Download Clauses

Punctuation Lecture
TECM 4190
Dr. Lam
Some definitions
• Clauses- must contain subject and predicate
• Subject= noun or something noun-y
• Predicate= something about subject but MUST have a verb
• “The student slept in class”
• Independent (main)- can stand alone grammatically as a
sentence
• Dependent (subordinate)- cannot stand alone as a
sentence
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Some definitions
Conjunction- Word that joins two clauses
•
Coordinating conjunction join two independent
clauses or sentence elements (for, and, nor, but, or, yet,
so)
•
•
E.g., “I went to the park and ate ice cream.”
Subordinating conjunctions join independent clause
with a dependent clause
•
•
E.g., “My ice cream melted because the temperature was so hot.
• Relative pronouns- relate to an already named noun;
introduce dependent clauses (that, what, which, who, whoever,
whom, whomever, whose)
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Some definitions
• Dependent clauses
• Subordinating conjunction + subject + verb
• E.g., “After the sun went down, the zombies came out.”
• Relative pronoun + subject + verb
• E.g., “I gave a handful of chips to the dog who was begging at
my feet”
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Practice!
Identify the number of clauses and determine if they are
dependent, independent, or relative clauses.
1. The dog barked.
2. The dog barked, and the owner woke up.
3. Although the dog barked, the owner didn’t wake up.
4. The dog that heard the robbers barked; however, the
owner still didn’t wake up.
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Sentence types
• Simple- one independent clause
• The dog barked.
• Compound- two independent clauses
• The dog barked, and the owner woke up.
• Complex- one independent clause plus one dependent clause
• Although the dog barked, the owner didn’t wake up.
• Compound-complex- two independent clauses plus one or
more dependent clauses
• The dog that heard the robbers barked; however, the owner still
didn’t wake up.
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Basic Comma Rules
Use commas:
1. to separate elements in a series.
•
He went to class, dinner, and then home.
2. to connect two independent clauses. However, it
must be connected with coordinating conjunction
immediately following the comma.
•
He went to class, but he fell asleep.
3. to set off introductory elements (clauses, phrases,
and words).
•
Because he was tired, he fell asleep in class.
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Basic Comma Rules, cont.
4. to offset non-essential information (we’ll discuss more
later when we distinguish restrictive vs. nonrestrictive
clauses)
• E.g., “John went to the lake, which was shallow from the
drought.”
5. to separate coordinate adjectives (adjectives that
describe the same noun). Rule of thumb: can be reversed
and can replace comma with “and”
• John has a long, arduous commute (coordinate).
• The Bears a tough football team. (non-coordinate)
6. to separate geographical items
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Common comma mistakes
1. Using a comma to separate a noun and verb
• The most important aspect of class, is completing the
readings.
2. Using a comma between two verbs in a compound
predicate
• John turned the corner, and ran into the light pole.
3. Using a comma between to nouns
• The music teacher from your highschool, and the football
coach are married.
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That vs. Which
• That and which are relative pronouns used to introduce
phrases.
• There are two kinds of phrases you need to know about. See
the next slide.
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Restrictive Phrases
• A restrictive phrase restricts the meaning of the sentence.
These never have commas.
• E.g., “The car that I test drove is out of my price range.”
• That I test drove restricts the meaning of car to one specific car.
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Non-restrictive Phrases
• Non-restrictive phrases provide information that
is nice to have, but don’t fundamentally change
the meaning of the sentence.
• They are surrounded by commas.
• E.g. “ The car, which has a high safety rating, is out
of my price range.”
• Which has a high safety rating could be excluded
and the sentence’s original meaning remains
intact.
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Choosing That vs. Which
• As you may have noticed from the examples:
• That begins restrictive phrases.
• Which begins non-restrictive phrases.
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Thumb Rule
• Stick your thumb over the phrase you wonder about.
• If the sentence is fundamentally different, the phrase is
probably restrictive. Begin the phrase with that.
• If the sentence is pretty much the same, but missing some
descriptive info, it’s non-restrictive. Begin the phrase with
which and surround it with commas.
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Practice!
Choose “that” or “which” and then punctuate the
sentence correctly.
1. The Crazy Horse Monument ______ was dedicated
in 1984 attracts visitors from all over the world.
2. The college _______ Sonja has decided to attend is
located in Michigan.
3. The bike _______ I keep in my garage is used for
races.
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The Oxford or Serial
Comma
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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.
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One reduces ambiguity
• How many departments are in this sentence?
• We’ve received budgets from Finance, Sales, Public Relations,
Design and Development.
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If you always use a serial
comma. .
• There’s no ambiguity.
• We’ve received budgets from Finance, Sales, Public Relations,
Design, and Development.
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The Semicolon
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The Semi-Colon ;
Two ways to use the semi-colon.
1) To combine sentences.
2) To separate items with internal commas in a list.
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To combine sentences using a
semi-colon:
Rules:
1) The statements on both sides of the semi-colon must be
independent clauses (sentences).
2) The second statement is not capitalized.
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Suggestion #1 for using a
semi-colon.
• Generally, you want both sentences to be of equal
“weight”—essentially, they should be the approximately
the same length.
• Matt recently started a job at Google developing front-end
interfaces for several new initiatives including the new mobile
YouTube interface; he likes it.
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Suggestion #2 for using a
semi-colon.
• Also, the second sentence should be related to the first.
• Matt recently updated the interface to include a tabbed
interface; his salary is competitive.
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When is a semi-colon useful?
• To change the “rhythm” of a paragraph
• You can combine sentences with a semi-colon if you follow
the previous rules.
• Ex: Matt’s educational experiences really helped him in
gaining technical knowledge of programming languages;
however, his internship experience in which he worked on
actual projects also were quite valuable.
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Use semi-colon to punctuate
lists with internal commas
• So, instead of commas, use a semi-colon when list items have
internal commas.
• The only rule is that once you begin using semi-colons to
separate items, they ALL must be separated by semi-colons—
even if they don’t have an internal comma.
• E.g. “Jon, the plumber; Lisa, the general contractor; and Joan,
the architect all worked together on the job.”
• E.g., “Jon, the plumber, Lisa, the general contractor, and Joan,
the architect all worked together on the job.”
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The Colon
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Colon
• Introduces a list after an independent clause
• Rules:
1.
2.
Use a colon only after a complete sentence
Use a colon to introduce a list when introductory words
aren’t used (for example, namely, etc.).
Correct: You’ll need to bring four things to class: homework, pencil,
paper, and red pen.
Incorrect: You’ll need to bring things to class. For example:
homework, pencil, paper, and red pen to class.
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Other uses of colon
• Connect two independent clauses, the second MUST
illustrate or amplify- generally conveys the sense of “as
follows” (Acts like a semicolon)
• The procedural manual make one thing clear: it is not
appropriate to come to work late.
• To introduce a series of related sentences (acts like a
period)
• The students faced a dilemma: They could finish the
project as planned. Or, they could start from scratch and
deliver a better final project.
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Hyphens and Dashes
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Hyphens vs. en dash vs. em
dash
• Hyphen used to combine two words that function as a unit
• Well-received lecture; Self-serving attitude
• En dash (width of an “n”) used to separate periods of time and
instead of a hyphen when combining two compounds.
• July 12–July 15
• Southern Texas – Mexico border
• Em dash (width of an “M”) used in place of commas,
semicolons, colons, and parentheses (use sparingly in formal
writing)
• The dog chewed the sofa —he was left alone too long.
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Em dash, en dash, or hyphen?
• Dr. Lam’s grammar lesson_?_it had already been interrupted
by three violent demonstrations_?_was concluded promptly.
• My professor looks forty_?_six years old.
• TECM 3200 runs from 2:00pm_?_3:20pm.
Em dash, en dash, or hyphen?
• Dr. Lam’s grammar lesson—it had already been interrupted
by three violent demonstrations—was concluded promptly.
(Em dash)
• My professor looks forty-six years old. (Hyphen)
• ENTW 4190 runs from 2:0pm–3:20pm. (En dash)