Transcript LIES - Jenksps.org

L.I.E.S.
Comma Usage
Simple and Expanded
Simple:
L
I
E
S
: LISTS:
Place a comma between the items in a series.
(The comma before the final item in a series is optional, but more formal.)
:INTRODUCTIONS:
Place a comma before elements that precede the subject.
:EXTRA INFORMATION:
Divide extra (non-essential) information of all kinds with a comma on
each side of the extra information.
:SENTENCES:
Divide independent clauses (sentences) with a comma and a conjunction.
L : LISTS
Expanded:
• Use commas to separate individual words,
phrases, or clauses in a series (at least three).
–
–
–
–
I love eating meat, vegetables, and a salad.
I love eating a full meal: meat, vegetables, and salad.
I love eating a full meal: meat, vegetables and salad.
I love eating a full meal: meat, vegetables, salad.
• Use commas to separate coordinate adjectives
that equally modify the same noun.
– Mattie was tired of working in the hot, smelly kitchen
and decided to take her usual morning walk.
Test: smelly and hot (yes) morning and usual (no)
I: Introductions
Expanded
• After an introductory participial phrase.
– Determined to finish the sweater by Thanksgiving, my
grandmother knits night and day.
• After an introductory prepositional phrase
longer than 3-5 words.
– In the oddest places, my son can find interesting rocks.
• After an introductory adverb clause.
– After the practice was over, Tina walked home.
• After an interjection or a weak exclamation.
– Hey, what are you doing?
Expanded
E: EXTRA INFORMATION
• To separate parenthetical/contrasted elements
– Ally stepped into class, late as usual, and sat down.
• To enclose explanatory words
– They stood together, clear of the window, and talked.
• To set off appositives
– Benson, our enthusiastic terrier, tore up my homework.
• To set off nonrestrictive participial phrases and clauses.
– The aquarium, which was built last year, is busy every day.
(clause)
– Students, trying to raise their ACT score, came to the workshop.
(phrase)
• To set off an adverb clause that begins with although, even
though, while or another conjunction expressing a contrast.
– Tina walked home, even though it was raining very hard.
S: SENTENCES
Expanded
• Between two independent clauses that are
joined by a coordinating conjunction:
FANBOYS: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
– I wanted to come, but I lost my ticket.
• To set off dialogue
– “I love this English class,” exclaimed Brandon.
• To set off a noun of direct address
– “But, Mr. Johnson, we can go back there again.”
• To set off interruptions
– For me, well, it’s just a good reason.
Comma rules not included in the
L.I.E.S.
• To set off dates
– He began working on December 1, 2000, but quit by
May 1, 2001.
• To set off items in addresses
– Mail the box to Friends of Wildlife, Box 402, Spokane,
Washington 20077.
• In numbers
– 1,101 25,000
• To Enclose titles or initials
– Until Martin Luther King, Sr., was 15, he never had
much schooling.
Why use commas?
• Use commas to avoid word collision that results in
confusion.
• Use Commas to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n a sentence.
• Eliminate commas to SPEED UP a sentence.
• Unnecessary commas hurt comprehension.
from: The Grapes of Wrath
Sentence
List
Sentence-L
ist
Extra
Information
List
And then the leaves break out on the trees, and the petals
drop from the fruit trees and carpet the earth with pink
and white.
The centers of the blossoms swell and grow and color:
cherries and apples, peaches and pears, figs which close
the flower in the fruit.
All California quickens with produce, and the fruit grows
heavy, and the limbs bend gradually under the fruit so that
little crutches must be placed under them to support the
weight.
Behind the fruitfulness are men of understanding and
knowledge and skill, men who experiment with seed,
endlessly developing the techniques for greater crops of
plants whose roots will resist the million enemies of the
earth: the molds, the insects, the rusts, the blights.
When you compose: be able to justify each comma as one of the following:
L
I
E
S
: LISTS:
Place a comma between the items in a series.
(The comma before the final item in a series is optional, but more formal.)
:INTRODUCTIONS:
Place a comma before elements that precede the subject.
:EXTRA INFORMATION:
Divide extra (non-essential) information of all kinds with a comma on
each side of the extra information.
:SENTENCES:
Divide independent clauses (sentences) with a comma and a conjunction.