All Paragraphs Must Have More Than Two Sentences Truefalse

Last calendar month I showed how to unstuff a sentence by removing unnecessary words. This month I’ll offer a quick-and-dirty guide to punctuating a sentence. Nothing that follows is meant to substitute for the nuanced explanations of what’due south unremarkably chosen a writing handbook, the sort of book that higher students purchase in a start-semester writing course. These five rules though have the virtue of being manageable, which is difficult to say of a i,000-page volume. In each paragraph that follows, the sentences illustrate the punctuation dominion involved. Note that I’yard avoiding well-nigh all grammatical terminology. Instead, I’m emphasizing a small number of sentence patterns.

Rule one

If your sentence begins with an introductory element, put a comma later it. Even if it’southward a short element, put a comma afterward it. In time, you’ll be putting this comma in without having to think about information technology.

Rule 2

Any chemical element which interrupts the movement of the sentence, whether it’s big or small, should be set off with commas. This judgement, like the first, also has an chemical element gear up off with commas. An element that appears at the cease of the sentence should also exist prepare off with a comma, as I’m showing here.

Rule three

Items in a series should be separated with commas. What do I mean by “items in a series”? Wine, women, and song. Life, dearest, and laughter. Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

Dominion four

Complete sentences that are joined past a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, nor, or, and so, yet) need a comma earlier the coordinating conjunction. That might seem obvious, but this comma frequently gets left out. Putting information technology in makes a sentence more readable, and any reader appreciates that.

Rule 5

Complete sentences that are joined without a analogous conjunction need a semi-colon instead of a comma; the semi-colon shows the end of one sentence and the beginning of the adjacent. Semi-colons are often followed by a connecting word or phrase; even so, a connecting word or phrase is not necessary. Sentences joined with merely a comma are chosen comma splices; they’re amid the well-nigh common errors that come up in college writing.

(Note: In the next-to-last sentence in the previous paragraph, there’due south a comma afterwards
nevertheless
considering information technology’south an introductory element in the 2nd sentence.)

Fixing comma splices requires familiarity with two recurring sentence patterns. The first involves a complete sentence, a semi-colon, and another consummate sentence:

[complete sentence]; [complete sentence].

Some examples:

Your statement is persuasive; it addresses every objection I had.
His enquiry paper is plagiarized; he is going to fail the class.
The novel is a relatively recent literary form; information technology’s non nearly every bit old as epic poetry and lyric verse.

The second pattern to look for involves a complete sentence, a semi-colon, a connecting discussion or phrase, a comma, and some other consummate sentence:

[consummate sentence]; [word or phrase], [complete sentence].

(Again, the comma after the connecting word or phrase is appropriate equally that give-and-take or phrase is an introductory element in the second sentence.)

Some examples:

I decided non to take the task; instead, I’m going to graduate schoolhouse.
The proposal is flawed; as a event, we’re sending it dorsum for revision.
She did well in the class; in fact, she did much better than she had expected.

How tin can you tell whether yous accept two complete sentences or 1 sentence with an interrupting element at its finish? With an interrupting element (something less than a sentence in itself), the parts of the sentence tin exist switched and still make sense:

I’ll go to piece of work, even though I’1000 sick.
Even though I’m sick, I’ll go to work.

But with a second complete sentence and a word or phrase such as
instead,
as a consequence, or
in fact, the parts cannot exist switched and still brand sense.

Those are the nuts of punctuating sentences with commas and semi-colons. I know from working with many students that any writer tin can become better when information technology comes to punctuation. The key is the ability to recognize a handful of familiar patterns. Look for the patterns in your sentences, and yous also tin can get improve. With some practise, yous’ll be able to see the parts of your sentences falling into place, and punctuating correctly volition get, believe it or not, a habit, 1 that y’all’ll be happy to take acquired.

Colons, by the manner, function equally arrows or pointers: see what I mean?

Michael Leddy teaches college English language and blogs at Orange Crate Art.