The majority of causes of trouble in this world are
due to grammar
Michel de Montaigne 1533 - 92 French
author
Cooperative learning series
Grammar: Commas & Modifiers
Grammar refers to the rules regarding the current standard
of correctness in speech and writing. Advances in word processing
software have included grammar-checking features.
Using Commas:;
Do these sentences need commas?
My father went to the store for some dessert and bought
ice cream.
No: Two verb phrases describing the
action of the same subject do not need a comma if the
conjunction separating them is "and."
My father went to the store for some dessert, bought ice
cream, and came home in time to see his favorite TV show.
Yes: Three or more verb phrases
describing the action of the same subject need commas to
separate them.
The text Who Built America? describes reconstruction as
a noble failure.
No: if Who Built America? was
taken out of the sentence, when readers read "text," they would
not know which text the writer means, so commas are not used
when the title is in the sentence. (This is called a restrictive
appositive.)
Practice using commas.; Copy these sentences into word
processing and insert commas where needed; then read the
explanations below.
The restaurant dessert tray featured carrot cake
coconut cream pie and something called death-by-chocolate.
Because I was three hours short of graduation
requirements I had to take a course during the summer.
The weather according to last night's forecast will
improve by Saturday.
Students hurried to the campus store to buy their
fall textbooks but several of the books were already out of
stock.
My sister asked "Are you going to be on the phone
much longer?"
The restaurant dessert tray featured carrot cake, coconut
cream pie, and something called death-by-chocolate. The comma separates the items in a series.
Because I was three hours short of graduation
requirements, I had to take a course during the summer.
The comma separates an introductory phrase or dependent clause
from the rest of the sentence.
The weather, according to last night's forecast, will
improve by Saturday. The phrase "according to last
night's forecast" interrupts the main clause, so it is set
off by commas.
Students hurried to the campus store to buy their fall
textbooks, but several of the books were already out of stock.
The comma separates an independent clause from a dependent
clause.
My sister asked, "Are you going to be on the phone much
longer?" The comma separates a direct quotation from the
rest of the sentence.
Misplaced/dangling modifiers
A modifier is a word or group of words; that
describes another word and makes its meaning more specific.
Often modifying phrases add information about "where", "when",
or "how" something is done. A modifier works best when it is
right next to the word it modifies. For example, consider the
modifiers in the following sentence (they are underlined for
you):
The awesome
dude rode a wave
breaking on the shore.
The word "awesome" is an adjective (or, a one-word
modifier); it sits right next to the word "dude" it
modifies. The phrase "breaking on the shore" tells us
where he rode the wave. Thus, "breaking on the shore" is
a modifying phrase that must be placed next to the "wave"
it modifies.
Below are some examples of poorly placed modifiers.
See if you can identify the problems:
Roger looked at twenty-five sofas
shopping on Saturday.
Obviously twenty-five sofas were not
shopping on Saturday. Because "shopping on Saturday" is meant to
modify Roger, it should be right next to Roger, as follows:
Shopping on Saturday, Roger
looked at twenty-five sofas.
The woman tore open the package she had just received
with her fingernails.
Had the woman really received the
package with her fingernails? The writer meant that she tore
open the package with her fingernails.
With her fingernails, the woman
tore open the package she had just received.
The waiter brought the pancakes to the table drenched
in blueberry syrup.
What's drenched according to the
sentence? The waiter, the table, or the pancakes?; Actually,
the pancakes were drenched:
The waiter brought the
pancakes, drenched in blueberry syrup, to the table.
Lying in a heap on the closet floor, Jean found her
son's dirty laundry.
It sounds as if Jean was lying on
the closet floor when she found her son's laundry!
Jean found her son's dirty
laundry lying in a heap on the closet floor.
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