Parallel Sentence Structure (7.03.2008)
Easy Guide to Punctuation (6.30.2008)
Writing Unified Sentences (6.29.2008)
Why Grammar is Important (6.28.2008)
Getting Started (6.27.2008)
7.03.2008
Welcome to the parallel universe
Parallelism--a word adopted from the field of of mathematics by teachers of writing--is an excellent principle to ensure correctness, clearness, and effectiveness of your sentences. When two or more ideas in a sentence are related and serve a similar purpose, they should be phrased in the same grammatical form. Many students have a hard time understanding parallel structure.
For example:
Unclear: She liked to sing and playing golf.
Clear: She liked to sing and to play golf. OR She liked singing and playing golf.
Unclear: What do rich suburban kids know about crime, those who are hungry, and poverty?
Clear: What do rich suburban kids know about crime, hunger, and poverty? OR What do rich suburban kids know about people who are hungry, poor, and victims of crime?
As you can see, faulty parallelism disrupts the balance of a sentence. It interrupts the sentence's smooth flow, causing the reader to momentarily hesitate as he or she tries to process the information and make sense of what you're attempting to express. So, always remember to use parallel elements to express parallel ideas. Balance nouns with nouns, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, main clauses with main clauses, and so forth.
Here are some examples:
Parallel words and phrases
Jackson is slow but thorough.
Life is both a mystery and an adventure.
Parallel clauses
My favorite things to do as a kid were playing video games, eating caramel popcorn, and going to soccer games.
Both at work and at home Alec's only thoughts were about making money and having fun.
I was panicked when I arrived late on campus and when I found that no statistics courses were available.
Professor Williams likes to read the Classics and to go hang-gliding.
Parallel sentences
Tom Thumb was one of the smallest people in the circus world. Andre the Giant Killer was one of the biggest people in the wrestling world.
The Hummer is one of the least fuel-efficient vehicles ever made. The Prius is one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles ever made.
Finally, for another example of parallel sentence structure, go back to the first sentence of this blog. Can you see how the words correctness, clearness, and effectiveness are parallel and how they make the sentence easier to comprehend? If you do, then you're starting to understand the the value of parallelism in the writing world.
For example:
Unclear: She liked to sing and playing golf.
Clear: She liked to sing and to play golf. OR She liked singing and playing golf.
Unclear: What do rich suburban kids know about crime, those who are hungry, and poverty?
Clear: What do rich suburban kids know about crime, hunger, and poverty? OR What do rich suburban kids know about people who are hungry, poor, and victims of crime?
As you can see, faulty parallelism disrupts the balance of a sentence. It interrupts the sentence's smooth flow, causing the reader to momentarily hesitate as he or she tries to process the information and make sense of what you're attempting to express. So, always remember to use parallel elements to express parallel ideas. Balance nouns with nouns, prepositional phrases with prepositional phrases, main clauses with main clauses, and so forth.
Here are some examples:
Parallel words and phrases
Jackson is slow but thorough.
Life is both a mystery and an adventure.
Parallel clauses
My favorite things to do as a kid were playing video games, eating caramel popcorn, and going to soccer games.
Both at work and at home Alec's only thoughts were about making money and having fun.
I was panicked when I arrived late on campus and when I found that no statistics courses were available.
Professor Williams likes to read the Classics and to go hang-gliding.
Parallel sentences
Tom Thumb was one of the smallest people in the circus world. Andre the Giant Killer was one of the biggest people in the wrestling world.
The Hummer is one of the least fuel-efficient vehicles ever made. The Prius is one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles ever made.
Finally, for another example of parallel sentence structure, go back to the first sentence of this blog. Can you see how the words correctness, clearness, and effectiveness are parallel and how they make the sentence easier to comprehend? If you do, then you're starting to understand the the value of parallelism in the writing world.
6.30.2008
Punctuate. Punctuate? Punctuate!
You might be surprised to learn that you're not the only one who has trouble with punctuation. Most of my students do.
Everyone knows that a period ends sentences that are not questions, such as:
It was a moonlit night.
However, some students make the mistake of putting a period at the end of a sentence that is a question, such as:
Was it a moonlit night?
Here is a quick reference guide to common punctuation marks.
PERIOD ( . ) -- ends sentences that are not questions.
It was time for me to leave.
QUESTION MARK (?) -- ends sentences that are questions.
Is it time to leave?
COMMA ( , ) --tells the reader to pause slightly, and it helps differentiate the parts of a sentence. The comma is by far the most misused punctuation mark, probably because it can be used in so many different situations. Use a comma in the following conditions:
Following an introductory phrase: After a week of record heat, the temperature dropped nearly to the freezing point.
To separate items in a series: I love Las Vegas for its sun, fun, and amazing desert landscapes.
Before a coordinating conjunction that connects two independent clauses: She believed he would ask her to go to the beach, and he did.
To set off nonrestrictive phrases (parenthetical phrases that add to a sentence but aren't absolutely necessary for the sentence to make sense.): The car, which I had bought from a crooked dealer, broke down so often I soon knew the bus schedule by heart.
To set off quotations contained within a sentence: "I don't like hip-hop," he pointed out, "so I don't like to go clubbing with them."
My boss said, "It's time to put the hammer down," so I made ten extra sales calls this afternoon.
To indicate direct address: "Joe, make sure your room is spotless."
To separate distinct adjectives in a series: The loud, constant, reverberating noise of the city makes me crazy.
In a date, between the day and year: On September 11, 2001, the world as we knew it changed forever.
To indicate the omission of verbs in parallel clauses: Abe loves the drums; Sally, the guitar; and Jo, the piano.
EXCLAMATION MARK ( ! ) -- to end declarative and imperative sentences with excitement or urgency. Show me the money!
COLON (:) -- introduces a list of things, a summary, or an important conclusion. The colon is used after an independent clause and does not come between a verb and its object.
I expect my students to do three things: listen, share, and learn.
Arturo learned one very important lesson: Never trust an ex-girlfriend's movie recommendation.
SEMICOLON (;) -- used to join related independent clauses in place of a conjunction (and, or, nor, but, etc.). Semicolons are also used to separate items in series that contain commas within single-item descriptions. Suki likes to make Chinese food; it is her passion.
He had a brand new Mac; an old desktop PC; and an ancient manual typewriter.
QUOTATION MARKS (" ") have many uses:
To represent text as speech: "I could have been a contender," he sadly admitted.
To indicate material taken from another source: The artist's work shows "the agony and the ecstasy" of the creative process.
To indicate titles of poems and short stories: The old man in Ernest Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is having a crisis of faith.
Please note: Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks in American English. Question marks, exclamation marks, semicolons, colons, and dashes go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation. (This isn't true for written English in Great Britain.)
DASH (--) -- sets off a parenthetical phrase or draws attention to a final conclusion. The IPod--introduced only a few years ago--has become the most popular portable music player.
His hair, his eyes, his taste in clothes--they all are perfect.
APOSTROPHE ( ' ) -- used to indicate possession when combined with a noun. An apostrophe also signals that one or more letters have been left out in a contraction. Maureen's tomcat is one mean critter.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
I don't like vegetarian cooking.
HYPHEN (-) --joins linked words together, especially if they are used together as an adjective:
He never could kick his desire for fresh-made ice cream.
PARENTHESES ( ) -- used to set off a loosely related phrase: His new goal (conceived after he was fired for no good reason) was to start his own business.
SLASH (/) -- indicates multiple possibilities: Tell the teacher and/or the principal.
ELLIPSIS ( ... ) -- three periods separated by two spaces that mean some quoted material has been omitted, usually for brevity's sake: A great philosopher once wrote, "The Gods had condemned Sisyphus ... to become the futile laborer of the underworld."
BRACKETS ( [ ] ) -- indicate any word, punctuation, or formatting inserted into a quote but not present in the original source: "The racers have one mile [1.6 kilometers] to go before the finish line."
Everyone knows that a period ends sentences that are not questions, such as:
It was a moonlit night.
However, some students make the mistake of putting a period at the end of a sentence that is a question, such as:
Was it a moonlit night?
Here is a quick reference guide to common punctuation marks.
PERIOD ( . ) -- ends sentences that are not questions.
It was time for me to leave.
QUESTION MARK (?) -- ends sentences that are questions.
Is it time to leave?
COMMA ( , ) --tells the reader to pause slightly, and it helps differentiate the parts of a sentence. The comma is by far the most misused punctuation mark, probably because it can be used in so many different situations. Use a comma in the following conditions:
Following an introductory phrase: After a week of record heat, the temperature dropped nearly to the freezing point.
To separate items in a series: I love Las Vegas for its sun, fun, and amazing desert landscapes.
Before a coordinating conjunction that connects two independent clauses: She believed he would ask her to go to the beach, and he did.
To set off nonrestrictive phrases (parenthetical phrases that add to a sentence but aren't absolutely necessary for the sentence to make sense.): The car, which I had bought from a crooked dealer, broke down so often I soon knew the bus schedule by heart.
To set off quotations contained within a sentence: "I don't like hip-hop," he pointed out, "so I don't like to go clubbing with them."
My boss said, "It's time to put the hammer down," so I made ten extra sales calls this afternoon.
To indicate direct address: "Joe, make sure your room is spotless."
To separate distinct adjectives in a series: The loud, constant, reverberating noise of the city makes me crazy.
In a date, between the day and year: On September 11, 2001, the world as we knew it changed forever.
To indicate the omission of verbs in parallel clauses: Abe loves the drums; Sally, the guitar; and Jo, the piano.
EXCLAMATION MARK ( ! ) -- to end declarative and imperative sentences with excitement or urgency. Show me the money!
COLON (:) -- introduces a list of things, a summary, or an important conclusion. The colon is used after an independent clause and does not come between a verb and its object.
I expect my students to do three things: listen, share, and learn.
Arturo learned one very important lesson: Never trust an ex-girlfriend's movie recommendation.
SEMICOLON (;) -- used to join related independent clauses in place of a conjunction (and, or, nor, but, etc.). Semicolons are also used to separate items in series that contain commas within single-item descriptions. Suki likes to make Chinese food; it is her passion.
He had a brand new Mac; an old desktop PC; and an ancient manual typewriter.
QUOTATION MARKS (" ") have many uses:
To represent text as speech: "I could have been a contender," he sadly admitted.
To indicate material taken from another source: The artist's work shows "the agony and the ecstasy" of the creative process.
To indicate titles of poems and short stories: The old man in Ernest Hemingway's "A Clean, Well-Lighted Place" is having a crisis of faith.
Please note: Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks in American English. Question marks, exclamation marks, semicolons, colons, and dashes go outside quotation marks unless they are part of the quotation. (This isn't true for written English in Great Britain.)
DASH (--) -- sets off a parenthetical phrase or draws attention to a final conclusion. The IPod--introduced only a few years ago--has become the most popular portable music player.
His hair, his eyes, his taste in clothes--they all are perfect.
APOSTROPHE ( ' ) -- used to indicate possession when combined with a noun. An apostrophe also signals that one or more letters have been left out in a contraction. Maureen's tomcat is one mean critter.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
I don't like vegetarian cooking.
HYPHEN (-) --joins linked words together, especially if they are used together as an adjective:
He never could kick his desire for fresh-made ice cream.
PARENTHESES ( ) -- used to set off a loosely related phrase: His new goal (conceived after he was fired for no good reason) was to start his own business.
SLASH (/) -- indicates multiple possibilities: Tell the teacher and/or the principal.
ELLIPSIS ( ... ) -- three periods separated by two spaces that mean some quoted material has been omitted, usually for brevity's sake: A great philosopher once wrote, "The Gods had condemned Sisyphus ... to become the futile laborer of the underworld."
BRACKETS ( [ ] ) -- indicate any word, punctuation, or formatting inserted into a quote but not present in the original source: "The racers have one mile [1.6 kilometers] to go before the finish line."
6.29.2008
Sentence sense
The fundamental qualities of effective prose are unity, coherence, emphasis, and variety. What is true for the whole essay is also true for each sentence, as well as for each paragraph, of that essay. But it all starts at the sentence level. Unity and coherence in sentences help to make your ideas logical and clear. Emphasis makes them forceful. Variety gives them interest.
WRITE UNIFIED, LOGICAL SENTENCES
A sentence is unified when all its parts contribute to making one clear idea or impression. The parts of an ideal sentence form a perfect whole, so that a clause, a phrase, or even a word cannot be changed without disturbing the clarity of the thought or the focus of the impression. The next series of blogs will try to help you write unified, logical sentences, sentences that are not cluttered with obscurities, irrelevancies, or excessive details.
Bring into a sentence only related thoughts; for thoughts not closely related, use two or more sentences.
Make sure that the ideas in each sentence are related and that the relationship is immediately clear to the reader. Use two or more sentences to develop ideas that are too loosely linked to belong in the same sentence.
UNRELATED
Yesterday Keisha sprained her wrist, and she could not find her class notes anywhere.
RELATED
Accident-prone all day yesterday, Keisha not only sprained her wrist but also lost her class notes.
{The relationship of the two ideas is made clear by the addition of the opening phrase.}
To sharpen your sentence sense, try the following exercise. All the sentences below contain ideas that are apparently unrelated. Adding words when necessary, rewrite each of the sentences to indicate clearly a relationship between ideas. If you cannot establish a close relationship, put the ideas in separate sentences.
1. A police officer who patrols the streets at night can become a hero, and cowards can be found in any walk of life.
2. The fence and driveway need repairs, and why are property taxes so high?
3. I hate strong windstorms, and walnuts pelted my bedroom roof all night.
4. There are some great musicians playing at tonight's "Concert in the Park," but personally I prefer a quiet evening at home watching the TV show "Ugly Betty."
5. Andrew was advised to hire a tutor in English immediately, but the long hours of work at The Gap kept his grades low.
Why not try this exercise right now? Send me your sugggestions for making these sentences unified and coherent.
I'll be covering other topics that will help to sharpen your sentence sense in future blogs. Keep checking back.
WRITE UNIFIED, LOGICAL SENTENCES
A sentence is unified when all its parts contribute to making one clear idea or impression. The parts of an ideal sentence form a perfect whole, so that a clause, a phrase, or even a word cannot be changed without disturbing the clarity of the thought or the focus of the impression. The next series of blogs will try to help you write unified, logical sentences, sentences that are not cluttered with obscurities, irrelevancies, or excessive details.
Bring into a sentence only related thoughts; for thoughts not closely related, use two or more sentences.
Make sure that the ideas in each sentence are related and that the relationship is immediately clear to the reader. Use two or more sentences to develop ideas that are too loosely linked to belong in the same sentence.
UNRELATED
Yesterday Keisha sprained her wrist, and she could not find her class notes anywhere.
RELATED
Accident-prone all day yesterday, Keisha not only sprained her wrist but also lost her class notes.
{The relationship of the two ideas is made clear by the addition of the opening phrase.}
To sharpen your sentence sense, try the following exercise. All the sentences below contain ideas that are apparently unrelated. Adding words when necessary, rewrite each of the sentences to indicate clearly a relationship between ideas. If you cannot establish a close relationship, put the ideas in separate sentences.
1. A police officer who patrols the streets at night can become a hero, and cowards can be found in any walk of life.
2. The fence and driveway need repairs, and why are property taxes so high?
3. I hate strong windstorms, and walnuts pelted my bedroom roof all night.
4. There are some great musicians playing at tonight's "Concert in the Park," but personally I prefer a quiet evening at home watching the TV show "Ugly Betty."
5. Andrew was advised to hire a tutor in English immediately, but the long hours of work at The Gap kept his grades low.
Why not try this exercise right now? Send me your sugggestions for making these sentences unified and coherent.
I'll be covering other topics that will help to sharpen your sentence sense in future blogs. Keep checking back.
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