Advanced grammar pwrpt

ADVANCED GRAMMARFOR

AP

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW TO DO!punctuation

Dash Ellipsis

Semicolon Colon

ADVANCED SENTENCE STRUCTURE!

ABSOLUTE CONSTRUCTIONS PARALLELISM

• WITHIN A SENTENCE• OVER SEVERAL SENTENCES

BALANCED SENTENCES NOUN, ADJECTIVE (and) ADJECTIVE

CUMULATIVE SENTENCES• PERIODIC SENTENCES• LOOSE SENTENCES• USE OF

VERB CLUSTERS ADJECTIVE CLUSTERS NOUN CLUSTERS (APPOSITIVES) ADJ. + ADJ. PHRASE

So let’s make a DASH into some fancy punctuation!

THE DASH(NOT A HYPHEN)

Shows a major break in thought in a sentence, or an interrupting thought.• Will Jeff—can Jeff—continue the speech?• This essay might—please, God—be

accepted this time.• Sue wrote for several hours—hours

spent alone in the library—before she finished the report.

The Dash

Show a parenthetical comment that deserves emphasis.• Frodo managed—only with the help of

Sam—to carry the ring to Mt. Doom.• The Overlords—with all the appearance

of demons—were really guardian angels for humanity.

On Dasher, on Dancer…

Set off an appositive that contains commas• The major characters in Brave New

World—Lenina Crowne, Bernard Marx, and Mustapha Mond—all react differently to the Savage.

Dash it all!

The dash is an INFORMAL device. It’s OK in IMs, but not in formal papers.

To type it, use TWO hyphens with no space before, between, or after. Most word processors will turn it into a dash.

ELLIPSIS

YOU HAVE NO TIME in timed writing to copy unnecessary words, so leave them out!

Use an ellipsis (…) to show your deletions.

…• "Rome had several mad emperors.

[Nero] was the maddest of them all. . . . Legend has it . . . he played his harp while the city went up in flames."

The 4th dot after “all” is a period for the end of the sentence.

DO NOT leave out a phrase like “legend has it,” because that would change the author’s meaning!

"Rome had several mad emperors. [Nero] was the maddest of them all. . . . Legend has it . . . he played his harp [some say he fiddled] while the city went up in flames.“

Notice the brackets to replace “he” with the name. Notice it’s not “He [Nero] was…”

Notice the brackets to make an inserted comment after “harp.” Only do that if it’s really necessary and will save you time later.

SEMICOLONS

Put two COMPLETE sentences together.• Individual environmental action is

essential for saving the planet; everyone must take action in his or her community.

• Frodo and Sam struggled toward the mountain; Gollum followed out of sight.

• Bernard needed an advantage over the Director; he saw his chance when he met Linda.

They MUST be closely related. You MUST be able to replace the semicolon

with a period and capital letter.• Eliminating red meat from your diet is a good

way to reduce cholesterol; besides, it also saves the lives of animals.

• All college students should be given a Porsche for graduation; after all, we've earned it!

COLON:

Use it between independent clauses when the second restates or explains the first (like a super-semicolon). • I’m glad to be at the Science Academy:

it sure beats my local high school!• Frodo and Sam crossed the plain: they

struggled through smoke, ashes, and orcs.

COLON:

Use it to set off appositives (usually done with commas).• I will be traveling to three major cities in

the Orient: Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Bangkok.

• The Fellowship received help from Galadriel: the will to continue.

COLON:

To start lists (but NOT all lists!)• They received the following: food,

cloaks, and boats.• There were only three left: Gimli,

Legolas, and Strider NOT THIS WAY:

• They received: food cloaks and boats.• The three left were: Gimli, Legolas, and

Strider.

COLON:

The rule: use a colon to start a list only if what’s before it is an independent clause!

ABSOLUTES

• His determination stronger than ever, Frodo clawed his way up the slope.

• The mountain smoking and the ground rumbling, Frodo stumbled from the cave.

Absolutes usually modify the whole sentence, rather than one word in it.

They’re like sentences without complete verbs.

Absolutes

• They finished the pipeweed, their spirits at peace.

They’re usually set off with commas, and sometimes dashes.• The battle over, Aragorn dismissed the

ghosts.• Ordered to lead the attack, Eomer

spurred his horse forward.

Absolutes

They can go at the end to add more detail:• He dropped the sword, his hand burning

with pain.• Aragorn strode forward, his manner

intimidating, his glance fearsome, his hand on his sword.

PARALLELISM

“Parallel structures include word or phrase patterns that are similar. When ideas in a sentence or paragraph are similar, you can reinforce these similarities in meaning through creating parallel structures. Effective parallelism creates symmetry in sentences and adds force to your writing; it emphasizes the likeness between two or more ideas.”

-Writing Center, University of Richmond

• The Fellowship needs people who are determined, who are courageous, and who are resilient.

• I came; I saw; I conquered. • Ask not what your country can do for

you; ask what you can do for your country.

• Preston has three goals: to wake us up, to scare us to death, and to sell books.

Lists and series MUST be parallel!These are WRONG:

• Sam likes to eat, drink, and dancing.• It is a cooker, a pasteurizer and

environmentally friendly. • Simple‑step cookbooks use basic

ingredients, have easy‑to‑follow directions and cook divinely.

• The candidates spent the day amid handshakes, sloganeering and a chance to meet with constituents.

Putting several parallel sentences together is a powerful technique!• He walked in. He sat down. He laid his gun on

the table.• "In a land of great wealth, families must not

live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children must not go hungry. In a land of healing miracles, neighbors must not suffer and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write. "—Lyndon Bains Johnson (President of the

United States) from his Inaugural Address in January, 1965.

I have a dream that one day… little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

BALANCED SENTENCES

A balanced sentence is neatly divided between two parallel structures.• Do not pass GO; do not collect $200.• It was the best of times; it was the worst

of times. • He wanted a Big Mac, but he had no

money.

Your people shall be my people. Many are called but few are chosen. The test of our progress is not

whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have little.

-F. D. Roosevelt

NOUN, ADJECTIVE and ADJECTIVE

Gandalf, tall and imperious, faced Wormtongue.

Merry cowered before the Nazgul, terrible and mighty.

Gandalf rode Shadowfax, swift and indefatigable, into the raging battle.

CUMULATIVE SENTENCES

2 VARIETIES: LOOSE SENTENCES

ADDITIONS AFTER THE MAIN CLAUSEPERIODIC SENTENCES

ADDITIONS BEFORE THE MAIN CLAUSE

Loose sentences (main clause at the start)

I pledge allegiance• to the flag

of the United States of America• and to the republic

for which it standsone nation

under God indivisible with liberty and justice

o for all.

Loose sentences (main clause at the start)

I would wait for him to arrive on his designated weekend, watching intently for the first sign of the pale yellow 1966 Dodge Dart with black racing stripes, listening for the rackety sound that the overstressed, oversized engine made, hoping that this weekend he would not have forgotten or found something better to do, waiting for one of the few precious days I would have as a memory -- his salt and pepper beard, his crisp, clear tenor voice, his cruel, thoughtless laugh at a child's expense.

Periodic sentences (main clause at the end)

When you can speak and know that he hears you, when you know that it's you he is dreaming of, and no one else, when you don't have to wish you were thinner or younger or taller or richer so he could love you more, when you can just show up and be yourself and you get to be loved, that's when you know love is real and you can trust it.


Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off--then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.


If you’re a no-nonsense person, if you’re a straightforward writer and you expect the same of others, if you don’t have any patience with long-winded people—people, that is, who never come directly to the point, but instead waste your time in seemingly endless digressions, as if they were mentally incapable of putting first things first—then you will probably consider periodic sentences, such as the one you are reading right now, which looks like it may never come to an end, to be an exasperating waste of time.

Cumulative sentences: things to accumulate

Verb clusters:• The orcs came on, snarling with rage,

shaking their swords.


Adjective clusters• Frodo, bleeding and exhausted, crawled

into the cave.


Noun clusters (appositives)• Frodo, the bearer of the Ring, the hope

of Middle-Earth, entered Mordor, land of despair, country of darkness.


Adjective + adjective phrases• Frodo, dejected and hopeless, struggled

up the slope, leaning on Sam, determined and grim.

Advanced grammar pwrpt

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