. . . . . . . . Copyright, Terry Gibson, BA, MEd
.
Be Grammar-Confident
Leisurely Crash Course in Written English
An oxymoron of course.
.
Welcome to Course A
*
Part One
Grefs
Reference-reading Lessons
Assignments based on Reading A1a A1b
Focus on punctuation? Find REF
Punctuation Assignment A1aa .A
.
. . . . . . . . . .The set of eight PARTS is a rich source, . .
. . ["of 8 parts" is an adjective phrase describing "set"]
. . all about paragraphs, and punctuation, quotations, . . . . . dialogue, story links and bridges, fun with rhythm. . . . . . . a .relatively easy course ending with comedy.
. . . . . Numbers 1 to 3 are introductory, 4 to 6 go from . . . . . . intermediate to advanced, 7and 8 into high school. .. .
. . . . . . . . . . Gently, so you'll hardly notice !
Introduction FORMS
Self-test under constructionClick to Move Within This Course
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
A6
A7
A8
Active when bright
Click to Find Other Courses
Swan's Practical English Usage, published by Oxford is the 1995 text that serves as reference. It is recent but will be replaced within
the next few years as we get more and more muddled.
. . . . . .Both British and American Forms are updated. e.g. dialog, US
.
Just to start on the same page: Paragraphs
. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . .GrefsA paragraph may be a single sentence, or a group of related
sentences where all belong together for the same purpose.In formal poetry, stanzas (verses) have a similar function.
What is a sentence?
A sentence has a complete thought, having at least a subject and a verb. The subject can be a noun or pronoun, or a group of words telling what it is about, and the verb (bare predicate) often is an action word telling what it does. [More later.]So, what is a subject, a noun, a pronoun, a verb?
Stay tuned for examples. Or if impatient, see a dictionary!
.
These pages are the explanations I would have given
if I were able to sit beside you, answering questions.
(That is a use of the subjunctive verb, because of course, it has to be a virtual visit! ) From time to time,
a message such as this may ask if it is confusing yet. --Terry
.
.
What follows is an example of "block" paragraphing. It is used in
formal reports and technical writing.
It has a blank line between paragraphs but not between lines within the paragraph.
Below, the punctuation is red and enlarged to make it obvious. Repeat, each paragraph is single-spaced.
(Note, Fiction uses indented paragraphs.).
.
. . . . 1. . . .
To someone on a boat, it looked like two couples on the patio watching the gulls on a warm and sunny afternoon, in quiet conversation over drinks. Not an ordinary patio, this one was part of the glass-walled offices of the major employer in East Bay, a town of less than five thousand. Neither were they two couples. .It was a staff meeting, a secret one but for NorEl, of extreme importance even so..
Note a hyphen, six commas and four periods above.
.
. . . . 2
Sonya Fischer, as secretary to the President, had brought irregularities to the attention of Harry Newcomb who in turn, suggested that Carlo Palmer ask his secretary Dina Mitchell to join them. On the surface, not an earth-shaking event. To these four, they were staring at catastrophe.
Note a hyphen, four commas and three periods. In green, there is a sentence fragment with [it was] understood.
.
. . . . 3
"So many setbacks have already impacted the status quo," Harry summed up. In the unbalanced budget they had already established it as a recent problem.
Note the quotation marks [Q-marks hereafter] or followed by a comma if the comment is followed by the speaker.
Note also, there is a double space after the period, single after the comma.
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Grefs
The Comma, Period, Ellipsis
You should have seen the use of comma, sometimes to separate phrases, or in a longer sentence, to permit taking a breath when reading aloud. In a quotation, use a comma if followed by the speaker.
.
Commas should also have real reason to be used, to clarify meaning. It is important to avoid overuse. Some may easily be replaced with period and a capital, but that can result in choppy form.....The ellipsis ( ... ) says there is more we could have said.
.
.
(in 3) 'In the unbalanced budget they had already established....'
Note it is not needed after 'budget.' Can you read through it smoothly? Note the four dots, a use of an ellipsis, more not said.
.
(in2) A sentence fragment with its [subject and verb 'understood,']
is permitted when the meaning is clear. On the surface, [ it was ] not an earth-shaking event. (More later on hyphens)
.
And (in 3), in "So many setbacks have already impacted the status quo," Harry summed up. We see the use of quotation marks.
"We hear only what is between Q-marks.".
. . . . . (in 2) The little line is the hyphen, 'offices,' and 'event' are NOUNS
glass-walled offices
earth-shaking event
A hyphen is needed
when two related .words
describe the same noun..In 'earth-shaking event' it is not an earth event, or a shaking event, The event is earth-shaking.
They are not glass offices, not walled offices,
but glass-walled offices.
.
.
I avoid rules, preferring to show rather than tell, using examples wherever possible. Yet-- perhaps attention can
be directed? --Terry
.
.. . . . . .
.Every game has its rules. PARAGRAPHS do too.
paragraph 1, New topic: introduces what, where, and who. All belong together in the same paragraph..
paragraph 2, New topic: introduces four characters, and why they are there.
paragraph 3, New speaker: Harry speaks. The reason why belongs
in the same paragraph.
---------------- .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .
.
. .REF: PUNCTUATION in DIALOGUE
. . . .The Question mark? The Exclamation mark!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GrefsHOW DIALOGUE PUNCTUATION WORKS (Dialog, US)
Paragraphs in dialog are often quite short. Indented here.
(When only two are speaking, and no confusion is likely, they need not always be identified.)
[Note the comma within quotation marks. ! and ? are inside too.]
... ...His impatience was plain: "Aren't you ready yet?"
... ..."I hear you," she muttered.
......"No way! Move it."
......I wish it weren't so, she thought.
...Note: a thought is not quoted.
...The ". . . ," Q-marks contain all other punctuation.
.........Indented means moved at least 5 spaces in from the ...margin. Other than the first line of each paragraph, .all other ...lines start as usual at the margin. ( dent = .tooth, bitten out, ...in html, background colour.)
......Check out any published novel; there is no blank line ...between paragraphs. (In html, hold Shift, then Enter to get a ...single space. Enter alone gives a double space.)
.( If in doubt whether to use a ? or an ! choose
according to emotion:
? if it doesn't matter much, but ! if it does! )
.
PARAGRAPHING DIALOGUE (dialog in US)
paragraph 4 has a change of speaker: Sonya. (Short but complete)
paragraph 5 has a change of speaker: Dina. It also describes the speaker's position which leads to the rest of what she says.speaker's has an apostrophe to show ownership.
.. . .. . . . .. . . .
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .Grefs
[NOTE the paragraphing: Indented paragraphing, used in almost
all fiction, stories, novels, and in newspaper reports and articles.]
This is one use of "square" brackets: EDITORIAL COMMENT.
The colon ( : ) tells that an explanation follows. (or a list.).
.
. . . . 4
......."We never ran into this while Gwen was with us," Sonya said. Harry had been the last to speak. Now it is Sonya. New paragraph.
.
.. . . . 5
....... "Exactly," Dina agreed. As a long-term employee, Dina had seen people come and go. "Gwen Green was on top of everything that went on here; nothing and nobody could get past her high standards."
The speaker did not change so it all fits in the same paragraph.
Also, it prevents "orphan speeches," where it would be confusing not to know who is speaking.
.
.
paragraph 6 has a change of speaker: a comment by Carlo, giving us a hint of his personality. NOTE the use of commas to set off the speaker. Also, check out the apostrophes in it's, meaning it is, and we've, we have.
paragraph 7 has a change of speaker: a long explanation by Sonya. We see why their fears for Gwen are particularly hard on Sonya.
paragraph 8 has a change of speaker: Harry's warm relationship with his employees is clear. We have already found that there is a good reason why top executives in the company are on easy first-name terms.
[ Not first terms, not name terms, it was first-name terms. ]
.
. . . . 6 .......
. . . . "I guess it's human nature," Carlo sadly said, "to appreciate people after we've lost them."
. . . . 7
....... "We loved her even before." Sonya surrepticiously caught a tear. "I have been needing to say some things for weeks now. Gwen was my mentor when I first joined you here; she made me welcome. She showed me the personal skills that create teams working together. You remember I was just a file clerk when I started, but she showed how to help others do their jobs when needed. I am sure that I would not have been promoted out of the secretarial pool without knowing that."
.. . . . 8
....... Harry smiled. "Best decision we ever made."
.
.
We can learn from a part of a manuscript. Here we have two main things, how to avoid repeating 'he asked, she said, they demanded' with another way to show who speaks.
The other, although a smile can speak of happiness and agreement, the understanding is silent. No Q-marks!
--Terry
.
.6:
Note the placement of 'he said' into the middle of the quotation. Note also, use of an apostrophe to replace a letter in it's, [it is].
.7: Theatrical script writers call it 'business' when a character does something. Here catching a tear identifies the speaker.
.8:
Never assume that smiling and speaking are the same thing.
Harry smiled. "Best decision we ever made."
[NOTE especially, the period after smiled. He smiled.
"Smiling, he said,..." would be correct too with a slight change in meaning.].
.. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Grefs
Brackets] and (parentheses)
[An insertion such as this one to tell some of the "RULES" is one use of "square" brackets. Brackets are often used by editors for their comments.(This also shows another use of quotation marks to draw attention to "square.") The closing bracket closes the whole thing. ]
Brackets can enclose parentheses.
Parentheses never contain brackets.
.
.
. .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . . For credit, please submit
. . . .. . . . .. . to AP Class directly, IM DeeCrepit, or E-mail for feedback,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Back to Top for Links, onward to Part A2
Course --2 will be by request . . . . . . . . .. . Copyright: Tiled wallpaper drawn by Terry Gibson 1996