TA Tips: Grammar

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TA TipsGrammar Style Notes

• J202 Spring 2005

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Punctuation Comma

• use to separate items in a series, except before
  and or or
• I ate the chips, pretzels and nachos.
• use between coordinate adjectives
• People with huge, boisterous egos annoy me.
• use to set off a nonrestrictive element
• My husband, Scott, folded the laundry.
• My son Pete created most of the laundry.

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Punctuation Comma

• use after an introductory phrase
• When I was a younger, things were less costly.
• use to set off parenthetical expressions
• Beer, for example, was much cheaper.
• use after a conjunctive adverb
• I liked microbrews however, they were too
  expensive.

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Punctuation Comma

• use to set off direct address
• Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?
• use to set off year in a date
• I bought the car Aug. 18, 1999.
• use to set off elements of an address
• I lived at 3964 N. Stowell Ave., Shorewood
• use to set off title appearing after a name
• Mary Martin, director of the center, spoke.

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Punctuation Apostrophe

• use with the last noun only to show joint
  possession
• I heard about Bill and Teds excellent adventure.
• Johns and Jims approaches varied.
• do not use to make numbers plural
• The 1980s were the years of greed.

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Punctuation Quotations

• use quote marks to enclose only direct quotations
• Culver said, Use quote marks.
• use single quote marks to enclose a quote within
  a quote
• Michaels said, I loved it when Warner said, Im
  going to Disneyland!
• use comma to set off speaker
• I need a raise, Cheney said.

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Punctuation Quotations

• periods and commas always go inside the quote
  marks
• He said, Use your money wisely.
• question marks and exclamation points go where
  the quote demands
• My son asked, Mommy, can we sled?
• Can you call what I was doing sledding?

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Style Notes

• spell out numbers nine and under use numerals
  for 10 and up
• I had five tickets before I turned 17.
• abbreviate Street, Avenue, etc., when part of an
  actual address
• I lived at 3964 N. Stowell Ave.
• I grew up on Stowell Avenue.

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Style Notes

• use AP abbreviations for state names
• Jesse Ventura lives in St. Paul, Minn.
• try to use the construction X said instead of
  said X
• avoid excessive use of that
• Wrong He said that Im a flirt.
• use numerals in ages
• Billy Gilman, the annoying 13-year-old singer,
  appeared on the Today show.

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Style Notes

• name of day rather than yesterday, today or
  tomorrow
• one space after a period, not two
• capitalize title if it appears before name
• J-School Director Sharon Dunwoody came.
• Sharon Dunwoody, director of the school, came.

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Style Notes

• spell out the name of a month standing alone
  abbreviate if part of a date
• Our class began in January 2004.
• Our class began Jan. 21.
• spell out United States as a noun
• He came to the United States in a boat.
• He asked the U.S. government for asylum.