Grammar & Writing

Why are you letting grammar push you around?

Take control and put grammar in its place.

PREPOSITIONS

Grammar is a much easier if you know your prepositions. Why? The subject of the sentence will NEVER be found in a prepositional phrase, and finding the subject is how to get your bearings in a sentence. List of prepositions.

(To the tune of Yankee Doodle)

about above across after

along among around at

before beside between against

within without beneath through

during under in into

over on off to toward

upon near for from except

by with behind below down

(Don't forget about other prepositions like instead of, in spite of, because of, according to, etc.)

RANDOM GRAMMAR RULES

NUMBERS: SPELL OUT OR USE NUMERALS?

Spell out numbers if they take only one or two words to express.

For example, thirty-five, ten thousand, and one million.

Use numerals for numbers that take more than two words to express. For example, 125 (one hundred twenty-five= four words), 327, and 821.

LAY VS. LIE

"To lay" is a transitive verb which means it takes an object. This makes sense because the definition of "to lay" is to put SOMETHING down. The object is that something.

"To lie" is an intransitive verb which means the verb is not followed by an object. "To lie" means to rest or recline.

Ex:When I lay the food on the floor, the dog will devour it. (The object of "lay" is "food.")

Ex: Now, I lay me down to sleep. (The object of "lay" is "me.")

Ex: I don't want to swim; I'm lying in the sun!

Ex: Lie down. Good Doggy!

PUNCTUATION WITH QUOTATIONS

MISCELLANEOUS QUOTING ISSUES

DO NOT PUT A COMMA AT THE END OF A QUOTATION BEFORE THE CITATION.

Voight begged the students to “stop putting a comma at the end of quote” (Smith 42).

Use a comma before the quote after words like said, asked, replied, exclaimed, etc.

Beth asked, "When do we get our uniforms?" and Mr. Taylor replied, "Friday, of course"

(Smith 41).

No comma before the quote is needed here: the quote completes the sentence.

Matt promised to be there "as soon as humanly possible" (Jones 23).

“ ” vs. ‘ ’

Anything another writer wrote is in " " (dialogue OR narration). If you have BOTH dialogue and narration in the same quote, put the whole excerpt from the text in double quotation marks and the dialogue in single quotation marks.

Piggy again finds himself playing the victim: “‘Here–let me go!’ His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face. ‘Mind out! Give ’em back! I can hardly see! You’ll break the conch!’” (Golding 38).

How to get that flow using [ ]

The original text is in the second person, but here the writer wanted to use the third person. The [ ] are used to make the necessary grammatical changes to make the quote flow.

Also, if you want to cut out some of the middle of a quote, indicate your cut with [...].

Atticus advises Scout that she will “get along a lot better with all kinds of folks [. . . if she would] consider things from [their] point of view [. . . and] climb into [their] skin and walk around in it” (Lee 39).

SUBMIT A GRAMMAR CHALLENGE

Because we use so many idiomatic expressions and informal language when we speak, mapping out every sentence can be a challenge--which is why it's so fun. Bring a grammar challenge to class so we can show off. (BTW, always start with level 2 to get your bearings in the sentence.)

I got hot sauce in my bag swag.

pro v adj. n prep adj n (level 1)

s av d.o. (level 2)

prep phrase (level 3)

indep. clause-------------------------------------------- (level 4)

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