Part Two: Parallel Structure, Subject-Verb Agreement,

1. Punctuation Part Two: Parallel Structure, Subject-Verb Agreement, Apostrophes, Periods, Dashes, Hyphens, Parentheses, Brackets, Italics (underlining), & Quotation Marks

2. Parallel Structure • There are three sentence elements which commonly require parallel treatment: • Coordinated ideas (using coordinate conj.) • Compared / Contrasted Ideas • Correlative Constructions (using correlative conj.) A sentence reads smoothly when the writer has taken the trouble to put equal ideas in parallel form.

3. Parallel Structure • Coordinate ideas are equal in rank and are joined by and, or, nor, for, yet, so, or but. • FAULTY: The committee studied all aspects of the problem—humane, political, and cost. • (Change cost to financial.) • According to my teacher, my composition revealed exceptional creative ability but that I make too many spelling errors. • Two ways to fix: • …revealed exceptional creative ability but too many spelling errors. • …revealed that I have exceptional creative ability but that I make too many spelling errors.

4. Parallel Structure • Comparisons/Contrasts • FAULTY: Water-skiing no longer interests me as much as to go scuba diving. • Water-skiing and scuba diving • OR to water-ski and to scuba dive • FAULTY: Her novel was praised more for its style than for what it had to say. • Her novel was praised more for its style than for its ideas.

5. Parallel Structure • Correlative Constructions are formed with correlative conjunctions: both…and, either…or, neither…nor, not only…but (also). • Faulty: At the gate they tried both persuasion and to force their way in. • At the gate they tried both persuasion and force. • The new clerk soon proved herself to be not only capable but also a woman who could be trusted. • The new clerk soon proved herself to be not only capable but also trustworthy.

6. Parallel Structure • For complete parallelism, place correlative conjunctions immediately before the parallel terms. • FAULTY:The team both felt the satisfaction of victory and the disappointment of defeat. • FAULTY: Mrs. Sayers is not only president of the National Bank but also of the Chamber of Commerce.

7. Parallel Structure • In parallel constructions repeat an article, a preposition, or a pronoun whenever necessary to make the meaning clear: • Before the meeting I talked with the secretary and treasurer. [Add the before treasurer to clarify that they are two different people.] • The weather was a greater handicap to the invading army than their enemy. [It sounds like the invaders would rather fight the enemy than the weather. Add to before their enemy.] • We feel certain that she is capable, she will succeed, and you will be proud of her. [In a series of parallel that clauses, the meaning is clearer if that is repeated in each clause. Omission might give the impression that it is a run-on sentence.]

8. Parallel Structure • Make sure you include all words necessary to make the construction completely parallel: • INCOMPLETE: Linda always chose topics that were more difficult than the other students. • COMPLETE: Linda always chose topics that were more difficult than those of the other students. • PRACTICE: Warriner’s p. 242-245, Ex. 1-3

9. Subject-Verb Agreement • The number of the subject is not changed by a phrase following the subject. • The performance of the first three clowns was very funny. • A solution to these problems has been found. • In formal writing, singular subjects followed by phrases beginning with together with, as well as, in addition to, and accompanied by take singular verbs. • The captain as well as the coaches was disappointed in the team.

10. Subject-Verb Agreement Indefinite Pronouns • SINGULAR: each, either, neither, and all ending in -one, -body, or -thing • PLURAL: several, few, both, many • SING. OR PLURAL: some, any, all, and most depend on context: • Some of the money was missing. BUT Some of the dimes were missing. • All of the fruit looks ripe. BUT All of the cherries look ripe. • Most of the book was interesting. BUT Most of the books were interesting. • Has any of this evidence been presented? BUT Have any of my friends called?

11. Subject-Verb Agreement Compound Subjects • Subjects joined by and take a plural verb unless the parts of a compound subject are considered a unit (macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly). • The walls and the ceiling were beautifully decorated. • Macaroni and cheese is the special again today. • Singular subjects joined by or or nor take a singular verb. • My mother or my father is likely to be at home. • When a singular and a plural subject are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the nearer subject. • Either the judge or the lawyers are wrong. • BETTER: Either the judge is wrong or the lawyers are.

12. Subject-Verb Agreement • In inverted sentences (subject follows verb), make sure the verb still agrees with the subject. (Inverted sentences can be questions and sentences that begin with here and there.) • There’s three routes you can take. • There are three routes you can take. • Where’s your mother and father? • Where are your mother and father?

13. Subject-Verb Agreement Collective Nouns • May be singular or plural • A collective noun names a group: crowd, committee, class, jury. • It takes a plural verb when the focus is on the individuals in the group. • The crowd were fighting for their lives. • The football team were discussing some new plays. • The family have agreed among themselves to share one car. • It takes a singular verb when the focus is on the group as a unit. • The crowd was an orderly one. • The team was ranked first in the nation. • The family is the basic unit of society.

14. Subject-Verb Agreement • Expressions stating an amount (time, money, measurement, weight, volume, factions) are usually singular when the amount is considered as a unit. • Three years in a strange land seems a long time. • Ten dollars is not enough. • Three fourths of the money has been recovered. • When the amount is considered as a number of separate units, a plural verb is used. • These last three years have been full of surprises. • There are two silver dollars in each of the stockings.

15. Subject-Verb Agreement • Even when in plural form, the title of a book or the name of an organization or country usually takes a singular verb. • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was published in 1884. • The Knights of Columbus is sponsoring a carnival. • The United States remains the leader of NATO. • EXCEPTION: Some organizations follow the collective noun rule (can be sing. or plural): Veterans of Foreign Wars, New York Yankees, Chicago Bears, etc. • The Veterans of Foreign Wars attend this conference. • The Veterans of Foreign Wars is a large organization.

16. Subject-Verb Agreement • A few nouns, such as mumps, measles, civics, economics, mathematics, and physics, although plural in form, take a singular verb. • The following similar words are more often plural than singular: athletics, acoustics, gymnastics, tactics. • Politics can be singular (when discussing the field of study) or plural (when discussing an individual’s collected set of beliefs). • Politics today is too dirty for my tastes. • I do not know what her politics are. • Scissors and trousers are always plural.

17. Subject-Verb Agreement • When the subject and the predicate nominative differ in number, the verb agrees with the SUBJECT. (Try to avoid writing sentences where the subject and PN differ in number.) • The most appreciated gift was the clothes that you sent to Haiti. • The clothes that you sent us were the most appreciated gift. • BETTER: Most of all we appreciated the clothes that you sent.

18. Subject-Verb Agreement • Every or many a before a word or series of words is followed by a singular verb. • Every mother, father, and student was asked to contribute to the LAMPLighter fund drive. • Many a college student wishes to return to the easy days of high school. • Don’t and doesn’t must agree with their subjects. • Use don’t (do not) with I and you. • Doesn’t takes a singular subject, and don’t goes with a plural subject.

19. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • ALL PRONOUNS MUST AGREE IN NUMBER AND GENDER WITH THEIR ANTECEDENTS. • The words each, either, neither, one, everyone, everybody, no one, nobody, anyone, anybody, someone, and somebody take a singular pronoun—he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its. • The use of a phrase after the antecedent does not change the number of the antecedent. • Each of the women had removed her shoes. • Nobody in a position of authority has given his approval of the bill. • If anyone calls, tell him I’ll be back later.

20. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • When the antecedent can be either masculine or feminine, acceptable standard usage calls for the masculine as the gender-neutral term. Of course, in spoken English, we’ve been using the plural as a way to maintain gender neutrality. • Strict adherence to the rule may lead to awkward and absurd constructions: • ABSURD: Did everybody leave the dance early because he wasn’t enjoying himself? • BETTER: Did everybody leave early because they weren’t enjoying themselves? • BEST: Did the guests leave early because they weren’t enjoying themselves?

21. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • Two or more singular antecedents joined by or or nor should be referred to by a singular pronoun. • Neither Lynn nor Bess had her keys with her. • Neither of the girls had her skis on. • Two or more antecedents joined by and should take a plural pronoun. • Lynn and Bess sat outside with their coats on.

22. USE AN APOSTROPHE… • To Form the Possessive Case of Nouns. A noun is possessive if it can also be expressed as the last word in an of phrase: the captain’s chair = the chair of the captain.

23. APOSTROPHE Form the possessives of these with an apostrophe + s: • Almost all singular nouns: • a woman’s coat Mr. Smith’s truck • Ms. Davis’s boat A bird’s nest • A person’s legal right A fox’s bushy tail • The class’s performance Lois’s dingy old car • Plural nouns that do not end in s • The women’s coats • The people’s legal rights • The mice’s nest

24. APOSTROPHE Form the possessives of these with an apostrophe alone: • Plural nouns ending in s: • The Smiths’ car Two girls’ coats • The Davises’ boat The birds’ nests • The boys’ gymnasium The foxes’ bushy tails • The classes’ performance • A few singular nouns that would sound awkward with another s: • Ulysses’ travels Sophocles’ irony • CAUTION: Do not confuse the ordinary plural of nouns with the possessive! • Plural: I know the Smiths. • Possessive plural: The Smiths’ cat died.

25. Note these fine points of possession: • Joint vs. individual possession: If two or more nouns possess something jointly, only the last noun gets an apostrophe: • Burglars ransacked Marge and Homer’s house. • If each noun possesses a separate thing, each noun gets an apostrophe: • Burglars ransacked both Lisa’s and Bart’s rooms.

26. Note these fine points of possession: • In hyphenated words and the names of organizations, add the apostrophe to the last word only: • His father-in-law’s remarriage has upset his wife. • The commander-in-chief’s order • Proctor and Gamble’s products • The Food and Agriculture Organization’s work • Though possessive personal, interrogative, and relative pronouns and adjectives do not take apostrophes (yours, hers, whose, etc.), possessive indefinite pronouns DO: anybody’s, someone’s, each other’s, someone else’s, everybody else’s, etc.

27. Note these fine points of possession: • Words expressing time or amount usually form their possessive just as other nouns do: • A dollar’s worth of candy • Five cents’ worth • A moment’s rest • Three days’ rest* • A week’s pay • Two weeks’ pay *Also correct: a three-day rest

28. USE AN APOSTROPHE… • To show contractions and other omissions of letters or numerals. • Don’t [do not] • Who’s [who is] • Class of ’98 [1998] • Goin’ [going] • They’re [they are] • It’s [it is]

29. USE AN APOSTROPHE… • For clarity, to form the plurals of letters, numbers, symbols, and words referred to as such. • Try not to use so many and’s. • Last term she earned straight A’s. • His 3’s and 5’s look too much alike. • Use +’s and –’s on the test. • Lola’s career waned during the 1980’s [or 1980s].

30. DO NOT Use an Apostrophe… • With Possessive Personal Pronouns (His, Hers, Its, Ours, Yours, Theirs) or with Whose. • To Form the Possessive of Inanimate Objects (unless the phrase using of sounds awkward): • Poor: the house’s door • Better: the door of the house • BUT Poor: the wait of an hour • Better: an hour’s wait • To Form the Plurals of Proper Nouns. • Merry Christmas from the Wilsons.

31. The Period – Use a period… • After every sentence except a direct question or an exclamation. (Declarative and imperative sentences, as well as indirect questions) • The index dropped six points. • Sell your stocks now. • I asked how I should sell them.

32. The Period – Use a period… • After an abbreviation or initial. • Mr., U.S., Dr., Calif., M.D., Rev., Ib. • NOTE: Ms. takes a period. Miss does not. • DO NOT use a period with the following: • Well-known initials of many organizations: IBM, FBI, CBS, UN, YMCA • Radio and television stations: WSFA, WHHY • Money in even-dollar denominations: $40 (but $40.99) • Contractions: ass’n, sec’y • Ordinal numbers: 5th, 2nd, Henry VIII • Nicknames: Rob, Pat, Sid, Pam • Common shortened terms: memo, math, exam, lab, gym, TV (These are colloquial; use the full words in formal writing.)

33. The Period – Use a period… • After a number or letter in a formal outline: I. Sports taught this semester A. Swimming B. Softball NOTE: Do not use a period if… the number or letter is within parentheses: (1) (a) the number is part of a title: chapter 4, Henry V

34. The Period – Use a period… • In a group of three (…) to show • Ellipsis (the intentional omission of words) in a quoted passage. Retain necessary punctuation preceding the ellipsis: “But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate…this ground. The brave men, living and dead,…have consecrated it.…” – Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” • Pause, hesitation, and the like in dialogue and interrupted narrative (do not overuse!): “Perhaps…certain people have been overlooked for…personal reasons.”

35. The Dash • The dash is a dramatic mark, signaling an abrupt break in the flow of a sentence. Do not use it for an ordinary pause or stop, in place of a comma, period, or semicolon. On a computer, make a dash by using two strokes of the hyphen key, with no spaces before, between, or after--like this.

36. Use a Dash… • To Show a Sudden Break in Thought: I’ll give—let’s see, what can I give? The hesitant student began, “May I ask—?” He might—and according to plans, should—have reinforced the Second Division. The title—if, indeed, the poem had a title—has escaped me. • To Set Off a Parenthetical Element that is long, that sharply interrupts the sentence, or that otherwise would be hard to distinguish. Often the dash has the meaning of namely, in other words, or that is before an explanation: We traveled by foot, in horse-drawn wagons, and occasionally—if we had some spare cash, if the farmers felt sorry for us, or if we could render some service in exchange—atop a motorized tractor.

37. Use a Dash… • To Emphasize an Appositive. He had only one interest—food. [or … interest: food.] Drill, inspections, calisthenics—all are part of army life. The basic skills—reading, writing, and mathematics—are stressed here. • To Precede the Author’s Name After a Direct Quotation. “Short words are best and the old words when short are best of all.” —Winston Churchill

38. Use a Hyphen… • To Join Certain Compound Words (consult a dictionary to ascertain which): mother-in-law, go-getter, jack-o’-lantern • To Join the Two Parts of a Compound Adjective Before the Noun It Modifies. • Route 303 is a well-paved road. • She tried door-to-door selling. • dark-colored glasses NOTE: Do not hyphenate such a modifier when it follows a noun as a subject complement: Route 303 is well paved. Also do not use a hyphen between an –ly adverb and an adjective: freshly baked bread.

39. Use a Hyphen… • When Writing Out Two-Word Numbers from 21 to 99 and Two-Word Fractions: twenty-two three-fourths fifty-first five twenty-fourths two hundred ten two hundred twenty-two Also hyphenate a compound adjective containing a number: ten-year-old boy forty-hour week ten-dollar bill two- and three-room apartments

40. Use a Hyphen… • To Avoid Ambiguity. Ambiguous: The advertisement was intended for old train buffs. [old buffs of trains or buffs of old trains?] Clear: The advertisement was intended for old-train buffs. • With the Prefixes ex- (when it means “former”), self-, all-, and the Suffix -elect. Also with all prefixes before a proper noun or proper adjective. ex-president self-confidence all-conference Senator-elect Pan-American anti-Russian NOTE: The modern tendency is to join nearly all prefixes and suffixes to root words without hyphens, except where ambiguity (recover, re-cover) or awkwardness might result or where the root is capitalized (anti-American, Europe-wide). Examples of modern usage are antiterrorist, noninterventionist, semiliterate (but semi-independent to avoid an awkward double i), bimonthly, triweekly, and citywide.

41. Use a Hyphen • To Divide a word that will not fit at the end of a line. Always put the hyphen at the end of the first line, not the beginning of the second! • Words should be divided between syllables. One-syllable words should never be divided. • A word having double consonants should be divided between those consonants (unless ending in –ing) • Do not divide a word so that a single letter stands alone. Try to avoid dividing a word so that only two letters are carried over to the next line. • Words having prefixes and suffixes should usually be divided between the prefix and the root of the word or between the root of the word and the suffix. under-stand hap-py recom-mend enor-mous pri-vacy pre-heat happi-ness jump-ing call-ing

42. Use a Hyphen… • To Indicate Words that are spelled out. “She wants a d-o-l-l,” her mother said to her grandmother.

43. Use Parentheses (always in pairs)… • To Set Off Incidental Information or Comment. • Senator Shelby (R., Alabama) is the ranking member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. NOTE: Do not overuse parentheses. Use commas to set off ordinary parenthetical (interrupting) expressions. Do not use an opening capital letter or closing period with a sentence in parentheses within a larger sentence.

44. Use Parentheses (always in pairs)… • To Enclose • Letters or figures in enumeration: She is authorized to (1) sign checks, (2) pay bills, and (3) make purchases. • References and directions: The map (see page 70) shows the terrain of the area. • A question mark indicating uncertainty: Julius Caesar was born in the year 100 B.C.(?) in Rome. • For Accuracy, in Legal Documents and Business Letters: I enclose fifty dollars ($50).

45. Use Parentheses (always in pairs)… • With Other Punctuation Marks as Follows: • The comma, semicolon, and period follow the closing parenthesis when the parentheses set off material in a sentence. If we go (we are still not sure), you two may go. He deceived us (weren’t we foolish?); he was clever. I believed her (though I can’t imagine why). • The question mark and the exclamation point go inside the parentheses if the mark belongs to the parenthetical element; otherwise, they go outside. One of the translators was Aquila (died A.D. 138?). Have you read the translation of Tyndale (died 1536)? Snerd asked Peter’s fiancée for a date (what gall!).

46. DO NOT Use Parentheses… • To Indicate Deletions. Instead draw a line through the deleted words: Wrong: (Never) Seldom have I seen such gall! Right: Never Seldom have I seen such gall! • To Enclose Editorial Comment. Use brackets for this purpose, as explained in the next section. 

47. Use Brackets… • To Enclose Your Editorial or Explanatory Remarks Within a Direct Quotation. Churchill said in 1940, “If we can stand up to him [Hitler], all Europe may be free….” • With Sic to Mark the Original Writer’s Error in Material You Are Quoting. (Sic is Latin for “Thus it is.” Its use clarifies that the error was made not by you but by the person you are quoting.) The note ended, “Respectively [sic] yours, Martha.” • To Enclose Stage Directions. MIRANDA [sipping her coffee]: Are you glad to see me?

48. Italics (Underlining) • Italics is slanted type. In your handwriting, indicate italics by underlining: Moby Dick or Moby Dick

49. Use Italics to Designate… • Titles of Separate Publications • Books: Gone with the Wind is one of my favorite novels. • Magazines and Newspapers: Mr. Stanley reads the New Yorker and the New York Times. *NOTE: The word the is not capitalized or italicized in a newspaper or magazine title. • Bulletins and Pamphlets: Common Sense • Plays, films, TV and Radio Programs, and musical productions: • Lincoln was shot during a performance of Our American Cousin • Have you ever watched The Color Purple? • I love Masterpiece Theater and MI-5 on PBS. • We enjoyed The Phantom of the Opera immensely! • Poems long enough to be published separately: • Tennyson’s In Memoriam NOTE: DO NOT italicize/underline your own titles for essays.

50. Use Italics to Designate… • Names of Ships, Aircraft, and Spacecraft: • Captain Nemo commanded the Nautilus. • The Challenger blew up during take-off when I was only 6 years old. • Elvis Presley had his own plane, the Lisa Marie. • Titles of Paintings and Sculptures • The Blue Boy by Gainsborough • I saw The Thinker by Rodin at his house in Paris. • At what do you think the Mona Lisa is smiling?