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Grammar Lecture

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The dog that had three ... Punctuating List Items with Internal Commas. First, let me show you what ... Wrong! ' The three causes of the problem are' is not a ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Grammar Lecture


1
Grammar Lecture
2
Spectrum of Punctuation
Weakest
Strongest
, . !
3
Thumb Rule (AKA That vs. Which)
  • Hang in with me here.
  • That and which are used to introduce phrases.
  • There are two kinds of phrases you need to know
    about. See the next slide.

4
Restrictive Phrases
  • A restrictive phrase restricts the meaning of the
    sentence it is a part of. These never have
    commas.
  • The dog that had three legs won the race.
  • Had three legs restricts the meaning of dog to
    one very specific dog.

5
Non-restrictive Phrases
  • Non-restrictive phrases provide information that
    is nice to have, but dont fundamentally change
    the meaning of the sentence. They are surrounded
    by commas.
  • Ex The dog, which had the long coat, won the
    race.

6
Choosing That vs. Which
  • As you may have noticed from the examples
  • That begins restrictive phrases.
  • Which begins non-restrictive phrases.

7
How do I tell the difference?
  • Restrictive phrases provide information that is
    vital to the sentence. Non-restrictive phrases
    provide info that is nice to have, but not
    necessary.
  • To tell the difference, use

8
Eatons Thumb Rule
  • Stick your thumb over the phrase you wonder
    about.
  • If the sentence is fundamentally different, the
    phrase is restrictive. Begin the phrase with
    that.
  • If the sentence is pretty much the same, but
    missing some descriptive info, its
    non-restrictive. Begin the phrase with which and
    put commas around it.

9
Lets try it.
  • The sound system ____ had purple speakers blasted
    music through the fraternity party.
  • The sound system ____had 2000 Watt speakers
    blasted music through the fraternity party.

10
The Serial Comma
  • Also known as the Oxford or Harvard Comma

11
Lists
  • There are two grammatically correct ways to
    punctuate lists in sentences.
  • The items are a, b, and c.
  • or
  • The items are a, b and c.

12
Id argue that one is superior.
  • How many departments are in this sentence?
  • Weve received budgets from Finance, Sales,
    Public Relations, Research and Development.

13
If you always use a, b, and c . .
  • theres no ambiguity.
  • Weve received budgets from Finance, Sales,
    Public Relations, Research, and Development.

14
The Semicolon
15
The Semi-Colon
  • Two ways to use this one.
  • To combine sentences.
  • To separate items with internal commas in a list.

16
To combine sentences using a semi-colon
  • Rules
  • The statements on both sides of the semi-colon
    must be independent clauses (sentences).
  • The second statement is not capitalized.

17
Suggestion 1 for using a semi-colon.
  • Generally, you want both sentences to be of equal
    weightessentially, they should be the
    approximately the same length.
  • Joe Shmoe is a junior taking five classes and
    majoring in technical communication at Texas Tech
    in Lubbock, Texas he likes it.

18
Suggestion 2 for using a semi-colon.
  • Also, the second sentence should be related to
    the first.
  • Joe Schmoe is a student at Texas Tech University
    Dr. Eaton has a puppy.

19
So, to change the rhythm of a paragraph
  • You can combine sentences with a semi-colon if
    you follow the previous rules.
  • Ex The instructor tailored the lecture to fit
    the skills of her new students because it was
    late, she had trouble thinking of interesting
    examples.

20
Punctuating List Items with Internal Commas
  • First, let me show you what Im talking about.

21
How many people are in this sentence?
  • Jeff Laster, the CEO, Shukriye Khamin, the head
    of IT, An Jingle, and the VP of Sales were in the
    meeting.

22
Could be 4, could be 6.
  • Jeff Laster, the CEO Shukriye Khamin, the head
    of IT An Jingle and the VP of Sales were in the
    meeting.
  • Jeff Laster the CEO Shukriye Khamin the head
    of IT An Jingle and the VP of Sales were in the
    meeting.

23
When to Use the Semi-colon
  • So, instead of commas, use a semi-colon when list
    items have internal commas.
  • The only rule is that once you being using
    semi-colons to separate items, they ALL must be
    separated by semi-colonseven if they dont have
    an internal comma.

24
Lets look at that again.
  • Jeff Laster the CEO Shukriye Khamin, the head
    of IT An Jingle and the VP of Sales were in the
    meeting.

25
The Colon
  • Introduces lists or interesting sections within a
    sentence.
  • Three topics will be discussed the colon, the
    semicolon, and the restrictive phrase.

26
Most important rule
  • What comes before the colon has to be a complete
    sentence (an independent clause).

27
Practice of Major Rule
  • The three causes of the problem are high student
    enrollments, lack of parking spaces, and lack of
    time between class periods.

28
Major Rule
  • The three causes of the problem are high student
    enrollments, lack of parking spaces, and lack of
    time between class periods.
  • Wrong! The three causes of the problem are is
    not a complete sentence.

29
Examplecorrect or not?
  • After graduation, I will move to San Antonio,
    New York, or San Francisco.

30
Example of the rule in use
  • After graduation, I will move to San Antonio,
    New York, or San Francisco.
  • Wrong! After graduation, I will move to is not
    a complete sentence.

31
Neat Use
  • You can have an entire sentence after a colon.
  • Any organization is confronted with two separate,
    though related, information problems It must
    maintain an effective internal communication
    system, and it must see that an effective
    external communication system is maintained.

32
  • With full sentences after colons, capitalize the
    first letter if the sentence is formal or
    complete.
  • If the item after the colon is not a full
    sentence or very formal, use lower case.

33
Neat Use
  • Introduce quotations
  • My grandfather had a favorite saying Money is
    always the right color and it always fits.
  • Introduce small elements for impact
  • There is only one thing that will satisfy Mr.
    Sturgess our finished report.

34
  • If the list after the colon is numbered,
    bulleted, or formatted separately, you can skip
    the complete sentence before the colon.

Corporations that manufacture computers
include Apple Dell IBM Micron Compaq Ga
teway
35
Practice
  • Now, please write me an example of
  • A restrictive and non-restrictive element
  • The serial comma
  • the two uses of a semicolon
  • A colon
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