Thursday, September 26, 2013
More Practice with Conjunctive Adverbs and Run-Ons
Using the following conjunctive adverbs, construct compound sentences. You may join your sentences with semicolons or comma/conjunctions. If your teacher permits, you may select only three of the following 10 words.
Suggested topic: Whatever is happening today at school or after school.
1. however
2. therefore
3. consequently
4. after (use as a conjunctive adverb, not a preposition)
5. in fact
6. in addition
7. otherwise
8. besides
9. finally
10. furthermore
Suggested topic: Whatever is happening today at school or after school.
1. however
2. therefore
3. consequently
4. after (use as a conjunctive adverb, not a preposition)
5. in fact
6. in addition
7. otherwise
8. besides
9. finally
10. furthermore
Friday, September 13, 2013
Semicolons, conjunctive adverbs, and run-ons
Place semicolons in the correct places (thereby correcting run-ons as needed). Underline the conjunctive adverbs (what I often call transitional words). Be ye careful with transitional words, for they are not conjunctions. They make your ear hear a "transitional flow" and therefore can trick you into thinking that your clauses are "joined," when in fact they are not - thereby creating a run-on situation. Semicolons are solutions to such situations.
Another solution is just to separate the two clauses. Or, you may use a comma and a coordinating conjunction instead of a semicolon. Both choices do the same job of joining two clauses to form a compound. A coordinating conjunction is a "joiner" by nature, but we still want to hear a pause, so we add the comma. I like to think of a "comma and a conjunction" being the equivalent to "a comma and a dot" -- a semicolon. Cool.
1) I got to school at 6:15, which was too early, furthermore, I didn't leave until 7:15 at night.
2) Scheherezade told the sultan many fascinating stories, consequently he didn't murder her.
3) There is a moose on my wall, henceforth he shall be called Boris.
4) I am really, really tired of doing schoolwork, however, I am not finished making these darn semicolon sentences.
5) It is Friday, and tomorrow is Saturday, and the next day is Sunday, praise the Lord.
Another solution is just to separate the two clauses. Or, you may use a comma and a coordinating conjunction instead of a semicolon. Both choices do the same job of joining two clauses to form a compound. A coordinating conjunction is a "joiner" by nature, but we still want to hear a pause, so we add the comma. I like to think of a "comma and a conjunction" being the equivalent to "a comma and a dot" -- a semicolon. Cool.
1) I got to school at 6:15, which was too early, furthermore, I didn't leave until 7:15 at night.
2) Scheherezade told the sultan many fascinating stories, consequently he didn't murder her.
3) There is a moose on my wall, henceforth he shall be called Boris.
4) I am really, really tired of doing schoolwork, however, I am not finished making these darn semicolon sentences.
5) It is Friday, and tomorrow is Saturday, and the next day is Sunday, praise the Lord.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Quotations: citations for print fiction
When you write an essay about a work of fiction (a novel or short story) your supporting quotations should be lifted word-for-word from the text of the book, including capitalization and internal punctuation. Follow standard quotation punctuation rules, and then add a citation at the end.
Your citation should include the last name of the work's author, followed by a page number. KEEP IN MIND that if the entire paper is about the same work, and therefore the same author, you DO NOT have to keep writing that author's name over and over again in the citations. Do it the first time, and thereafter you may skip the name! Also, if the author's name appears IN your sentence, you need not repeat it in the parentheses as well. The object of your citation is to be clear, not to be repetitive or annoying!
After the author's name, put the page number (with no punctuation in between). After the page number, you may wish to insert a semicolon followed by the part number or the chapter number. These must be identified by the abbreviations "pt." or "ch." so as to differentiate between numbers.
Remember that the period for the entire sentence goes AFTER the citation.
Examples: (Smith 577) (577) (Smith 577; ch. 13) (577; pt. 2, ch. 13)
In the following examples, identify and correct the errors (one per item). All sentences are from George Orwell's Animal Farm.
1) Orwell opens the book by telling us that "Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night" (Orwell 15).
2) Major asks the other animals if "the wild creatures, such as rats and rabbits" are their friends or their enemies. (21).
3) The animals took a vote, and "it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades" (21, 1).
4) Major went on to say: "No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol...(21)."
Your citation should include the last name of the work's author, followed by a page number. KEEP IN MIND that if the entire paper is about the same work, and therefore the same author, you DO NOT have to keep writing that author's name over and over again in the citations. Do it the first time, and thereafter you may skip the name! Also, if the author's name appears IN your sentence, you need not repeat it in the parentheses as well. The object of your citation is to be clear, not to be repetitive or annoying!
After the author's name, put the page number (with no punctuation in between). After the page number, you may wish to insert a semicolon followed by the part number or the chapter number. These must be identified by the abbreviations "pt." or "ch." so as to differentiate between numbers.
Remember that the period for the entire sentence goes AFTER the citation.
Examples: (Smith 577) (577) (Smith 577; ch. 13) (577; pt. 2, ch. 13)
In the following examples, identify and correct the errors (one per item). All sentences are from George Orwell's Animal Farm.
1) Orwell opens the book by telling us that "Mr. Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night" (Orwell 15).
2) Major asks the other animals if "the wild creatures, such as rats and rabbits" are their friends or their enemies. (21).
3) The animals took a vote, and "it was agreed by an overwhelming majority that rats were comrades" (21, 1).
4) Major went on to say: "No animal must ever live in a house, or sleep in a bed, or wear clothes, or drink alcohol...(21)."
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