Search results for 'tag:Clauses tag:Commas' matching tags 'Clauses' and 'Commas'

Re: Known setence patterns used in combinations

CalifJim — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:20:46 GMT

Anonymous
"He likes to discover different ways to express himself through writing, but, when he comes a cross a vague and indefinite grammar rule, he would often be discouraged."

Remove the comma. Don't separate but from a subordinate time clause that follows.

Anonymous
"Americans realized that, with the defeat of Napoleon in Europe, the British would no longer have much incentive to interfere with American commerce."

Keep the comma. The two commas together act as parentheses so that the reader can see that Americans realized that the British would ...

The alternative is to remove both commas.

(Sometimes style manuals disagree about matters of punctuation.)

Known setence patterns used in combinations

Anonymous — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 05:06:23 GMT

While I know most of the different sentence patterns when they are used alone, I am often baffled when I'm asked to use them in combinations.

"He likes to discover different ways to express himself through writing, but, when he comes a cross a vague and indefinite grammar rule, he would often be discouraged."

does the bold, highlighted commas need to be there? Why?

What about this situation (the entire "dependent clause, independent clause" acts as an appositive):

"Americans realized that, with the defeat of Napoleon in Europe, the British would no longer have much incentive to interfere with American commerce."

These problems has been bothering me for some time. Please help! thank you!

Re: Comma splice? Correct or incorrect?

Avangi — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:13:09 GMT

Hi, Maven. Welcome to the English Forums. Thanks for joining us!

What you have is correct - an independent clause followed by a phrase.

The comma splice rule applies in situations where a conjunction is needed instead of, or in addition to the comma. She came in, she closed the door. She came in, she forgot to close the door.

Re: Comma splice? Correct or incorrect?

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:40:43 GMT

A comma splice is to connect two independent sentences. creating intergenerational and intercultural conflict is a dependent clause which describes the situation, and thus it's okay, I suppose.

Re: Commas in compound sentences where the second clause has an implied subject

Clive — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:14:03 GMT

Hi,

No commas are needed here. These are not compound sentences. They are just compound verbs ~~a single subject performing multiple actions. You can tell because the second half is not an independent clause~~it can't stand on its own. It's no different than if you had:

The doctor finished and removed. <<< This is a very odd, unclear and unnatural sentence. 'Removed' requires an object.
The shapes refused and became.<<< Again, this is a very odd, unclear and unnatural sentence. Is it intended to have some kind of meaning?
She could taste but could not feel.

You would need a second subject for them to be compound. Then a comma is required:Apparently, you disagree with some of the opinions expressed earlier in the thread that commas are optional but not necessary in cases like these.

The doctor finished, and he removed.
The shapes refused, and they became.
She could taste, but she could not feel.

See how in this second case, the two clauses can stand alone:

The doctor finished. He removed.
The shapes refused. They became.
She could taste. She could not feel.

This is not true for the first case. You would end up with fragments.

Best wishes, Clive

Re: Commas in compound sentences where the second clause has an implied subject

Anonymous — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 16:55:25 GMT

Re: ESL, Written English and Spoken English

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:18:44 GMT

Close! I know what you mean (I think). I am a native English speaker (who is attempting to learn French and Spanish so I know this is hard, please keep trying, you are getting there! ), and I would write that as:

Today is Saturday, so I went to the store and bought groceries.

or maybe, more simply,

Today is Saturday. I was in the store, and I bought groceries.

If I said, "on Saturday" it would more indicate that today is not Saturday. "was" would be my cue that Saturday is sometime in the past. So "today" in that sentence would not make sense. If I wanted this other scenario to be true, then I would write it as,

On Saturday, I was in the store, and I bought groceries.

Notice the second comma in the above. That is because "On Saturday" is what we call a dependent clause, so you have to have a comma. If you just say "today", you don't need it. The "on" makes you need it. Google "5 comma rules" for more information. You may also want to review English vowels. esl.about.com has some good information.

Also, days of the week are capitalized. Figure if it's on a calendar or a map, or in a phone book, capitalize it. So this covers proper names, months of the year, cities, countries, states, etc, also.

Like I said, you are doing good so far and making progress. The key is not perfection, but rather communication. Please keep trying!

Re: that or which

Mister Micawber — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:06:44 GMT

.
1-- Which sentence?
2-- You have it backward. The use is simple: use which or that (preferably that) for restrictive clauses (no commas) and which only for non-restrictive clauses (with commas).

The use of which for a restrictive clause in sentences in which that has already been used is not a rule, but a stylistic choice often made.

that or which

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:04:55 GMT

Hi,

I tried to find some good information of "which and that" distinction online and have acquired some good information, thanks to them.

In the suite101.com's website with what I would call an online search phrase of "That or Which? Don't Misuse These Relative Pronouns." it had this as an exception to the usual rule of that for a restrictive clause and which for a non-restrictive clause.

Exception to the Rule

Like a number of grammatical rules in English as well as other languages, this one has an exception. The exception should only be used when a sentence has more than one dependent clause or when âthatâ has been used in another role. Take a look at the following example.

That idea, which has been discussed thoroughly, no longer needs to be addressed.

If âthis,â âthat,â âthese,â or âthoseâ has already been used to either as an adjective or to introduce the first clause, use âwhichâ to introduce the next one, whether the information is essential or nonessential.

1. Can you tell me what it means by its last sentence?
2. I think I heard that 'which' is used for a restrictive clause that doesn't have commas. What confuses me is that it seems to be the words that describe the recommendation for the use of 'that'. I think I also heard that 'which' can and should be used for some restrictive clause cases -- and with which I agree.

Re: 1)How can we correct the sentence:

Mister Micawber — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:25:12 GMT

The answer was e. But I have never seen a "because" after comma-- A comma can appear after because if the clause is less restrictive.

2) The meaning of his words was even more elusive in his own country than either Europe or Latin America ( the underscore is a wrong phrase)

Can we replace the underscored phrase with "either in Europe or Latin Am" or " in either Europe or Latin Am"?-- I'd use the latter, but something is fishy about your underlining.

3) On my preparing for exam, I came up with this sentence:

Spot the error:

Kelly is proud of her own abilities to mediate disputes more than any of her other strength. No error

The answer was C ( as the book says) but here is its explanation:

"Does the subordinate clause fit within the context of the sentenc? ( A) uses the correct verb tense and the verb agrees w/ subject Kelly. (B) shows the correct feminine sing. pronoun, referring to Kelly (C) shows the correct infi. form of the verb mediate.

So what is the answer??-- There are a lot of errors in what you typed. D is wrong.

4) here is part of a math question I couldn't find out why:

Which is the graph of y= -(x-2)2 (2 outside the bracket means square)?

Graphs drawn below.

And here was the solution:

If f(x) = -x2 , the given equation, y= -(x-2)2, represents f(x-2)

How come they got the last line?-- I have no idea. This is a grammar forum.