- •О.И. Килюшева, и.T. Канева, е.Н. Свирелкина
- •Contents
- •Preface
- •Setting Off Independent Clauses
- •Use a comma before and, but, or, so, nor, yet, for when those words are used to connect two independent clauses.
- •Always use a comma to introduce contrasting information.
- •Setting Off Items in a Series
- •Use commas to separate parts in a series of three or more items.
- •Coordinate attributive adjectives in a series are set off by commas.
- •Insert commas as necessary to separate items in series in the following sentences.
- •Insert commas as necessary to separate items in series in the following sentences.
- •Insert commas in the following sentences:
- •Setting Off Introductory Elements
- •Introductory Adverb Clauses
- •2. Introductory Phrases
- •3. Introductory Transitional Words and Phrases
- •Setting Off Non-Essential Material
- •1. Nonrestrictive modifiers
- •Identify the errors in these sentences. Any sentence that is incorrect contains only one error.
- •Using Comma in Other Conventional Contexts
- •Using Commas Around Direct Quotations
- •Using Commas between Names and Titles or Degrees
- •Using Commas in Dates and Addresses
- •Using Commas with Greetings, Closings, and Large Numbers
- •Insert commas in the following sentences to prevent misreading.
- •1. With Asyndetic Independent Clauses
- •In which of the examples might a semicolon be preferred to the full stop?
- •2. Semicolon with Transitional Phrases
- •3. A Semicolon and a Comma
- •Insert semicolon as needed in each of the following sentences.
- •The colon
- •1. A List of Items
- •2. Introducing Quotes
- •3. Connecting Ideas
- •4. Introducing an Appositive
- •5. Other Uses of Colon
- •2C Write your own proverbs, for example:
- •Use commas and colons where they are appropriate.
- •Add commas and colons where appropriate to these sentences:
- •Insert a colon as needed in each of the following sentences:
- •1. Abrupt Break in Thought.
- •2. Setting Off Parenthetical Material
- •3. Setting Off Explanation
- •1. Quoting Words, Phrases, and Short Passages from Prose
- •2. Using Quotation Marks with Other Punctuation Marks
- •Test Yourself
- •Bibliography
Insert commas as necessary to separate items in series in the following sentences.
Our fire escapes were densely inhabited by mops short lines of washed socks geranium plants boxes of seltzer bottles and occasional dramatic scenes. (Kate Simon)
Meteorologists were commissioned to make detailed portraits of New Jersey’s coastal temperatures humidity precipitation fogs thunderstorms tornado potentialities and “probable maximum hurricanes.” (John McPhee)
She had no confidence in books written in English paid almost nothing for them and sold them for a small and quick profit. (Ernest Hemingway on Sylvia Beach)
It used to be understood that no matter how low your estimate of the public intelligence was how greedily you courted success or how much you debased your material in order to popularize it, you nevertheless tried to give the audience something. (Pauline Kael on contemporary movies)
7Com
Insert commas in the following sentences:
He felt cut off from them by age by understanding by sensibility by technology and by his need to measure himself against the mirror of other men's appreciation. (Ralph Ellison)
The ox was solid black stood five feet high at the shoulder had a five-foot span of horns and must have weighed 1,200 pounds on the hoof. (Richard B. Lee)
Nothing is more essential to intelligent profitable reading than sensitivity to connotation. (Richard Altick)
She was wearing a full-skirted low-cut velvet gown.
Under the circumstances, only an intelligent discreet and experienced official should be assigned to the case.
Setting Off Introductory Elements
For clarity and ease of reading, some introductory clauses and phrases are set off by commas from the independent clauses that follow them. These include adverb clauses and phrases, participial phrases, absolute phrases, appositive phrases, etc.
-
ADVERB CLAUSE:
If Ernest Hemingway had written comic books, they would have been just as good as his novels. (Stan Lee)
After the rains came, the country turned green.
ADVERB PHRASE :
For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible. (Maya Angelou)
PARTICIPIAL PHRASE
Jogging through the park, I was unexpectedly caught in a downpour.
ABSOLUTE PHRASE
His hat pushed back on his forehead, he walked down the road whistling. (Maya Angelou)
APPOSITIVE PHRASE
A student of human frailty, she probably knew deep in her soul that he was one of life’s losers. (Russell Baker)
PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE
During the first half of our trip down the Mississippi, all five of us were seasick.
In Paris, jaywalking is a misdemeanor.