Voice: Grammar

Comma Rules

  1. Use a comma and coordinating conjunction to connect two main/independent clauses.
  2. Coordinating Conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So (FANBOYS)
  3. Use a comma after an adverb clause, long prepositional phrase, or participle phrase when it occurs at the beginning of a sentence.
  4. Do not use a comma before an adverb clause at the end of a sentence.
  5. Use a comma before a participle phrase at the end of a sentence when the phrase modifies the subject of the sentence.
  6. Correct Usage:
  7. Adverb clause: When I first started college, I did not know what to major in.
  8. Adverb clause at the end of a sentence (no comma): Megan transferred to N.C. State because her old college did not have an Animal Science program.
  9. Prepositional phrase: For the first ten years of his life, Mr. Johnson lived in France.
  10. Participle Phrase: Screaming at the top of her lungs, LeighAnn ran out of the woods.
  11. Participle Phrase at the end of the sentence (modifying the subject): LeighAnn ran out of the woods, screaming at the top of her lungs.
  12. Use a comma between items in a series.
  13. Use commas around non-restrictive material.
  14. Non-restrictive material = material that can be lifted out of the sentence without changing the meaning
  15. Correct Usage:
  16. Corie left her house, situated between two rivers, to go into town.

Semi-Colons

  1. Use a semi-colon to separate two main clauses not joined by a comma and coordinating conjunction.
  2. Correct Usage:
  3. Everyone has been invited; the chairpersons, however, will need to arrive early.
  4. Use a semi-colon in front of a conjunctive adverb, such as however or therefore, when it is connecting two main clauses. In this case, a comma follows the conjunctive adverb.
  5. Correct Usage:
  6. Everyone has been invited; however, the chairpersons will need to arrive early.
  7. If a conjunctive adverb is used to “interrupt” a main clause, it is set off from the surrounding material using commas.
  8. Correct Usage:
  9. Everyone has been invited. The chairpersons, however, will need to arrive early.
  10. When starting a sentence with a conjunctive adverb, use a comma after it.
  11. Correct Usage:
  12. Everyone has been invited. However, the chairpersons will need to arrive early.

Quotation Marks: Placement

  1. Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks.
  2. Correct Usage:
  3. For tomorrow, we will be reading David Eberhardt’s “Facing Up to Facebook.”
  4. In class today, we discussed “Facing Up to Facebook,” and we mapped out the main points on the board.
  5. Colons and semi-colons go outside the quotation marks.
  6. Correct Usage:
  7. For tomorrow, read “Facing Up to Facebook”; write a two page response to the article.
  8. Question marks and exclamation marks go inside or outside, depending on whether the mark goes with the quotation itself or with the whole sentence.
  9. Correct Usage:
  10. He asked, “What do you want for dinner?”
  11. Did he say, “I want to be a writer”?
  12. When in-text parenthetical citations of a quotation are used, MLA documentation style puts the quotation marks before the parenthetical citation. A period follows the parenthesis if the citation falls at the end of the sentence. However, if the quoted text is a question or exclamation within a statement, the question mark or exclamation mark falls within the quotation mark, and a period is placed after the parenthetical citation.
  13. Correct Usage:
  14. According to Eberhardt, “through enhanced social connections, students gain a degree of social confidence, which may somewhat reduce the anxiety they feel about college life” (20).
  15. Throughout the article, Eberhardt raised interesting questions, asking “how does or can this behavior help students develop the identity they need to effectively address complex questions, take a stand based on their own beliefs, and negotiate meaning with others?” (18-19).

Common Errors

  1. Comma Splice: occurs when the writer uses only a comma to connect two main/independent clauses
  2. To fix: Join two main/independent clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (FANBOYS) or separate them with a semi-colon or a period.
  3. Examples:
  4. Incorrect: We went to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, I had a good time.
  5. Correct:We went to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway, and I had a good time. OR We went to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway; I had a good time. OR We went to see Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I had a good time.
  1. Dangling Modifier: a phrase at the beginning of a sentence that does not modify the subject of the sentence
  2. Examples:
  3. Incorrect: Screaming at the top of her lungs, the wolf chased LeighAnn out of the woods.
  4. Correct: Screaming at the top of her lungs, LeighAnn was chased out of the woods by a wolf.