Introduction to English Punctuation Part 2

English Language Grammar Lessons

QUESTION MARKS

Use a question mark [ ? ] at the end of a direct question. When a question constitutes a polite request, it is usually not followed by a question mark. When brief questions are more or less follow-up questions to the main question, each of the little questions can begin with a lowercase letter and end with a question mark.

EXCLAMATION POINTS

Use an exclamation point [ ! ] at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command.

HYPHEN

Hyphens are used to create compound words; modifiers before nouns (the well-known actor, my six-year-old daughter, the out-of-date curriculum, writing numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions, five-eighths, one-fourth), creating compounds; on-the-fly for fly-by-night organizations. Hyphens are used to add some prefixes to words such as when a prefix comes before a capitalized word or the prefix is capitalized, use a hyphen (non-English, A-frame, I-formation). The prefixes self-, all-, and ex- nearly always require a hyphen (ex-husband, all-inclusive, self-control), and when the prefix ends with the same letter that begins the word, you will often use a hyphen (anti-intellectual, de-emphasize).

DASHES

Use a dash [ — ] as a super-comma or set of super-commas to set off parenthetical elements. The dash is used to show breaks in thought and shifts in tone when writing dialogue. A dash is sometimes used to set off concluding lists and explanations in a more informal and abrupt manner than the colon. Do not use dashes to set apart material when commas would do the work for you.

reposted from Archives April 2, 2007

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Introduction to Sentence Structure

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The two fundamental parts of every English sentence are the subject and the predicate. A simple sentence can also be described as a group of words expressing a complete thought. Subjects can be described as the component that performs the action described by the Predicate.

Subject + predicate = sentence

A simple sentence or independent clause must have a verb. A verb shows action or state of being. The subject tells who or what about the verb.

Subject + verb = sentence

Sentence Structure Vocabulary

The sentence format consists of a subject and a predicate.

The subject names the topic and the predicate tells about the subject.

A sentence with one subject and one predicate is called a simple sentence.

The receiver of actions is called the object.

A group of words used as a single value without subject or predicate is called a phrase.

A clause is a group of words with a subject and predicate.

Principal or independent clauses can form sentences.

A compound sentence contains two or more principal clauses.

A clause which cannot form a sentence is called a dependant clause.

A complex sentence contains a principal clause and one or more dependant or subordinate clauses.

A compound-complex sentence contains two principal clauses and one or more subordinate clauses.

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