English grammar explained in plain language simple enough to be understood.
Today is Veterans Day, a day of remembrance. We pause today to honor, acknowledge, and thank all the people in the armed forces of the United States – those presently serving our country, and those who have served in the… Read more214. Highlight on Writing – Veterans Day
Section A: Read each group of words. If the words tell a complete thought with a subject doing something, write SENTENCE. If the words do not tell a complete thought, write FRAGMENT.1. Over the roof of the house. 2. The… Read more210. Practice Simple Sentences
We know that a simple sentence is one complete thought. A period should go at the end of the complete thought. When a writer uses a comma between two complete thoughts, we end up with a run-on sentence. Here are… Read more208. Avoid Run-On Sentences and the Comma Splice
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
Parentheses ( ) are a type of punctuation. Parentheses always come as a pair – in twos. We put parentheses around words and information that are not of major importance. The words in a parentheses can be left out and… Read more172. Parentheses
We use an apostrophe (‘) to show that a noun owns something. We call it “having possession.” Bob owns a car. The car is Bob’s car. We attach an apostrophe to the noun Bob to show his ownership of the… Read more488. Common Mistakes: Possessive Nouns
When we put two simple sentences together, we form a compound sentence. We use a coordinating conjunction along with a comma to join two simple sentences. The word conjunction means “to join.” There are seven coordinating conjunctions. If we list… Read more531. Two Simple Sentences Make a Compound Sentence
A compound sentence is formed by joining two simple sentences together. Each independent clause is a simple sentence, We join the two simple sentences with a comma and a coordinating conjunction. There are seven coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but,… Read more533. Always Use a Comma in a Compound Sentence
We have been talking about coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. A coordinating conjunction is one of the FANBOYS and is used to connect two independent clauses. A subordinating conjunction is used to connect a subordinate clause with an independent clause…. Read more543. Comma Confusion
We use a comma to set off certain words. When writing a letter, we begin by greeting the person to whom we are writing. Always put a comma after the words of the greeting. A greeting looks like this:Dear Mom,Dear… Read more621. Comma Rules – Greeting and Closing in a Letter