Transcript No Slide Title - University of Alberta

1. Misused Colon or Semicolon, 2. Missing or
Unnecessary Commas, 3. Faulty Parallelism,
4. Confusion over Restrictive and NonRestrictive Qualifiers, 5. Mixed
Constructions, 6. Wrong Pronoun Cases, 7.
Apostrophe Problems, 8. Tense Problems
Note
 The course textbook discusses these topics as well.
2
1. Misused Colon or Semicolon
 A colon separates a list from a preceding main clause.
 That is, a main clause must precede a colon.
 A colon, therefore, cannot follow a subordinate clause or
a phrase.
 The list itself may be any kind of clause or a phrase.
3
1. Misused Colon or Semicolon (continued)
 Main clause: list.
 Right E.g.: Alberta has three major cities:
Edmonton, Calgary, and Red Deer.
 Wrong E.g.: Alberta has three major cities,
including: Edmonton, Calgary, and Red Deer.
[the underlined portion is the beginning of a
phrase, thus the list now modifies (incorrectly) the
single word “including”]
4
1. Misused Colon or Semicolon (continued)
 P.S.: Colons are also used to separate a title from its
subtitle or to set off headings from the main text (such
as at the start of this sentence).
 E.g., Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on
National Themes
5
1. Misused Colon or Semicolon (continued)
• A semicolon has two functions: (1) a
connector for main clauses, (2)
“supercomma”
6
1. Misused Colon or Semicolon (continued)
• (1) A connector for main clauses.
• Use a semicolon when the relationship
between the two clauses is so close that you
think that a period is too abrupt a separator
between them.
• The connected independent clauses are
considered part of the same sentence.
• E.g.: Conjunctive adverbs are not
conjunctions; they function as adverbs.
7
1. Misused Colon or Semicolon (continued)
• (2) “Supercomma”. If you are listing a series of
clauses with embedded commas, use a
semicolon to separate the lists where in other
cases commas would have appeared.
• E.g.: The judges included Chief Justice
McLachlin, who is from Pincher Creek,
Alberta; Justice L’Heureux-Dubé, who tends
to side with the state; and Justice MacKay,
who was president of Dalhousie University.
8
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas
 Proper Uses
 (1) In a sentence, put a comma after an introductory
(beginning) phrase, word or subordinate (dependent)
clause.
 E.g.: To some people who observe a tattoo, this
can signify a form of self-pity or depravity.
 E.g.: Unfortunately, the latter is a much more
common reaction.
9
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 Some writing experts and grammarians say that
short introductory elements don’t need commas
after them.
 Nonetheless, it’s never wrong to put the comma in.
Furthermore, if you tend to forget to put commas in
with other kinds of introductory elements (where
long preposition phrases, subordinate clauses,
participial clauses), you should get into the habit of
always putting them in.
10
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (2) Use two commas to set off a “non-restrictive”
element (an element that is not required to identify the
noun its modifies) that appears in the middle of a
sentence.
 E.g.: Dogs, unlike cats, usually love to play in the
water.
 E.g.: Key West, where my brother lives, is
semitropical.
11
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (3) Use a comma to set off a “non-restrictive” element that
appears at the end of a sentence.
 However, if the main clause’s meaning sets up a condition that
the subordinate clause fulfills, do not separate them with a
comma.
 E.g.: I will go to the doctor, even though I am not sick. [the
underlined portion is the speaker’s comment about a
decision already made]
 E.g.: I will go to the doctor if you come with me. [the
underlined portion is restricting the circumstances under
which the first part of the sentence could happen]
12
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (4) Separate three or more items in a list, compound
subject or compound predicate when those items are
joined with a coordinate conjunction.
 In this case, a comma is optional before the
coordinating conjunction.
 E.g.: An easy route to these levels is to become a
professional athlete, model, or entertainer.
13
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (5) Put a comma in front of a coordinating
conjunction that connects main clauses.
 E.g.: She was a good student, and she was also a
good athlete.
14
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 Improper Uses
 (1) Commas by themselves cannot join main clauses.
(The resulting error is called a “comma splice.”)
 Wrong E.g.: She was a good student, she was also
a good athlete.
 A comma can join main clauses only with a
coordinating conjunction (see the previous slide).
15
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (2) A common error is the use of a conjunctive adverb (such
as however, therefore, nevertheless) to join main clauses, with
a comma before and after it.
 Note that a conjunctive adverb is not a coordinating
conjunction. Therefore, a conjunctive adverb cannot perform
this grammatical connecting function. It needs help from
other connecting punctuation (the period and the semicolon,
namely).
 Wrong E.g.: Much of the cathedral was completed in 1941,
however, the church’s two towers had not yet been built.
16
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 Right E.g.: Much of the cathedral was completed in 1941;
however, the church’s two towers had not yet been built.
 Tip: Like all adverbs, conjunctive adverbs can be moved to
different positions in a sentence without seriously affecting
meaning. (Conjunctions cannot be moved.)
 E.g.: The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour;
consequently, the U.S. entered the Second World War.
 E.g.: The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour; the U.S.,
consequently, entered the Second World War.
17
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (3) Do not use a comma to separate a subject from its
predicate.
 Wrong E.g.: Conjunctive adverbs, are easy to
distinguish from conjunctions.
18
2. Missing or Unnecessary Commas (continued)
 (4) Do not use a comma to separate items in a two-item list, two-
item compound subject, or two-item compound predicate.
 Wrong E.g: I like dogs, and cats. (compound object).
 Right E.g.: I like dogs and cats.
 Right E.g.: I like dogs, cats, and mice.
 Wrong E.g.: Mitch lives in Woodbridge, and works in
Toronto. (compound predicate)
 Right E.g.: Mitch lives in Woodbridge and works in Toronto.
19
3. Faulty Parallelism
 When a sentence has a compound subject,
compound predicate, or compound elements in the
predicate, be sure that each element has the same
grammatical structure as the other elements in its
grouping.
 “Faulty parallelism” means “an absence of
parallelism.”
20
3. Faulty Parallelism (continued)
 Parallelism is a function of word order (syntax).
 A reader will find a sentence with parallelism easier to
read than a sentence without parallelism.
 Faulty parallelism forces the reader to shift to a different
word pattern, which slows reading and can lead to lack of
clarity.
21
3. Faulty Parallelism (continued)
 Parallelism leads to concision.
 Faulty parallelism can cause grammar errors.
Note: The changes required to create parallelism in a
sentence may be subtle.
22
3. Faulty Parallelism (continued)
 Below are some common areas to watch for:
 (1) Verbs
 Right E.g.: The stew smells delicious and tastes
even better.
 Wrong E.g.: The stew smells delicious and I like
the taste.
23
3. Faulty Parallelism (continued)
 (2) Lists
 Wrong E.g.: I can’t decide which activity I like more: to
swim at the beach in July, when the sand is warm, or
jogging along country roads in October, when autumn
leaves are at their colourful best.
 Right E.g.: I can’t decide which activity I like more:
swimming at the beach in July, when the sand is warm,
or jogging along country roads in October, when the
autumn leaves are colourful.
24
3. Faulty Parallelism (continued)
 (3) Prepositions in lists
 Wrong E.g.: We asked for more popcorn, extra
chocolates, and for more peanuts.
 Right E.g.: We asked for more popcorn,
chocolates, and peanuts.
OR
We asked for more popcorn, for
more chocolates, and for more peanuts.
25
3. Faulty Parallelism (continued)
 (4) Correlative conjunctions (either/or, not only/but also)
 Each correlating section (underlined below) must have the
same syntax.
 Wrong E.g: Either they will stop overnight here or fly
straight home.
 Right E.g.: Either they will stop overnight here or they
will fly straight home.
 Right E.g.: They will either stop overnight here or fly
straight home.
26
4. Confusion over Restrictive and
Non-Restrictive Elements
 Restrictive and nonrestrictive elements are punctuated
differently. The confusion may lead to incorrect punctuation
and incorrect meaning.
27
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 Appositive phrases, relative clauses and participial
phrases are all considered “elements” in this
discussion.
 Recall that an appositive phrase is a phrase that
adds to the meaning of an adjacent noun. It can be
a noun phrase or participial phrase.
28
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 A relative clause is a subordinate clause that starts with the
relative pronouns “who,” “which,” “whom,” “whose” or “that”
and acts like an adjective, modifying the noun that precedes it.
(It is an “adjective clause.”)
 The preceding sentence has a relative clause (”that starts with….”).
 (See the “Parts of Speech” PowerPoint for more on relative
pronouns.)
29
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 A nonrestrictive (perhaps better called
“nonessential”) element is not vital to identifying
the exact identity of the noun it modifies, but
rather adds information that is useful to know.
 A nonrestrictive element is like a parenthetical
remark or aside.
30
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 E.g. 1: Jarome Iginla, a top NHL hockey player, plays
for the Calgary Flames. (appositive nonrestrictive
element)
 E.g. 2: Humans, who are diurnal, prefer to sleep at
night. (relative clause nonrestrictive element)
 E.g. 3: Jimmy, having eaten his vegetables, asked for
dessert. (participial phrase nonrestrictive element)
31
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 Rule: Punctuate a nonrestrictive element with a comma
before and after it.
 Tip: Think of the commas as acting like parentheses. If you
can substitute the commas with parentheses (or if you put
parentheses around the element) without altering the
meaning in an important way, you are looking at a
nonrestrictive element.
32
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 E.g. A top NHL hockey player, Jarome Iginla plays
for the Calgary Flames. (appositive nonrestrictive
element that begins a sentence)
 E.g. Jarome Iginla plays for the Calgary Flames, one
of the two NHL teams in Alberta. (appositive
nonrestrictive element that ends a sentence)
33
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 When a nonrestrictive element ends a sentence, the
closing period cancels the second period.
 When a nonrestrictive element begins a sentence,
the initial capital letter substitutes for the first
comma.
34
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 A restrictive (also called [and perhaps better called]
“essential)” element is a word, clause or phrase whose
meaning is vital to indicating the identity of thing it qualifies
(usually a noun).
 The element is essential to defining or establishing the scope
by which the reader must understand the element it
modifies.
 As a result, a restrictive element cannot have commas
separating it from the thing it qualifies.
35
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 E.g.: People who cannot sleep at night need sedatives to
get a good night’s rest. [punctuated as a restrictive
element]
 E.g.: People, who cannot sleep at night, need sedatives to
get a good night’s rest. [punctuated as a nonrestrictive
element (but this can’t be right….)]
36
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 Remember: a nonrestrictive element has commas
around it to indicate its secondary importance.
37
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 The writer decides when an element should be restrictive
or non-restrictive. The reader is forced to go along with
the writer, so be sure to choose the correct meaning.
 E.g.: Children who dislike vegetables should take
vitamins.
 E.g.: Children, who dislike vegetables, should take
vitamins.
 Which idea does the writer mean?
38
4. Confusion over Restrictive and Non-Restrictive
Elements (continued)
 In North America, we use “that” for restrictive
relative clauses and “which” for non-restrictive
relative clauses that introduce non-human
elements. (In Britain, the opposite tends to be
true.)
 (Thankfully, we use “who” for any relative clause if
the clause is about a person.)
39
5. Mixed Construction
 This term applies to all sentence errors that seem to
stem from the writer having lost track of a
sentence’s structure: the end of the sentence has
little to do with the first part of the sentence,
whether grammatically or semantically.
 This term serves a general category for sentences
that do not make sense.
40
5. Mixed Construction (cont.)
E.g.: I found that the children’s literature website to
be very useful.
 This sentence combines two different structures: “I
found that the children’s literature website was
useful” and “I found the children’s literature website
to be very useful.”
 As the above example now stands, “I found that” is
supposed to introduce a clause, but what follows is
not a clause but a phrase.
41
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases
 Pronouns in English have cases, forms indicating their
function in a sentence. (English used to have cases for its
nouns, too, but English dropped those centuries ago.)
 People sometimes use the wrong case of a personal
pronoun after a verb.
 English personal and relative pronouns have three cases:
subjective, objective and possessive.
42
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases (continued)
Subjective Objective Possessive
Person
Sing. 1st:
Sing. 2nd:
I
you
me
you
Sing. 3rd:
he/she/it
him/her/it his (his)/her (hers)/its
we
Plural 2nd: you
Plural 3rd: they
us
you
them
Relative
whomwhose
Plural 1st:
who
my (mine)
your (yours)
our (ours)
your (yours)
their (theirs)
43
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases (continued)
(a) Use the subjective case as the subject of a clause.
(b) Use the objective case as a direct or indirect object of a
clause (including after a preposition).
(c) Use the primary possessive case in front of a noun to show
ownership.
(d) Use the secondary possessive case (mine, yours, his, hers,
theirs, ours) after a verb to show ownership. (These ones
behave like nouns.)
(e) Use “who” in a relative clause or question when the
pronoun is the subject of the clause; use “whom” in a relative
clause or question when the pronoun is the object of the
clause).
44
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases (continued)
(a) Subjective (correct examples)
I am going home.
John and I are going home.
(b) Objective (correct examples)
John saw me.
John saw me and Maria.
John gave the ball to me.
John gave the ball to me and Maria.
45
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases (continued)
(c) Primary Possessive (correct examples)
His friend cooked dinner last night.
Your neighbour is going home.
Joe threw his friend a party last night.
(d) Secondary Possessive (correct examples)
That neighbour is yours.
That friend was hers.
46
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases (continued)
(e) Relative or Interrogative Pronouns “who” and “whom”
(correct examples)
The man who loved her is coming to town. (subject)
The man whom she loved is coming to town. (object)
The man whose dog she loved is coming to town.
(possessive)
Who loved her? (subject of the clause)
Whom did she love? (object of the clause)
Whose dog did she love? (“who” possessed the dog)
47
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases: Tricky Cases
1. Than/As. Sometimes the choice of case depends on the
intended meaning.
My sister loved that dog more than I.
[implied: “...more than I loved the dog” (I=subject of the
verb “loved”)]
My sister loved that dog more than me.
[implied: “...more than she loved me” (me=object of the
verb “loved”)]
48
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases: Tricky Cases (cont.)
My sister is as tall as I. [implied: “… as I am”; “me” is
therefore wrong]
2. Imbedded subordinate (or relative) clauses. A subordinate
clause is still a clause; pay attention to its own structure to
figure out if the pronoun functions as a subject or object.
Joe cooked dinner for Garry and me. [“me” is an indirect
object of “cooked”]
We decided that Garry and I would cook dinner. [“I” is a
subject of the subordinate clause beginning with “that”]
49
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases: Tricky Cases (cont.)
3. Gerunds. A gerund is a noun formed from the present
participle of a verb. However, present participles can also
function as adjectives. Figure which part of speech the
participle serves as before you decide which case you need.
E.g.: The woman noticed his limping.
[“limping” is a gerund: it is a noun]
Versus: The woman noticed him limping.
[This sentence means, “The woman noticed the limping man”
where “limping man” is the direct object and “limping” acts
as an adjective]
50
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases: Tricky Cases (cont.)
4. Linking Verb. Linking verbs describe states of being (“be,”
“seem,” “become”, “grow,” “turn”, “remain,” “prove”) and
the fives senses (“look”, “taste,” “feel,” sound”, “smell”). A
linking verb introduces words that describe the subject (and
thus “links” them to the subject). Technically, therefore, no
object can exist with these verbs, and thus, in formal writing,
you do not use the objective case of a pronoun after any
linking verb. (“To be” constitutes the major verb in this
category of tricky cases).
The contest winner was I. [not “me”]
Who is there? It is she. [not “her”]
51
6. Wrong Pronoun Cases: Tricky Cases (cont.)
5. Whoever and whomever. These pronouns follow the same
rules as “who” and “whom.”
Whoever cooked dinner deserves a prize. (subject)
Whomever she loved deserves some scrutiny. (object of
“loved”; the clause “whomever she loved” acts like a subject in the
sentence, but within the clause, “whomever” is the object)
Enumerators attempt to locate whoever is eligible to vote.
(subject within the clause “whoever is eligible”, even though the clause
as a whole is the object of the entire sentence )
All voters can vote for whomever they wish. (object of the
clause “whomever they wish”)
52
7. Apostrophe Problems
 English uses the apostrophe for two different
purposes: (1) to designate the possessive case of
nouns (with the letter “s”) (2) to designate a
contraction (omission of letters to mimic slurring
of speech).
53
7. Apostrophe problems (continued)
(1) The apostrophe is not optional for possessive cases of
nouns, whether the noun is plural or singular. In plural
nouns, the “s” for possession gets dropped; but the
apostrophe remains.
That rose’s petals smell sweet. (Not “That rose’ petals” or
“That roses petals”)
These roses’ petals smell sweet. (Not “These roses petals”
or “These roses’s petals”)
54
7. Apostrophe problems (continued)
(2). Contractions always have apostrophes (otherwise, they
would not be contractions).
I didn’t feel well.
(contraction of “did not”) (not “didnt”)
They’re feeling well.
(contraction of “they are”) (not “theyre”)
55
7. Apostrophe problems (continued)
“They’re” (contraction), “their” (possessive
pronoun) and “there” (demonstrative pronoun) are
not interchangeable.
“ It’s ” (contraction for “it is”) and “ its ”
(possessive pronoun) are not interchangeable; “ its’
” doesn’t exist.
*If you tend to misuse apostrophes, take care when
proofreading.
56
8. Tense Problems
 This is a greater problem for non-native English
speakers, but even native English speakers
sometimes use the wrong verb tenses.
 Refer to the advice in the textbook on common
areas of confusion.
57