grammar final

A sentence fragment is missing

a subject, a predicate, or both. It is not a complete sentence.

A run-on sentence is

two or more sentences mashed together improperly

You can fix run-on sentences with a

period, with a comma and a fanboys conjunction, or with a subordinate clause.

A comma splice occurs when

two independent clauses are separated by only a comma.

Comma splices are fixed

the same way that run-on sentences are fixed.

Why is there no comma between Grammar and Final?

Because you can’t put and in between the two adjectives.

When should you put a comma in between adjectives that are back to back?

When you can put “and” in between and it sounds good.

The three ways to fix run-on sentences:

use a period to make separate sentences, use a comma and F.A.N.B.O.Y.S., or make a clause into a subordinate (dependent) clause.

In a series of three or more things,

we put a comma after each element except for the final one.

If the elements of a list contain a comma within at least one of the elements,

we use semicolons to separate the list elements.

Three main reasons to use a colon

• 1. To introduce a list

• 2. To introduce a quote

• 3. To introduce an explanation of a previously stated thing

A modifier (description) must be

directly next to the thing it is describing.

A misplaced modifier occurs when

a description is NOT directly next to the thing it describes.

A dangling modifier occurs when

a description is present in the sentence, but the thing it is describing is not there.

With the exception of words that are always capitalized,

the first letter after a semicolon is NOT capitalized.

When using "F.A.N.B.O.Y.S."

the comma goes before the conjunction

Independent Clause

An independent clause can stand alone. It could be a completed sentence by itself.

A Dependent/Subordinate Clause

A subordinate (also called a dependent) clause must be added to another clause to make a complete sentence.

A Simple Sentence

A simple sentence contains a single independent clause.

A Compound Sentence

A compound sentence contains two or more independent clauses joined by "fanboys".

A Complex Sentence

A complex sentence consists of one independent clause and one or more subordinate (dependent) clauses.

A Compound-Complex Sentence

A compound-complex sentence consists of two or more independent clauses joined by "fanboys" and one or more subordinate (dependent) clauses.

A Declarative Sentence

A declarative sentence states an idea and ends with a period.

An Interogative Sentence

An clause asks a question and ends with a question mark.

An Imperative Sentence

An imperative sentence gives a command and ends with a period or an exclamation mark.

An Exclamatory Sentence

An sentence conveys strong emotions and ends with an exclamation mark.

A subject

A subject is the doer of an action.

A predicate

A predicate is the action. (it will always have a verb in it)

Parallelism

Parallelism is the principle that ideas should be expressed in similar ways (make sure you know the examples in your notes).

A vague pronoun

A pronoun occurs when the pronoun does not specify who exactly the subject is. This mistake commonly occurs with the word “you.” (make sure you know the examples in your notes).

An ambiguous pronoun

An pronoun occurs when two or more nouns are mentioned in a sentence and it is not clear which noun the pronoun is referring to. (make sure you know the examples in your notes).

A distant pronoun

A distant pronoun occurs when there are a lot of words between the noun and the pronoun, so the reader forgets who or what the pronoun refers to. (make sure you know the examples in your notes).