Grammar
refers to the rules
regarding the current standard of correctness in speech and
writing. Advances in word processing software have included
grammar-checking features. This page covers two topics:
Misplaced/dangling
modifiers
- A modifier is a word or group of
words that describes another word and makes its meaning
more specific. Often modifying phrases add information
about "where", "when", or
"how" something is done. A modifier works best
when it is right next to the word it modifies. For
example, consider the modifiers in the following
sentence (they are underlined for you):
"The awesome
dude rode a wave breaking on the shore."
- The word "awesome" is
an adjective (or, a one-word modifier). It sits right
next to the "dude" it modifies. Also, the
phrase "breaking on the shore" tells us where
he rode the wave; thus, "breaking on the
shore" is a modifying phrase that must be placed
next to the "wave" it modifies.
- Below are some examples of
poorly placed modifiers. See if you can identify the
problems:
Roger looked at
twenty-five sofas shopping on Saturday.
- Obviously twenty-five sofas were
not shopping on Saturday. Because Shopping on Saturday
is meant to modify Roger, it should be right next to
Roger, as follows:
Shopping on
Saturday, Roger looked at twenty-five sofas.
The woman tore
open the package she had just received with her fingernails.
- Had the woman really received
the package with her fingernails? The writer meant that
she tore open the package with her fingernails.
With her
fingernails, the woman tore open the package she had just
received.
The waiter
brought the pancakes to the table drenched in blueberry
syrup.
What's drenched
according to the sentence? Actually, the pancakes were
drenched.
The waiter brought
the pancakes, drenched in blueberry syrup, to the table.
Lying in a heap
on the closet floor, Jean found her son's dirty laundry.
It sounds as if Jean
was lying on the closet floor when she found her son's
laundry!
Jean found her son's
dirty laundry lying in a heap on the closet floor.
Using
Commas
This exercise will help to
determine how well you know where and when to use commas.
Insert commas where needed in the following sentences. Then
read the explanations below.
- The restaurant dessert tray
featured carrot cake coconut cream pie and something
called death-by-chocolate.
- Because I was three hours short
of graduation requirements I had to take a course during
the summer.
- The weather according to last
night's forecast will improve by Saturday.
- Students hurried to the campus
store to buy their fall textbooks but several of the
books were already out of stock.
- My sister asked "Are you
going to be on the phone much longer?"
-
The restaurant
dessert tray featured carrot cake, coconut cream pie,
and something called death-by-chocolate.
The comma separates
the items in a series.
-
Because I was
three hours short of graduation requirements, I had to
take a course during the summer.
The comma separates an
introductory phrase or dependent clause from the rest of
the sentence.
-
The weather,
according to last night's forecast, will improve by
Saturday.
The phrase "according
to last night's forecast" interrupts the main
clause, so it is set off by commas.
- Students hurried to the campus
store to buy their fall textbooks, but several of the
books were already out of stock.
The comma separates an
independent clause from a dependent clause.
- My sister asked, "Are you
going to be on the phone much longer?"
The comma separates a
direct quotation from the rest of the sentence.
