How To Use They're In A Sentence

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Sentence

Last calendar month I showed how to unstuff a sentence past removing unnecessary words. This calendar month I'll offer a quick-and-muddy guide to punctuating a judgement. Zero that follows is meant to substitute for the nuanced explanations of what's usually called a writing handbook, the sort of book that college students buy in a first-semester writing course. These five rules though have the virtue of existence manageable, which is hard to say of a one,000-page volume. In each paragraph that follows, the sentences illustrate the punctuation dominion involved. Annotation that I'm avoiding nearly all grammatical terminology. Instead, I'k emphasizing a small number of sentence patterns.

Dominion i
If your judgement begins with an introductory element, put a comma after it. Even if information technology's a brusque element, put a comma later on it. In fourth dimension, you'll be putting this comma in without having to think most it.

Rule two
Any element which interrupts the motility of the sentence, whether it's big or small-scale, should exist set off with commas. This sentence, like the first, also has an element prepare off with commas. An element that appears at the end of the judgement should also be fix off with a comma, as I'm showing here.

Rule three
Items in a series should be separated with commas. What practice I hateful past "items in a series"? Wine, women, and vocal. Life, beloved, and laughter. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

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Rule four
Complete sentences that are joined past a coordinating conjunction (and, just, for, nor, or, so, nonetheless) need a comma before the coordinating conjunction. That might seem obvious, merely this comma frequently gets left out. Putting information technology in makes a sentence more readable, and whatsoever reader appreciates that.

Rule 5
Complete sentences that are joined without a coordinating conjunction need a semi-colon instead of a comma; the semi-colon shows the cease of 1 sentence and the beginning of the next. Semi-colons are oftentimes followed by a connecting word or phrase; still, a connecting word or phrase is not necessary. Sentences joined with merely a comma are called comma splices; they're amidst the well-nigh common errors that come up in college writing.

(Note: In the side by side-to-last sentence in the previous paragraph, there's a comma afterwards however considering it'south an introductory chemical element in the second sentence.)

Fixing comma splices requires familiarity with two recurring sentence patterns. The first involves a complete sentence, a semi-colon, and another complete sentence:

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[complete sentence]; [complete judgement].

Some examples:

Your argument is persuasive; it addresses every objection I had.
His enquiry paper is plagiarized; he is going to neglect the class.
The novel is a relatively recent literary class; it's not nearly as onetime every bit epic verse and lyric poetry.

The second design to wait for involves a complete sentence, a semi-colon, a connecting discussion or phrase, a comma, and some other complete sentence:

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[complete sentence]; [discussion or phrase], [complete sentence].

(Again, the comma after the connecting give-and-take or phrase is advisable every bit that word or phrase is an introductory chemical element in the second sentence.)

Some examples:

I decided not to take the job; instead, I'm going to graduate schoolhouse.
The proposal is flawed; as a result, we're sending it dorsum for revision.
She did well in the class; in fact, she did much better than she had expected.

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How tin you tell whether you have two complete sentences or one judgement with an interrupting element at its end? With an interrupting element (something less than a judgement in itself), the parts of the judgement tin can exist switched and nevertheless brand sense:

I'll go to work, even though I'm sick.
Even though I'thou sick, I'll go to work.

But with a second complete sentence and a word or phrase such equally instead, as a consequence, or in fact, the parts cannot be switched and still brand sense.

Those are the nuts of punctuating sentences with commas and semi-colons. I know from working with many students that whatever writer can get better when it comes to punctuation. The key is the ability to recognize a scattering of familiar patterns. Look for the patterns in your sentences, and yous too tin get better. With some practice, you'll be able to run into the parts of your sentences falling into place, and punctuating correctly will become, believe it or non, a habit, one that you lot'll be happy to have acquired.

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Colons, by the fashion, function as arrows or pointers: see what I mean?

Michael Leddy teaches college English and blogs at Orange Crate Art.