction) going to arrive there before their (possessive) luggage does.

 

Helpful Spelling Tip #1

11 Monday Jan 2016

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Spelling

There are many reasons why our English spelling system is confusing. With the advent of the printing press back in 1440, spelling became much more uniform. Dictionaries emerged to further solidify the correct spelling of words. Then over time, pronunciations of some words shifted, but the spelling remained the same. Our habit of borrowing words from other languages and then changing them – or not – to fit our spelling and pronunciation systems has made the whole affair even messier. So we are stuck in the mire of our own making, and the only solution is to don waders and muck our way through.

Spell Check isn’t smart enough to catch these vagaries, so one way to remember some of the inconsistencies is to group words with similar spellings and/or pronunciations and just outright memorize them.

Here is Helpful Spelling Tip #1 to get you started.

Many people confuse the words loose and lose, and for good reason. The word loose is spelled like the word choose, so the temptation is to use loose as you would use choose, as in I don’t want to loose my iPad.

Unfortunately, even though the spellings are similar, in this case the pronunciations are different. In choose, the -s sounds like -z; in loose, the -s sounds like -s. So the above sentence should read I don’t want to lose my iPad.

One way to remember this pronunciation difference is to pair loose with goose, and pair lose with booze. That might result in a nonsense sentence like The loose goose will lose its booze.

Or if you’re more comfortable memorizing the three verb forms, you could start muttering in your sleep every night: choose, chose, chosen and lose, lost, lost.

Other than these tips, I’m afraid I’ve exhausted my imagination. If you have found other ways to keep loose and lose/choose and chose straight in your mind, please feel free to share.

Punctuation with Dialogue

14 Monday Dec 2015

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closed-quotations[1]

Writing strong, believable dialogue is a skill all writers of stories need to master. But even the most skillfully penned dialogue can miss its mark or confuse the reader if it’s not punctuated correctly.

Where do the quotation marks go? Should that be a comma or a period?  Let’s take these questions one at a time and see how easy it is to master a few simple guidelines.

Placement of quotation marks:

Quotation marks enclose a speaker’s actual words. They are not used when the words are indirect or when people are thinking to themselves.

Examples: My mother said, “I’m always the last one to know.”                                         My mother said that she was always the last one to know.                 My mother thought, Now that’s a fine predicament I’ve gotten myself into.

Also, be sure there is no space between the quotation mark and the first or last word of the quote.

 

Punctuation with quotation marks:

General Rule #1 – Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks.

Examples: “Dr. Kim is sure Sally will make a full recovery,” said Bill.                             Bill said, “Dr. Kim is sure Sally will make a full recovery.”

General Rule #2 – A comma is needed right before or right after the tag (identification of the speaker). See the examples above for placement of the comma.

General Rule #3 – If the tag comes in the middle of a quotation, then use a comma when the sentence continues. Use a period and a capital letter when the first sentence is followed by a second sentence.

Examples: “Once she regains consciousness,” Bill stated, “you’ll be                               able to talk to her.”

                          “She’s looking better today,” said Bill. “The medication                               must be taking effect.”

These are the basics of correctly punctuating dialogue. Be consistent applying these tips and you’ll eliminate most, if not all of your problems. To easily check for consistency in your manuscript, use the search tool in your Word program and search for all examples of quotation marks. Then correct the ones that are inconsistent with these guidelines.

I’ll be happy to field questions or hear from anyone who has other tips to share! And if you’d rather not worry about details like this and are looking for a reliable editor/proofreader, check out my home page for more information about Finished Right.