Dear Non-Existent Viewers Besides Us,
After a lot of hard work the project is finished. This may or may not be the final blog post. But regardless please behold the glory. And remember to use grammar with a rawr. :)
Your Creators,
MustRAWR "Q" and JT "B-Baller" :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Awesome SPORCLE Quiz!
YEAH! I did it!
It wasn't hard, Sporcle makes it really easy. =)
Guess various comma vocab and stuff and try and guess all 15 words in 5 minutes. The hints will help you guess which concept the sentence or description is about, bla bla bla... play it for yourself! ^_^
SPORCLE QUIZ
It wasn't hard, Sporcle makes it really easy. =)
Guess various comma vocab and stuff and try and guess all 15 words in 5 minutes. The hints will help you guess which concept the sentence or description is about, bla bla bla... play it for yourself! ^_^
SPORCLE QUIZ
Helpful Quizzes
You feel like you've reached the top? There's nothing more to learn! Well than, test it out, and we'll see whether you truly know how to use commas right!
Unfortunately we're not very techy ourselves so we don't have quizzes for you. BUT. You CAN take quizzes on other websites. Here's a really good one that lets you fill in the blank with commas. It tests whether you know not only when to use commas but when NOT to use commas. It lets you check your answers at any time so don't feel like you have to finish the entire test, that'd be too boring!
Take the Test Here!
Remember, google is great for more quizzes and other useful activities!
Unfortunately we're not very techy ourselves so we don't have quizzes for you. BUT. You CAN take quizzes on other websites. Here's a really good one that lets you fill in the blank with commas. It tests whether you know not only when to use commas but when NOT to use commas. It lets you check your answers at any time so don't feel like you have to finish the entire test, that'd be too boring!
Take the Test Here!
Remember, google is great for more quizzes and other useful activities!
Another Miscellaneous Use of Commas
Sometimes commas can be used after words or phrases like "for instance", "e.g.", "i.e.", etc., as shown below.
He is not very fast, i.e., he is too overweight to run quickly.
This is just another example using different words--no new comma rules are introduced here.
There were many foods at the party, e.g., chicken, cookies, and cake.
"i.e." means "that is" and "e.g." means "for example". In the above sentence you can also see the use of commas in the series of items (chicken, cookies, and cake). Just a little side-note.
He is not very fast, i.e., he is too overweight to run quickly.
This is just another example using different words--no new comma rules are introduced here.
There were many foods at the party, e.g., chicken, cookies, and cake.
"i.e." means "that is" and "e.g." means "for example". In the above sentence you can also see the use of commas in the series of items (chicken, cookies, and cake). Just a little side-note.
Some Major References
Here are some of our major references in terms of finding information and verifying information.
http://www.google.com - Arguably the most useful website to date
http://www.englishplus.com
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/
http://www.chompchomp.com
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
There are many others but they are too numerous!
I'd also like to thank the people who actually made the effort to teach us our grammar in the first place. We hope this project was a success!
http://www.google.com - Arguably the most useful website to date
http://www.englishplus.com
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/
http://www.chompchomp.com
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
There are many others but they are too numerous!
I'd also like to thank the people who actually made the effort to teach us our grammar in the first place. We hope this project was a success!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Run-on Sentences & Comma Splices
It's time for one of our final lessons! Run-on sentences and comma splices!
To start, a run-on sentence is not necessarily a long sentence. It consists of two independent clauses that aren't properly connected together.
----------------------------
Knowing that millions of people around the world would be watching in person and on television and expecting great things from him — at least one more gold medal for America, if not another world record — during this, his fourth and surely his last appearance in the World Olympics, and realizing that his legs could no longer carry him down the runway with the same blazing speed and confidence in making a huge, eye-popping leap that they
were capable of a few years ago when he set world records in the 100-meter dash and in the 400-meter relay and won a silver medal in the long jump, the renowned sprinter and track-and-field personality Carl Lewis, who had known pressure from fans and media before but never, even as a professional runner, this kind of pressure, made only a few appearances in races during the few months before the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, partly because he was afraid of raising expectations even higher and he did not want to be distracted by interviews and adoring fans who would follow him into stores and restaurants demanding autographs and photo-opportunities, but mostly because he wanted to conserve his energies and concentrate, like a martial arts expert, on the job at hand: winning his favorite competition, the long jump, and bringing home another Gold Medal for the United States, the most fitting conclusion to his brilliant career in track and field.
----------------------------
It's quite a long sentence, but it is grammatically sound.
Q made the shot he scored three points.
The above sentence is incorrect. If you split the sentence after shot and make the two parts their own individual sentences you will see you get two grammatically-sound sentences.
Q made the shot. He scored three points.
A comma-splice is when one attempts to add a comma in order to remedy the problem of a run-on sentence. However a comma cannot be used alone. A sentence with two independent clauses like so needs a conjunction such as and, but, for, nor, yet, or so.
Q made the shot; he scored three points.
Q made the shot, and he scored three points.
Q made the shot and scored three points.
All of these 3 sentences are grammatically correct. I won't cover why the semi-colon can be used here but it's a probable solution. The comma is used with the conjunction 'and' in the 2nd sentence. The 3rd sentence has two parallel structures. Q did two things--he made the shot and scored three points. All 3 sentences should work fine.
One large source for run-on sentences that people do not recognize is the use of words like however.
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air, however, it was a foul ball.
This sentence may appear to be right, but it is in fact misleading. However is not a conjunction and is not one of the options in terms of properly connecting two independent clauses. Because the independent claused "Just hit the ball..." and "it was a foul ball" are not properly connected, the sentence is labeled a run-on sentence or fused sentence (just an alternate name).
You could fix this by doing--
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air; however, it was a foul ball.
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air, but it was a foul ball.
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air. Unfortunately, it was a foul ball.
Here are some exercises for you to try out. Choose which sentence is the most appropriate/grammatically correct! Look for run-on sentences!
1. A) The orthodontist isn't nice, nor he tightens my braces.
B) The orthodontist isn't nice; he tightens my braces.
C) The orthodontist isn't nice: he tightens my braces.
D) The orthodontist isn't nice, he tightens my braces.
E) None of the above
2. A) The media center lady scolded us, we were whispering too loudly.
B) The media center lady scolded us, and we were whispering too loudly.
C) The media center lady scolded us. We were whispering too loudly.
D) The media center lady scolded us; were whispering too loudly.
E) None of the above
3. A) This project might seem boring, but it is actually not too boring.
B) This project might seem boring. Actually, it is not too boring.
C) This project might seem boring, however, it is actually not too boring.
D) A & B are both correct, but A is a better choice.
E) A & C are both correct, but A is better choice.
F) They're all wrong.
G) Our teacher is always right, let's ask her.
4. A) Waking up later than normal on Wednesdays is fun, and a lot of people get to do it.
B) Waking up later than normal, for a lot of people, on Wednesdays is fun.
C) Waking up later than normal on Wednesdays is fun a lot of people get to do it.
D) Waking up later than normal on Wednesdays is fun, a lot of people get to do it.
Want the answers? Well, here's a riddle! It's only here to help me remind myself of the answers.
Learning to count doesn't help much if you don't start with #1!
I hope that helped! See ya~~!!!!!
To start, a run-on sentence is not necessarily a long sentence. It consists of two independent clauses that aren't properly connected together.
----------------------------
Knowing that millions of people around the world would be watching in person and on television and expecting great things from him — at least one more gold medal for America, if not another world record — during this, his fourth and surely his last appearance in the World Olympics, and realizing that his legs could no longer carry him down the runway with the same blazing speed and confidence in making a huge, eye-popping leap that they
were capable of a few years ago when he set world records in the 100-meter dash and in the 400-meter relay and won a silver medal in the long jump, the renowned sprinter and track-and-field personality Carl Lewis, who had known pressure from fans and media before but never, even as a professional runner, this kind of pressure, made only a few appearances in races during the few months before the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, partly because he was afraid of raising expectations even higher and he did not want to be distracted by interviews and adoring fans who would follow him into stores and restaurants demanding autographs and photo-opportunities, but mostly because he wanted to conserve his energies and concentrate, like a martial arts expert, on the job at hand: winning his favorite competition, the long jump, and bringing home another Gold Medal for the United States, the most fitting conclusion to his brilliant career in track and field.----------------------------
It's quite a long sentence, but it is grammatically sound.
Q made the shot he scored three points.
The above sentence is incorrect. If you split the sentence after shot and make the two parts their own individual sentences you will see you get two grammatically-sound sentences.
Q made the shot. He scored three points.
A comma-splice is when one attempts to add a comma in order to remedy the problem of a run-on sentence. However a comma cannot be used alone. A sentence with two independent clauses like so needs a conjunction such as and, but, for, nor, yet, or so.
Q made the shot; he scored three points.
Q made the shot, and he scored three points.
Q made the shot and scored three points.
All of these 3 sentences are grammatically correct. I won't cover why the semi-colon can be used here but it's a probable solution. The comma is used with the conjunction 'and' in the 2nd sentence. The 3rd sentence has two parallel structures. Q did two things--he made the shot and scored three points. All 3 sentences should work fine.
One large source for run-on sentences that people do not recognize is the use of words like however.
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air, however, it was a foul ball.
This sentence may appear to be right, but it is in fact misleading. However is not a conjunction and is not one of the options in terms of properly connecting two independent clauses. Because the independent claused "Just hit the ball..." and "it was a foul ball" are not properly connected, the sentence is labeled a run-on sentence or fused sentence (just an alternate name).
You could fix this by doing--
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air; however, it was a foul ball.
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air, but it was a foul ball.
Justin hit the ball 400 feet in the air. Unfortunately, it was a foul ball.
Here are some exercises for you to try out. Choose which sentence is the most appropriate/grammatically correct! Look for run-on sentences!
1. A) The orthodontist isn't nice, nor he tightens my braces.
B) The orthodontist isn't nice; he tightens my braces.
C) The orthodontist isn't nice: he tightens my braces.
D) The orthodontist isn't nice, he tightens my braces.
E) None of the above
2. A) The media center lady scolded us, we were whispering too loudly.
B) The media center lady scolded us, and we were whispering too loudly.
C) The media center lady scolded us. We were whispering too loudly.
D) The media center lady scolded us; were whispering too loudly.
E) None of the above
3. A) This project might seem boring, but it is actually not too boring.
B) This project might seem boring. Actually, it is not too boring.
C) This project might seem boring, however, it is actually not too boring.
D) A & B are both correct, but A is a better choice.
E) A & C are both correct, but A is better choice.
F) They're all wrong.
G) Our teacher is always right, let's ask her.
4. A) Waking up later than normal on Wednesdays is fun, and a lot of people get to do it.
B) Waking up later than normal, for a lot of people, on Wednesdays is fun.
C) Waking up later than normal on Wednesdays is fun a lot of people get to do it.
D) Waking up later than normal on Wednesdays is fun, a lot of people get to do it.
Want the answers? Well, here's a riddle! It's only here to help me remind myself of the answers.
Learning to count doesn't help much if you don't start with #1!
I hope that helped! See ya~~!!!!!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Best Comma Advice We Can Give You
The best advice on where a comma fits is to read the sentence to yourself. If you come to a spot where you have to pause, then a comma is usually needed. I know this isn't the greatest lesson to teach somebody, but it does in fact work.
For the following, read the sentence to yourself and ask where the comma would go.
After the game we went out to dinner.
After reading the following, we can easily see that the comma would go after "game" because of the prepositional phrase "After the game".
After the game, we went out to dinner.
This doesn't always work, but it's a good trick if you don't have a clue what to do. Here are some other examples:
No there's no way I'm going to pay for a ticket to the Superbowl!
Bimpy ate the pudding cookie cake and ice cream for dinner.
The first one sounds like a run-on sentence without the comma which belongs after the "no". The latter doesn't distinguish whether pudding, cookie, and cake as 3 separate items. There is actually a food called 'cookie cake' and there might be a pudding flavor of it too!
Once you figure out a certain area doesn't sound right you can look for some of the rules of comma grammar that you know and fix the mistakes. In the first example you can tell that "no" is part of an interjectory phrase. The second sentence obviously needs commas after "pudding" and "cookie".
"Common sense"--and logic--are pretty useful! But then again, common sense isn't common unless lots of people have it!
For the following, read the sentence to yourself and ask where the comma would go.
After the game we went out to dinner.
After reading the following, we can easily see that the comma would go after "game" because of the prepositional phrase "After the game".
After the game, we went out to dinner.
This doesn't always work, but it's a good trick if you don't have a clue what to do. Here are some other examples:
No there's no way I'm going to pay for a ticket to the Superbowl!
Bimpy ate the pudding cookie cake and ice cream for dinner.
The first one sounds like a run-on sentence without the comma which belongs after the "no". The latter doesn't distinguish whether pudding, cookie, and cake as 3 separate items. There is actually a food called 'cookie cake' and there might be a pudding flavor of it too!
Once you figure out a certain area doesn't sound right you can look for some of the rules of comma grammar that you know and fix the mistakes. In the first example you can tell that "no" is part of an interjectory phrase. The second sentence obviously needs commas after "pudding" and "cookie".
"Common sense"--and logic--are pretty useful! But then again, common sense isn't common unless lots of people have it!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
