Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Project Finished

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" :)

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

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!

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.

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!

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.

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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!

Commas and Introductory Interjections

Here's just a quick and easy lesson on commas and introductory interjection. An introductory interjection is a short (sometimes one word) statement or reaction. For instance, in this sentence Yes, I won the lottery! the word "Yes" is the interjection and the comma immediately follows. Another example would be, Whoa, I didn't see you behind me! I'm sure you can figure out what the introductory interjection is in this sentence.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Using Commas with Locations

This is a concept we have not discussed much here at the grammar blog.

When mentioning a city/state or city/country one would write it like this: "Los Angeles, California" such that the smaller division is written first, followed by a comma and then the larger division. In this case Los Angeles is a city inside of California.

We visited Indianapolis, Indiana, to see the Colts play.

As this sentence shows an additional comma is placed after Indiana as well. However, if the location becomes possessive of something, the comma is removed. For example:

Our friends visited Cleveland, Ohio's Quicken Loans Arena to watch the Cavaliers play against the Miami Heat.

In this sentence Cleveland, Ohio is "owning" Quicken Loans Arena (i.e. it is possessive). Because of this the comma after "Ohio" is removed.



Bet you Lebron never told you he was the King of Grammar. And he didn't even go to College.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Questions For You

Tell us where you think a comma is needed.

1. I had scrambled eggs bacon potatoes and juice for breakfast.

2. The man who was tall and ugly looked like he was having a bad day.

3. Justin and Masroor trying to finish this project spent late nights working on it.

4. The snowball which is mostly made of water melted in my hand.

5. I felt the test was easy yet I don't think I answered all of the questions correctly.

Comma Practice

Here are some example of when to use a comma.

I ate a sandwich, chips and pudding.
This sentence a comma is used to separate three foods.

He was going to go to the bathroom, but the bell rang.
We use a comma in this sentence because a coordinating conjuction "but" is used.
Other coordinating conjuctions are "and, or, for, yet, then, so and nor" The comma would be placed before the conjuction.

The best sandwich, a ham and chesse the size of Alaska, was also the most expensive sandwich.
This sentence contains an appositive. An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that adds detail to the subject of the sentence. In this case "a ham and cheese the size of Alaka" is adding detail to "The best sandwich". The comma would be placed in the beginning of an appositive and at the end. A littile trick for appositives is to take the noun phrase in between the commas and then read the sentence to see if it makes sense. If it does then the commas are referring to an appositive.

Adverbial clause and Comma Placement ( What does that mean?)

Commas are used before or after an adverbial clause. What does that mean? First of all, an adverbial clause describes "why, when, where, how or who" the sentence is pertaining to.
Example-
Timothy, anxious about the first day of school, didn't go to bed until 2 AM.
(This sentence is telling you why Timothy didn't go to bed until 2 AM)

An adverbial clause also can start with a subordinating conjunction such as, "when, because if, and although."
However, keep in mind that an adverbial clause may appear in the beginning, middle or end of the sentence.

Example...
When the road is covered in snow, school is sometimes closed.
("When" is the subordinating conjunction in this sentence.)

Grammar T-Shirt

Yeah, awesome grammar T-shirts available! Buy yours now!

http://grammrawr.spreadshirt.com

Not only that but the winner of an in-class grammar contest (if there ever is one) will get a free grammar T-shirt!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Commas & Restrictive Clauses

It's time for a strictly lesson post!

See what I did there?" 'Strict'ly? We're about to study restrictive and non-restrictive clauses? *wink*

A restrictive clause limits the possible meaning of a preceding subject or object. In this way, the subject/obj. is a specific subject/obj., and the added clause defines that sub./obj. to be a certain sub./obj. as opposed to another one.

Let's take some examples and break them apart:

Justin swung the baseball bat that was made out of wood and hit a home-run.

Non-Restrictive Clause:

Justin swung the baseball bat, which was made out of wood, and hit a home-run.

Take a good look at the italicized words. In the restrictive clause (first) the clause "that was made out of wood" is significant in the sentence because it defines which baseball bat Justin swung. You can usually tell it's a restrictive clause because of the use of the word 'that', which is associated with restrictive clauses.

On the contrary, the non-restrictive clause has commas due to the appositive phrase "which was made out of wood". You can tell from the wording and the commas that the fact that the baseball bat was made out of wood isn't really an important detail. It's important not to write a restrictive clause in the wrong way and use commas where they aren't meant to be used.

For example, the following sentence would be grammatically incorrect:

Justin swung the baseball bat, that was made out wood, and hit a home-run.

The commas placed before and after the italicized words are unnecessary. They should be omitted in order for the sentence to be correct. Alternatively the sentence could be altered to make the italicized clause an appositive phrase, which would change the significance of the clause.

Similarly, one should not confuse an appositive phrase like the following for a restrictive clause:

Justin swung the baseball bat, smashing the ball as hard as he can, and hit a home-run.

The italicized phrase is not saying which baseball bat Justin used, but rather it is describing how Justin swung--Justin swung very hard, smashing the ball as hard as he could. This is a correct appositive phrase and so the commas SHOULD be kept here.

If you're unfamiliar with appositive phrases please wait for a new blog post on the matter or google it until we cover it here on the blog.

With that I hope you now understand what restrictive clauses are (as opposed to non-restrictive clauses) as well as when to use and not use commas with them. To wrap things up:

- Don't use commas with restrictive clauses
- Do use commas with certain types of non-restrictive clauses, such as appositive phrases
- Make sure you are familiar with the definitions of such things and how they work so you don't confuse one type of clause with another
- Sound out sentences with the commas and see if it sounds right--you can often figure out whether a comma is being used right just by saying the sentence out loud!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Coolest Comma Games In The Nation

http://www.compasslearningodyssey.com/sample_act/34lang_confusion.html

http://www.savethecomma.com/game/

eHow

A youtube user named eHow has created some good grammar videos, many of which are on our favorite subject, commas!

When to use commas in a list-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGl1j-SV5QA

When to use a comma in a compound subject-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snJB6mGhivI&feature=related

When to use a comma with a prepositional phrase-- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePVa3IZiISY&feature=related

Enjoy these youtube videos created by others! We will be reviewing these concepts ourselves very soon!

Participial Phrases Set Off by Commas

Brought to you by Yossarian the Grammarian!

Grammar Prepositions Video

School house rock, yeah!

Here Is Comma Advice For Everyone

A comma breaks up a sentence and ultimatly provides a pause in a sentence. They can come in between clauses or phrases.
Can you figure out when the comma is used in this sentence?

Hakim Juan and Jose are all eating pizza salad and bread.

Blog is Created!

This grammar blog has been created today to help people with grammar. It will have images, videos, posts, etc., all created for an English grammar project...