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The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

Category: Clauses and Sentences

Elliptical Sentence Constructions

Posted on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at 6:00 am

Mr. Burns is wiser than I. Tara knows more about football than baseball. Yama's thinking seeks truth; his writing, the expression of it. Many of us are familiar with these types of statements in English. They are elliptical sentence constructions, which omit sentence components without losing clarity. Those components can be words, phrases, or clauses. …

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When to Use (and Not Use) a Comma Before Which

Posted on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at 6:00 am

Writing and speaking in American English often includes the relative pronouns which and that. We use these words to provide essential and nonessential (also known as restrictive and nonrestrictive) information that further explains or identifies. The distinction between which and that was once more established within daily formal writing. The word which was used for …

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Interrogative Sentences: Usage and Examples

Posted on Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at 6:00 am

The English language includes four types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative. This discussion will focus on interrogative sentences. What Is an Interrogative Sentence? A declarative sentence "declares" something (e.g., facts, thoughts, opinions), an exclamatory sentence imparts a strong expression or emotion, and an imperative sentence issues a command. An interrogative sentence asks a …

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Exclamatory Sentences: Usage and Examples

Posted on Wednesday, September 28, 2022, at 6:00 am

The English language includes four types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative. This discussion will focus on exclamatory sentences. What Is an Exclamatory Sentence? A declarative sentence “declares” something (e.g., facts, thoughts, opinions), an interrogative sentence asks a question, and an imperative sentence issues a command. An exclamatory sentence imparts a strong expression or …

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Declarative Sentences: Usage and Examples

Posted on Wednesday, September 7, 2022, at 6:00 am

The English language includes four types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative. This discussion will focus on declarative sentences. What Is a Declarative Sentence? Where the other sentence types present questions (interrogative), exclamations (exclamatory), or commands (imperative), declarative sentences convey information as facts, thoughts, or opinions—i.e., they "declare" something. Note the differences among the …

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Using Nor Properly

Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at 6:00 am

Those who enjoy and study grammar often do so because they are inspired by the clear and eloquent expression of thoughts. They understand that when we open our mouths, put pen to paper, or begin to type, our minds are on parade. Precision in writing and speech involves the steady acquisition of grammatical details, or …

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What Is a Noun Clause?

Posted on Monday, April 18, 2022, at 6:00 am

American English grammar includes many components we use every day but may not always examine. For instance, you probably say, write, and hear noun clauses constantly even if you wouldn't be instantly ready to explain what they are. In this article we'll review the definition of a noun clause. We'll also look at its parts …

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What Are Correlative Conjunctions?

Posted on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, at 6:00 am

A conjunction is a part of speech that connects words, phrases, or clauses. The two types of conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions. Correlative conjunctions are coordinating conjunctions used in pairs. They connect two items of equal rank and grammatical unit. Some common correlative conjunctions include: either…or neither…nor both…and not only…but also as…so rather…than …

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Run-On Sentences

Posted on Wednesday, January 19, 2022, at 6:00 am

Many of us have seen a run-on sentence or what we thought might be one. Even if we couldn't explain technically why it was a run-on, we intuited that such a sentence included elements that were either improperly joined or insufficiently separated. In this discussion, we'll further review run-on sentences as well as different ways …

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Coordinating Conjunctions

Posted on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, at 6:00 am

A coordinating conjunction is a word that connects other words or phrases as well as clauses of equal rank. The seven coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so. (One way to remember them is by using the acronym FANBOYS as a mnemonic device: For And Nor But Or Yet So.) We …

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