They’re dancing cheek-to-cheek.īut the variety of their dates is infinite. ![]() They’re leaning over a book of poetry, and one arm slips around another’s shoulders. They’re staring into each other’s eyes and talking about their childhoods. That semicolon means that she’s wearing a soft floral perfume and he’s been working out. Look how close and cozy they are! That semicolon allows them to settle down together on a comfortable sofa in front of a dying fire with mugs of hot cocoa. How are they relating to each other? If they’re clicking on several levels, they may keep that “and.” If they’re feeling contrary, they’ll trade it for a “but.” If they’re agreeing to disagree, they might use a “so.” And when things really start to heat up, they’ll invest in a really romantic piece of punctuation…the semicolon.Īlbert went to the store Betty went to the park. This first date is also called a compound sentence.Īs they get closer, their dates will look a little different. A snapshot of their date looks like this:Īlbert went to the store, and Betty went to the park. If they are just getting to know each other, they will go on the grammatical first date-using a comma and a conjunction. So if our first gal, “Albert went to the store,” meets a kindred spirit, “Betty went to the park,” they can go on several kinds of dates. She can walk down the page, unhampered by awkward modifiers and unashamed to be solitary.Īnd sexy singles like to hook up with other sexy singles. We call this sentence a simple sentence-but we can also call it a sexy single. Curious bystanders may ask, “Which store?” or “What did he get?” or even “Who is Albert again?” but you have no obligation to answer these questions. If you run into a room and declare, “Albert went to the store,” your listeners will feel a degree of satisfaction. The story will be small, but the sentence makes sense on its own. ![]() We call a clause independent when it has a subject and verb that create a complete story. But first, let’s examine the power of independence. The secret to syntactical bliss lies in punctuation. So how do writers keep the romance alive? This is the sign of healthy grammatical relationships. All the time you’ve been reading and writing, you have probably noticed a certain chemistry among sentences-an inner music, a palpable cohesion. Well, I’ve decided to violate the oath and bring you the secret to syntactic harmony. But the reality is that these terms are all part of a secret code, and every English teacher has sworn this oath: “I shall never reveal to my students the intimate social underpinnings of the words they use!” With true Victorian sensibility, they cover the sensuous material of language with elaborate and evasive terminology-grammatical jargon that effectively douses the expressive desires of most writers. They want to discuss “subjects” and “main verbs” they would rather pontificate on the principles of coordination and subordination. That’s what writing is all about.Įnglish teachers never want to talk about the secret romances of good writing, the elicit affairs of comma splices, the close-knit relationships enabled by semicolons. Certain sentence parts can’t stand alone-they need friends, cohorts, stronger companions to help them feel complete. Secondly, these claims emphasize the inherently social nature of sentences. Any time the reader meets a new clause, she has to conduct the following tedious interview: “OK…do you have a subject? Where is it? And do you have a verb? Where is it? Oh, and do you express a complete thought?” Like most grammatical concepts learned by rote, this definition isn’t user-friendly, so users keep only what seems to be the essential idea-an independent clause can’t stand alone. ![]() For example, an independent clause should be defined as “a clause that can stand alone because it contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete action.” But this definition is unwieldy-arming the reader or writer with a cumbersome and tedious checklist for examining prospective clauses. They don’t provide enough practical information to help the diffident writer navigate the churning whirlpools of grammatical variation. Firstly, these facts are easy to memorize but hard to apply. When I hear these claims from grammar unenthusiasts, I notice two things.
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