Deviances of Language
I- Ice-breaker
1° Woman, without her man, is nothing.
Woman! Without her, man is nothing.
2° The boy says the teacher is stupid.
The boy, says the teacher, is stupid.
3° Did the lion eat Fred?
Did the lion eat, Fred?
II- Punctuation
1° Period (.): At the end of a statement or command.
The pen and paper are on the table. Go to the board and write your name.
After an abbreviation or an initial.
Feb. Dr. Smith Mr. Brown A.M Ms. Little
2° Question mark (?): After a question Is he a doctor?
3° Exclamation mark (!): After words, sentences or expressions that show excitement, surprise, or emotion. Look out! Wow! Oh! Congratulation! What a beautiful dress!
4° Quotation marks (“ ”): To show the words of a speaker. John said, “The store closes at 9 P.M today.” “Where are the children?” she asked.
Around the titles of chapters, articles, parts of books and magazines, short poems, short stories, songs … Last night, I read the chapter “Grammar is easy” in our book. Then I read the article “Learning English” in the newspaper.
To set off words as words. The words “affect” and “effect” are often confused with each other.
5° Apostrophe (’): In contractions I’m Can’t Where’s.
To indicate possession Bill’s book the girl’s coat the children’s clothes the men’s shirts the boys’ shoes the students’ names James’ car.
6° Comma (,):
To separate items in a seriesshe looked behind the chairs, under the bed, and in the kitchen for her notebook. We ate sandwiches, potato chips, and fruit for lunch.Before coordinating conjunctions when they join independent clauses Frank can speak Chinese well, but he can’t read it.
After an introductory clause or phrase to separate it from the rest of the sentence After we study this book, we want to take a break. Because Joe was sick, he didn’t take the test. Looking up at the sky, the small boy suddenly ran home.
After words such as Yes / No / Well when they begin a sentence. Do you want to go to the library? Yes, I do. / Well, I’m not sure.
To separate the words of a speaker from the rest of sentence “Listen to me,” she said “Hand over the money,” said the mugger, “or I’ll shoot.”
To set off nonessential clauses, nonessential participial phrases and expressions that interrupt the sentence (appositive) Joan Thomas, who was offered scholarships to three colleges, will go to Harvard in September. My aunt, working at the Union Trust Company, lives in New Jersey. A syndicated column by Bernice Silverman, the noted writer, will appear in Times news, a local paper. Rabat, which is the capital of Morocco, is in the North Western part of the country.Paris, the son of the king of Troy, killed Achilles.
In dates and addresses June 9th, 1993 143 main street, L.A, California.
7° Semicolon (;): Between independent clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction. You did your best; now let’s hope you pass the exam. Joseph likes coffee; Kate likes tea. Take with you only indispensible things; leave behind all heavy and bulky items.
Between independent clauses joined by such words like: However, yet, nevertheless, for instance, hence… Pater was sick; nevertheless, he went to work. They were well trained; hence, they won the game.
Between items in a series if the items contain commas the following are members of the new committee: Jan Bates, president of the student council; Allan Drew, president of the service; Helen Berger, vice-president of the honor society; and James Green, a member of the student council.
8° Colon (:): The job of the colon is simply to introduce. A list there are three countries in North America: Mexico, the US and Canada. A single item there is one thing that he will not accept: stupidity. A direct speech or quotation John whispered in my ear: “Have you seen Andrea?” An explanation there is no need to rush: the meeting will be starting one hour late. These seat covers are the most durable kind: they are reinforced with double stitching and covered with a heavy plastic coating.
Exercise:
I hate travelling. It makes me very nervous. When I go into an airport, I don’t just feel that there is something wrong with; I know it.
Yesterday, when I landed at Kennedy airport, it started: I had a feeling of fear in my stomach and I asked these questions: “is my passport out of date?”, “have I forgotten the visa?” I stood in the queue and looked and looked at the immigration officer.
- Wow! That’s amazing!
- We were leaving the house; the door had to be locked.
- “Where do you live?” She wanted to know.
- States included in that area are New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware.
- The choice of a camera is difficult (.)(,for)(because)(;), there are many good ones on the market.
III- Run-on sentence
A run-on sentence is a sentence with at least two independent clauses which are forced together instead of being properly connected. To correct these sentences, there are several options:
Separate clauses using punctuation.
Separate clauses using a conjunction.
Rearrange the sentence (add / remove words)
e.g.: a° Fred didn’t hear about the party until Thursday, (,so)(;)(.)(;thus) he had to change his plans.
b° First try to do the exercise by yourself, if you can’t do it, ask your teacher for help.
Exercise:
- After graduating from college, my mother took graduate courses in environmental studies at night, worked part-time as a reporter during the day, and helped fight fires as a volunteer on Saturdays, since she was very concerned with the condition of the environment she enjoyed all her activities.
- She had two boyfriends: Frank, my father, and Percival, a neighbor neither one could convince mother to marry for several years Percival tried in vain.
- Finally father succeeded though she took fewer night classes, mother continued to do research on ecology, eventually she organized an ecology study center for our town.
- Mr. Brown offered me only thirty dollars, I should be sure. (Misplaced modifier)
- While taking a shower, the doorbell rang. (Dangling modifier)
IV- Misplaced and Dangling modifiers
A°/ Misplaced modifiers are words, because of awkward placement, do not describe what the writer intended them to describe. Therefore, the sentence can be confusing. So which is correct? They saw a fence made of barbed wire behind the house. Or, they saw a fence behind the house made of barbed wire.
He served pancakes to the children on paper plates.
I saw a rabbit and a raccoon on the way to the airport.
He almost brushed his teeth for ten minutes every night.
The woman bought a dress at the store with green stripes.
B°/ Dangling modifiers are modifiers that don’t clearly relate to any word. Normally a modifier that begins a sentence must be followed immediately by the word it is meant to describe.
While reading a magazine, Edward sat with me on the bench.
Hanging on the wall, my mom really liked the picture.
Covered in mustard and ketchup, John liked the pizza.
Exercise:
We saw several birds looking out of the window.
While doing the dishes, a mouse ran across the floor.
Mary nearly watched two hundred movies last year.
While camping, I saw an elephant in my pajamas.
Standing on the balcony, the ocean looked so beautiful.
We rented a boat from my cousin with two motors.
Sam found a letter in the mailbox that doesn’t belong to him.
Dressed in a diaper and drooling, my grandpa was reading a book to his granddaughter.