English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
The colon (:) is used in math when writing a ratio – a set of numbers that shows relationship between them. A ratio looks like this: 15:1. We might use it in a sentence like this:When I brew coffee, I… Read more1133. Using the Colon in a Ratio
Quotation marks (“) are always used in pairs. The marks go at the beginning of a spoken sentence and then at the end of the spoken sentence. Quotation marks enclose the words that have been spoken. Look at this sentence… Read more1136. Using Quotation Marks
Quotation marks are always used as a pair – at the beginning and at the end of a quoted statement. When the quoted statement is a complete sentence, we need to use end punctuation to finish the sentence. Be sure… Read more1137. End punctuation with Quotation Marks
The titles of short pieces of literature, such as poems and short stories, should be set off with quotation marks. Put quotation marks at both ends of the poem and short story titles. We read the story “The Telltale heart”… Read more1138. Using Quotation Marks with Titles
Section A: Decide if each sentence uses quotation marks correctly or incorrectly. Write Correct or Incorrect. Explain why a sentence is using the quotation marks incorrectly. 1. Mom said, ” I’ll pick you up after school.”2. The teacher told us,… Read more1140. Practice with Quotation Marks
In English, we put our thoughts into groups of words called sentences. A sentence is a complete idea. A sentence always has a subject and a verb. Subject – a person or thing doing something Verb – an action that the… Read more1. The Simple Sentence
Sometimes we join two simple sentences together. We call that a compound sentence. A compound sentence is two complete thoughts joined together. Use a coordinating conjunction to join two simple sentences together. The coordinating conjunctions are called FANBOYS because each… Read more2. Compound Sentences – the FANBOYS
A compound sentence is two complete thoughts joined together. Usually we use a comma and one of the FANBOYS to join two simple sentences into a compound sentence. You can also join two simple sentences with a semicolon. The semicolon… Read more3. The Compound Sentence with a Semicolon
Let’s talk about why a sentence gets labeled a fragment. A fragment is a piece of something, so a sentence fragment is a piece of a sentence. A true sentence is a complete thought. With a sentence fragment, the thought… Read more11. The Sentence Fragment
In the last post, we learned about avoiding the run-on sentence. A run-on sentence happens when we run two complete thoughts together. It is important to keep each thought separate from another. Sometimes we think that we can avoid a… Read more13. Avoid the Comma Splice in Run-on Sentences