Tag Archives: English grammar

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!

 

Affect vs. Effect

23 Monday Nov 2015

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AFFECT vs. EFFECT

These two words are so close in spelling and pronunciation, it’s no wonder people get them confused. The easiest way to keep them straight is to remember this little mantra: Use affect when you are describing an action (verb); use effect when you are naming something (noun).

Examples: The weather always affects the attendance at my son’s soccer games. (influences)

                      My mother affected agreement even though she disapproved of my decision. (pretended)

                       Lacy’s accident had an immediate effect on the mood of the party. (outcome, result)

                        Lacy’s tears were purely for effect. (distinctive impression)

If that were the whole story, it wouldn’t be so hard to keep them separate, would it? Unfortunately, there’s more. Affect can sometimes be used as a noun, while effect can sometimes be used as a verb. Isn’t English fun?

Thankfully, affect is used as a noun only in the context of psychology, and the accent is on the first syllable rather than the second. It refers to the display of emotion or mood. Example: Jason displayed no affect when he was confronted with the murder weapon.

Effect as a verb means to make something happen, to cause to come into being, or to put into operation. Example: The goal of the demonstration had been to effect a major change in campus politics.

Using effect as the verb instead of affect will change the meaning of the entire sentence, so tread lightly here!

          The adverse publicity affected the election of Mr. Jones. (Mr. Jones may or may not have been elected.)

          The adverse publicity effected the election of Mr. Jones. (Mr. Jones was elected.)

     Explanation: The verb affect denotes having an effect or influence. The verb effect goes beyond mere influence and refers to actual achievement of a final result.

If you’ve followed this far, good for you! Now you can confidently use affect and effect correctly in every situation. If you’re still a little confused, just remember the first two examples at the top and you’ll probably be correct 99% of the time.

Comma or No Comma – Part I

02 Monday Nov 2015

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Commas       Commas — the stuff of nightmares? Well, maybe not, but that simple punctuation mark is the most confusing one in English because it has so many different uses. And the uses keep changing over time.

With that said, I’m going to limit this post to a discussion of only one use — the comma with “and.” Even that can be a little confusing because the conjunction “and” can be used to connect everything from items in a grocery list to events in a child’s day.

Let’s get down to specifics. When “and” is used to connect two complete sentences, there is usually a comma before the “and” (never after). Example: The students had to work together on the project in groups of three, and each group had to decide what part of the project to work on.

However — and here comes an exception — when the sentences are short, the comma is often optional. Example: The freshmen are scheduled for orientation on Monday and the sophomores are scheduled for Tuesday. Didn’t I warn you that commas are confusing?

Style books even disagree as to when a comma is optional or not. Take the case of what is referred to as the Oxford comma. That’s a fancy name for the comma used before the “and” in a list. Example: The scientists collected the specimens, cataloged them, and planned their research. The comma after “them” is the Oxford comma. A grammar book from the 1980s described the use of this comma as “old-fashioned.”

Other grammarians have been quick to point out, however, cases in which omitting that final comma in a series sometimes leads to misunderstandings. Here is a humorous example: The young reporter interviewed the senator’s rivals, a prostitute and a bank robber. No problem getting elected with rivals like that! But not all examples are humorous. In this sentence, using or omitting that Oxford comma may make a difference in what kind of treatment a patient receives: The patient needs to be scheduled for physical therapy, massage and whirlpool. Is the patient to receive three different therapies or only two? Since there is a possibility of misunderstanding, I would suggest always using that last comma in a series, just to be safe.

Finally, there is one place you should never use a comma, and that is when the “and” is connecting only two items. Example: That senator supported reproductive rights and gay marriage. The two items can also be longer. Example: My dog ran away one night and didn’t return for a week. If there are only two items and there is not a complete thought on either side of the “and,” then a comma is not needed.

Hopefully, this little discussion helps boost your confidence in using a comma with “and” — or not. If you still have questions, feel free to comment. And stay tuned for more posts about that crazy squiggle called a comma!

The He/She Dilemma, Part II

12 Monday Oct 2015

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It’s all Betty Friedan’s fault. Around the 18th century, grammarians decided that since indefinite pronouns like “everyone,” “someone,” each,” and gender neutral nouns like “person,” “friend,” and “student” used singular verbs, the pronouns following them should also be singular. The fact that English doesn’t have any gender-neutral third person singular pronouns didn’t bother them. All the grammarians were men, as were all the important people in society, so their obvious choice was to use the masculine forms to refer to both men and women. Many of us “older folk” grew up with teachers who pounded that pattern into our heads and never gave it another thought.

Then along came the women’s movement of the 1960s, fueled by Betty Friedan’s book The Feminine Mystique, and demonstrations — lots of them — demanding equal status for women in American society. English language users caved to the pressure. It was no longer politically correct to use he, him, and his to refer to both men and women. But what could be used instead? Aye, there’s the rub!

Various options began to emerge. One was to use a combined form, he or she (sometimes written he/she or s/he). Example: The instructor spent many hours each week planning his or her classes. Another option was to rewrite the sentence using all plural words. Example: The instructors spent many hours each week planning their classes. Other English users decided to resurrect a structure from the 16th century that ignored the mismatch of singular with plural. Example: The instructor spent many hours each week planning their classes.

A final option I’ve seen occasionally involves using he, his, and him alternately with she and her –sometimes within the same document — in order to give both sexes equal consideration.

My answer to the dilemma is to use whatever form you’re most comfortable with. Over time, one option may emerge as the dominant one or several choices may prevail. Language, after all, is the creation of the people who use it. As long as it remains stable enough to communicate ideas, feelings, and dreams clearly, English will continue to reflect the norms of the society that uses it and will evolve as needed.

Comments are welcome!

For a further discussion of this issue, go to http://www.blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2012/06/he-or-she-versus-they/

The He/She Dilemma

10 Saturday Oct 2015

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Okay, all you English teachers and writers, here’s a topic that will create instant mayhem! If you were writing the following sentence, what pronoun would you put in the blank:

The manager of a fast-food restaurant should always be aware of ___________ responsibility to provide a pleasant environment for the customers. The choices are     (a) his, (b) her, (c) his or her, (d) their.

I’m testing the waters here to see if there’s any agreement and look forward to your responses. It will also be helpful if you comment briefly about why you chose your answer.

Stay tuned for more explanation as to how we — and the English language — got into such a quandary.