Punctuation Rules

Commas and periods are the most frequently used punctuation marks. Commas customarily indicate a brief pause; they're not as final as periods. Rule 1. Use commas to separate words and word groups in a simple series of three or more items. Example: My estate goes to my husband, son, daughter-in-law, and nephew. Note: When the last comma in a series comes before and or or (after daughter-in-law in the above example), it is known as the Oxford comma. Example: We had coffee, cheese and crackers and grapes. Adding a comma after crackers makes it clear that cheese and crackers represents one dish. We had coffee, cheese and crackers, and grapes. Fiction and nonfiction books generally prefer the Oxford comma. Rule 2. Example: He is a strong, healthy man. Example: We stayed at an expensive summer resort. Another way to determine if a comma is needed is to mentally put and between the two adjectives. Rule 3a. Incorrect: He walked all the way home, he shut the door. There are several simple remedies: Related: ESL • english writing

Handouts at Grammar Bytes! Terms of Use You may not alter, sell, or post these materials on a different server. Photocopying for students or linking to materials here does not require my permission. Comma Splices & Fused Sentences Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Additional Item Rules for Fixing Comma Splices and Fused Sentences Back to top ▲ Fragments Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Exercise 6 Exercise 7 Additional Items Back to top ▲ Irregular Verbs Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Exercise 6 Additional Items Back to top ▲ Parallel Structure Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Exercise 6 Additional Item Rules for Maintaining Parallel Structure Back to top ▲ Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 Additional Item Rules for Fixing Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers Back to top ▲ Apostrophes Commas Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Exercise 5 [Not for the faint-hearted!]

Affect vs. Effect | Grammarly Blog Affect and effect are easy to mix up. Here’s the short version of how to use affect vs. effect. Affect is usually a verb, and it means to impact or change. Effect is usually a noun, an effect is the result of a change. Now that the basics are out of the way, the time has come to learn the intricacies of how to use affect and effect effectively. Here’s a tip: Want to make sure your writing always looks great? Confused about affect and effect? Grammarly can help with that. Get Grammarly The Difference Between Affect and Effect Is it affect or effect? So, if A affects B, B experiences the effect of A’s action. Huh? Imagine Ruby (A) pushes Raphael (B) into a pond. Because Ruby performed an action, that signals the use of a verb: affect. Affect and effect are different parts of speech, but they sound almost identical. When to Use Affect Affect means to influence or to produce a change in something. The tornado citizens within forty miles of Topeka. Here’s a tip: Here’s a mnemonic: A is for action.

usage ALUMNI Hello Everyone! Have you ever been confused about which word is correct when you are referring to "graduates"? When should you use ALUMNA, ALUMNAE, ALUMNUS, and ALUMNI? Here are some examples of common mistakes with this problem: I am an ALUMNI of Whiteville High School...or...All of the ladies in our Sunday School class are ALUMNI of The University of North Carolina at Wilmington...or Butch is an ALUMNI of NC State University in Raleigh. Notice how the word ALUMNI is getting a good workout in the above sentences. So what's going on here and what should we remember? Okay...Here are some simple definitions to help you keep them straight: ALUMNA is singular and simply means one female graduate. ALUMNAE is plural and means two or more female graduates. ALUMNUS is singular and means one male graduate. ...and finally... ALUMNI is plural and means two or more male graduates. Now... here's an additional use of ALUMNI that does not apply to the other three words: How about that? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 1.

How to Write a Letter (with Free Sample Letters) Steps Method 1 Writing a Formal Letter <img alt="Image titled Write a Letter Step 1" src=" width="728" height="546" class="whcdn">1Know when to write a formal letter. Write a formal letter when addressing someone you only know in a professional capacity. This includes letters written to government departments or businesses, instead of a known individual. <img alt="Image titled Write a Letter Step 9" src=" width="728" height="546" class="whcdn">9Write your return address on the envelope (optional). Method 2 Writing an Informal Letter Community Q&A Add New Question My English is not very good. Ask a Question If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know. Tips Warnings Article Info

ProjectBritain.com - A resource of British Life and Culture in the UK by Woodlands Junior The State of Writing 2016 | Grammarly Blog The first sentence can’t be written until the final sentence is written. — Joyce Carol Oates With 2016 coming to a close, Grammarly’s team of writing analysts took a look at the biggest trends in writing in English this year. And we found some fascinating results! Below are the grammar and writing trends that dominated 2016, as well as our predictions for the next year in written English. First, we looked at where we write, and found that this has changed significantly over time! Don’t remember when the printing press was invented? Our team also looked at some “trendy” words in 2016, and related them back to linguistic traditions. Don’t know why “verbing” is such a big deal, or why “tweens” are their own age group? 2016 was a rich year for the growth of writing online. In 2016, Grammarly checked more than 31 billion words! Although we saw millions of very real grammar errors, we also noticed that some grammar rules may be going out of style.

Commonly confused words Take a look at these two sentences – one of them contains a mistake: I poured over book after book. We pored over the catalogues. Are you uncertain which one is right? There are a lot of words in English that look or sound alike but have very different meanings, such as pore and pour or flaunt and flout. Here’s a quick-reference list of pairs of words that regularly cause people problems. Back to Usage. You may also be interested in: 'Loose' or 'lose'? 'Pour' or 'pore'? 'Bare' or 'bear'?

How to Write a News Article (with Downloadable Sample Articles) Edit Article Four Parts:Sample ArticlesPlanning Your ArticleWriting Your News ArticleProofing Your ArticleCommunity Q&A Writing a news article is different from writing other articles or informational pieces, because news articles present information in a specific way. It's important to be able to convey all the important information in a limited word count and giving the best information to your targeted audience. Knowing how to write a news article can help you expand a journalism career, exercise your writing skills and convey information clearly and concisely. Steps Part 1 Planning Your Article <img alt="Image titled Write a News Article Step 1" src=" width="728" height="546" class="whcdn">1Research your topic. Part 2 Writing Your News Article Part 3 Proofing Your Article Community Q&A Add New Question How do I write a science news article related?

Movies and famous people lesson plans Page Design Peter Snashall Copyright 1999 ESL Lessons for Teaching Movies/Theatre <span><a target="_blank" href="/search.html">Search</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/PreIntermediateLessonPlans.html">Past, Present,Future</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/describingplaces.html">Lifestyles/cities/houses</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/futuretenselessonplans.html">Plans/Predictions</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/complaintsandrequestslessonplans.html">Complaints/Requests</a> | <a target="_blank" href="/interculturalcommunication.html">Intercultural Comm. Movie worksheets and exercises Famous people/celebrity lessons for ESL students