Effective Writing Blog

This blog is for students registered in ENGL 155, 177 or 189 at Athabasca University.

Friday, October 18, 2013

WHAT’S NEW

Apostrophe disaster!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pondspider/4863410939/in/pool-413045@N24/

Why punctuation is important—beating a parking ticket:
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/aug/04/drawing-a-line-between-law-and-grammar/

http://behindthegrammar.com/2010/07/top-10-made-up-words/
Posted by Michael at 7:56 AM

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WHAT'S NEW IN PUNCTUATION?

Have you ever heard of the interrobang? It’s a symbol that is cross between a question mark and an exclamation mark. Check some background information about it, and listen to a CBC podcast that includes a discussion of this interesting punctuation mark. However, there is a word of warning--don’t use it in formal academic writing.

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CONJUNCTIONS

Coordinators

Subordinators

F

for

W

who, what, where, when, why, which, whether, while

A

as, after, although

A

and

I

if

B

before, because

N

nor

S

since, so that

O

once

B

but

H

how

U

unless, until

O

or

T

than, that, though

Y

yet

S

so

DEFINITIONS

Clause: A clause is a group of words containing a subject and a verb.
Independent clause: A clause that can be used alone as a sentence and that does not need any other grammatical construction: e.g. He hit the ball over the fence.
Dependent clause: A clause that cannot form a separate sentence; there must be an independent clause for it to modify: e.g. When Peter played baseball, he hit the ball over the fence.
Phrase: A group of words used together to express an idea but without a subject and a verb: e.g. In the game yesterday, he hit the ball over the fence.

PUNCTUATION BASICS

1. When using an introductory phrase, remember to set it off with a comma.
2. If you have an introductory dependent clause, set it off with a comma.
3. Two independent clauses can be more difficult; use a semicolon to separate them if there is no coordinating conjunction, but use a comma if there is a one.

IDIOMS

If English is not your first language, then English idioms are probably difficult for you. The BBC has a site that provides interesting and crazy videos to explain a variety of idioms.
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