English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
Today America celebrates Independence Day. On July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in the city of Boston – and America’s freedom from rule by Great Britain was declared. Notice how the date is written. First we write… Read more381. Comma in a Date
This week’s topic is italics – a request from one of our regular readers. You can type in italics by clicking on the slanted I at the top of your word processing page. Here are three of the many uses… Read more186. Italics: Book Titles, Newspapers, Magazines
Today we’ll talk about four other types of titles that must be italicized. 1- Movie titles are always italicized. Michael J. Fox stars in the 1985 movie Back to the Future.Ten years earlier, Richard Dreyfuss starred in Jaws. 2- Use… Read more187. Italicize Titles: Movies, Plays, Operas, Musical Works and Albums
A complex sentence is made up of an independent clause and a subordinate clause. It matters not whether you begin with the subordinate clause or the independent clause. The meaning of the sentence will remain the same. Here is a… Read more234. Reordering Clauses in a Complex Sentence
Today we will talk about using italics for the names of certain means of transportation. 1- We always italicize the name of ships. The Titanic sank on its tragic maiden voyage from Europe to the United States. The USS Arizona… Read more188. Italicize the Names of Certain Vehicles
The semicolon (;) is a form of stop punctuation. We use a semicolon at the end of a complete thought, just as we do with a period. A period comes at the end of a sentence. A semicolon goes in… Read more411. Using the Semi-colon
We sometimes begin a sentence with a prepositional phrase. This is called an introductory phrase. Always use a comma after an introductory phrase. Here are some sentence examples:After breakfast, Meg did the laundry.Before dinner, Sam practiced his piano piece.At the… Read more392. Put a Comma after an Introductory Phrase
Italics are most often used for titles and names. However, we sometimes use italics when we want to emphasize certain words in our writing. Italicizing the words makes them stand out to the reader. Here is an example of using… Read more189. Use Italics to Emphasize Words
In writing, we use a colon to signal the coming of a list and after the greeting of a business letter, but there are three other uses for the colon. Writing Time: We use a colon between the hour and… Read more409. Other Uses for the Colon
Section A: Insert a comma or commas into each sentence.1. Our wedding took place on March 14 1988.2. Before you go home let’s play some ping pong.3. Mary is relocating to Denver Colorado.4. Sally the girl next door just got… Read more405. Practice With Punctuation