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English Grammar
Made to explain correct examples of English grammar.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What does parallel structure look like? | I talked with the secretary and the treasurer. (Similar usage of "the" makes it parallel.) The committee studied all aspects of the problem--humane, political, and financial. (All the elements are adjectives. The similarity defines it as parallel.) |
| What is correct subject/verb agreement? | They all scramble for the exit. (The plural subject has a plural verb. The subject and the verb "agree.") She has proven her point. (Singular subject and singular verb.) |
| How should a question mark be applied? | Did he really do that? (It's a direct question and the sentence ended, so it needs the mark.) |
| When is a period used? | I don't like that. (The sentence ended, hence the period.) |
| What are exclamation marks for? | I thought she hated him! (This is used to show emphasis caused by surprise.) Shut up! (This is used to show volume.) |
| When are commas appropriate? | It's your turn, Aimee. (The comma denotes direct address.) We went to the park, and then back home. (It's used to separate two independent clauses.) |
| When else are commas appropriate? | He, a man in possession of an inheritance, bragged about going to Paris, Brazil, and Madrid. (These are for, in order, sequestering a nonessential clause and listing.) |
| What's the proper place for a semicolon? | They couldn't be blamed for it; the whole ordeal was out of their control. (It is used where a period could have been to avoid losing the meaning of the two ideas by dividing them.) |
| What else is the proper place for a semicolon? | He liked reading, especially to kids; hiking; and performing experiments. (It takes on the listing purpose of a comma to avoid confusion.) Academia, Jon thought, wasn't for him; and he'd be proven right soon. (Again replacing a comma's usage for clarity.) |
| How does one use a colon? | She needed five spices: turmeric, cardamom, cumin, saffron, and nutmeg. (It's used to list after a topic is introduced.) I didn't go out with them: I was sick. (Here it's like a semicolon; the sentences are too close to divide. The 2nd explains the 1st.) |
| What are quotation marks for? | "I don't understand putting up with that," she said, smile wry and small. (The quotation marks indicate that this is a direct quote, or that she is speaking.) |
| In what ways are apostrophes used? | Carl got Raj's help, since Raj was the only one of the accountants' group who'd share his air. (In both here it's used to show possession. With "s" plurals, it follows.) It's strange that it'd pose a problem; it doesn't usually. (Also used to contract.) |
| What are hyphens for? | The twenty-two shards of the orb re-formed inside the dark-colored walls of the ex-governor's office. (It's used to write a number, denote a prefix and avoid confusion with other words, make a compound adjective, and add a prefix to a proper noun.) |
| What are em dashes for? | He went on his way, worrying incessantly--and wholly irrationally--over what they said. (These em dashes are used to show a sudden, short, but still relevant subject change.) |
| When are en dashes used? | The time period she studied, 1400-1600, wasn't helpful in the liberal-conservative debates she was privy to. (They're used to show a range and define a conflict, respectively.) |
| How should parentheses be used? | She had to work through the weekend (the poor girl!) to support herself. The cat (a siamese-tabby mix) gracefully flopped off the wall. (In both cases, the parentheses mark an aside that doesn't change the meaning of the sentence but adds to the writing.) |
| What's the correct use of an ellipsis? | "She said she likes me, but... I don't know," she admitted. (Here it shows a pause.) The text read, "You drag yourself back to reality... [your friend] is dead." (Here it shows an omission from the text.) |
| When are brackets appropriate? | "He's [a teacher] supposed to go around to each and every one of these families." (It clarifies a pronoun used for a noun specified earlier in the text than the quote needed to be.) |
| How do I write a sentence in the right verb tense? | He wouldn't have had to if she hadn't made him, he told himself, but she had. (This is in consistent past tense, and partially in a speculative past participle.) |
| What are the types of phrases? | "For Peg and you," is a prepositional phrase: it begins with a preposition and ends with a noun or pronoun. "After dinner" is too. "With diligence," "before a tour," and "for weeks" are adverb phrases, modifying a verb. |
| What are more types of phrases? | In the sentence "Shaking with fear, he took her hand," "shaking with fear" is a participle phrase: it uses a participle to describe a verb. "A red hat" is a noun phrase, only about a noun. "Has rained" and "ran" are verb phrases which only describe verbs. |
| What's an adjective phrase? | In the phrase "the woman on the boat," "on the boat" is an adjective phrase since it describes the noun. |
| What are dependent and independent clauses? | The little boy ran out to play after the rain stopped. ("The" to "play" is an independent clause; it has a predicate and verb, and is a complete sentence when alone. The rest is a dependent clause: it has a predicate and verb, but won't make sense alone.) |
| What are some other types of clauses? | The tree which grew alone had nests all over. ("Which grew alone" is an adjective clause describing "tree". This is a relative clause, too: the relative pronoun "which" is used.) Here's a version of what they wrote. ("What they wrote" is a noun clause.) |
| What is an adverb clause? | She investigates crimes with her dog. ("With her dog" is an adverb clause. It is a full clause and modifies a verb.) |
| What is correct pronoun/antecedent agreement? | Morgan saw Jimmy across the hall and waved to him. (The antecedent, "Jimmy," makes sense with the singular pronoun used after it.) Jose would never admit how the crowds and their cheering terrified him. ("The crowds" agrees with "their".) |
Created by:
disstatic
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