GRAMMAR AND PUNCTUATION

Grammar a brief definition

Grammar is a system of rules for speaking and writing in a particular language

What is a a sentence?
A sentence is a group of words that can stand alone and, in context, make sense. A sentence can have one complete idea in it, or more. Sentences are made up of clauses and phrases.

How long should a sentence be?

To make sentences easy to read, it is best not to include more than three separate ideas, or clauses. A good average sentence length is 15 20 words For variety, you should vary the length of sentences in your writing

What is a clause?
A clause contains a verb and can stand as a sentence on its own.
The phone rang The members have arrived The meeting will start later

What is a clause?
A clause can be part of a larger sentence. The phone rang as I was leaving. I am surprised that the members have arrived early. The meeting will start later because of the security alert.

What is a phrase?
A phrase does not usually have a verb and is not a complete sentence (except possibly as the answer to a question). after the meeting in the meantime in reply to your complaint

Paragraphs
We divide our writing into paragraphs to make things easier for the reader. A paragraph is as group of sentences relating to one idea. A new paragraph can indicate a slight change of direction on the same subject.

Paragraphs how long?

There are no rules about how long or short a paragraph should be The longer it is, the more the reader will see the text as a barrier We can have a one-line, one-sentence paragraph Consider if a paragraph of more than 8 lines could be split into two

A list which is a continuous sentence

If you are the last person to leave the office, please make sure that you: turn out all the lights lock the office door inform security that you are leaving the building.

Function and parts of speech

A word can only be identified as a particular part of speech if we know what job it is doing in the sentence. The function defines the part of speech Fast can be an adjective, an adverb, a verb, a noun.

Verbs
The function of a verb is to show doing, having or being. Verbs have tenses to show when they take place. In writing, keep to the tense you begin with unless there is a good reason to change it.

Verbs: participles
Verbs can be made up of two parts: a secondary or supporting verb and a participle from the main verb The supporting verb is usually to be or to have

Verbs: Present participles

Present participles end in ing
The manager is asking him He is agreeing to do it

Note that if there is no supporting verb you may have a non sentence:
Traffic piling up on the M8 this morning.

Verbs: past participles

Past participles usually end in -ed
They have agreed to the proposals

But some dont:

They have broken the agreement She had read the report beforehand Usually, if the past tense of the verb ends in ed, so does the past participle

Verbs: active and passive

With an active verb, the doer comes before the verb
We cannot consider your application until we receive the form

With a passive verb the doer comes behind the verb, introduced by the word by (sometimes by is understood but does not
appear) Your application cannot be considered until the form is received

Verbs: singular and plural

None takes a singular verb because it means not one Neither take a singular verb as long as the subject are both singular Names of organisations usually take a singular verb Collective nouns usually use a singular verb

Adverbs
The function of an adverb is to show how, where or when a verb happens such as:
quickly, slowly, carefully, reliably

Most adverbs end in ly but some dont:

Fast, well, often, now, there, later

Adverbs can be linked to adjectives or other adverbs:

completely safe, totally worn out, too quickly

Nouns
The function of a noun is to name a person, place or thing. There are four types of noun.
Common nouns: desk, computers, offices Proper nouns: Scotland, The Minister, The Parliament Abstract nouns: decision, principles, values Collective nouns: team, committee, audience

Pronouns
Personal pronouns take the place of nouns to make sentences run more smoothly First person: I, me, my, we, us, our Second person: you, your, yours Third person: he, she, it, they, him , her, them,
his, hers, its, their, theirs.

Adjectives
The function of an adjective is to describe a noun Adjectives are words such as: quick, slow, careful, reliable Words which are used as nouns maybe used as adjectives: police van, committee
papers, security check

Prepositions
Prepositions come before nouns or pronouns and usually show a connection:
in the office to the meeting on the desk

Other common prepositions: at, for, up, over,

by, from, near

Articles
The definite article is the The indefinite article is a or an We use an before a vowel sound:
an MSP, an hour, an honour

We use a before a consonant sound:

a unique opportunity, a useful idea, a European country

Using punctuation
Compare these two statements: A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman: without her, man is nothing

Using punctuation
Dear Jack, I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when were apart. I can be forever happy will you let me be yours?

Using punctuation
Dear Jack, I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When were apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours,

Punctuation?
Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off. Leonora walked on her head, a little higher than usual. The driver managed to escape from the vehicle before it sank and swam to the river-bank. The convict said the judge is mad. The society decided not to prosecute the owners of the Windsor Safari Park, where animals, have already been fed live to snakes and lions, on legal advice.

The comma
In simple terms, the comma indicates a pause in a sentence To show where there would be a natural pause if we were speaking In a list, to separate the items In pairs, in the same way that we would use brackets

The colon
We use a colon to introduce a list, as we saw in the section on bullet points. We can use a colon to make a break to indicate we expect something to follow:
Only three people turned up for the meeting: the HR manager, the team leader and the case worker.

The semi-colon
Can act as a weak full stop, to separate two very closely related sentences
We have studied this problem for several days; there are no easy answers

Can separate items in a long complicated list

Inverted commas
To show direct speech To quote a section from a report or to quote a title of a book or paper etc

Note: If you are quoting part of a text , the use of ellipsis should keep the sense of the sentence.
The report stated that The Management have carried out a consultation and have recommended various stepsto remedy the situation.

The apostrophe
To show that a letter has been left out To show possession
In the singular it comes before the s In the plural it comes after the s If the plural doesnt end in s we add an apostrophe and an s (womens committee etc) With names ending in s we can add an apostrophe or an apostrophe and an s (Mr James statement or Mr Jamess statement)

Brackets
We use brackets to separate a word , or a group of words from the rest of the sentence (or to add something) The full stop comes outside the bracket, as it does in the last sentence, unless what is in the brackets is a full sentence.
(So if the sentence is complete, like this one, we put the full stop inside.)

The dash
We can use two dashes but only in the middle of a sentence in the same way that we use brackets (in parenthesis) We can use a single dash in the same way that we use a colon to mark a break when we expect something to follow

Capital letters are used

To begin every sentence For I For proper names Edinburgh, Jane For titles First Minister, Prime minister For days of the week, months of the year In letters Dear Sir, Yours sincerely For abbreviations MSP, SCE, SQA

Some words commonly confused

affect effect alternately alternatively continuous Continual enquire inquire to influence consequence one after the other one instead of the other unceasing recurring to ask to investigate

More words commonly confused

emotional emotive stationary stationery proscribed prescribed transitional transitory affected by emotions affecting the emotions not moving writing materials outlawed ordered passing from one stage to another lasting only a short time

Checking and Redrafting

Does what you have written sound right when you read it aloud? Does the punctuation make the meaning clear? Do the sentences make sense? Are the sentences an appropriate length? Are the sentences grouped in paragraphs? Have you used Capitals correctly? Is the spelling accurate?