Monday Mechanics: Paragraphs

by | Aug 22, 2011 | Mechanical Monday

Paragraphs consist of (at least) three sentences: the one that introduces the topic, the one that expands on the topic, and the closing sentence (think of it as a beginning, middle, and end”microscopically): John was my brother. He was five years older than me. I...

Monday Mechanics:(In)dependent clauses

by | Aug 15, 2011 | Mechanical Monday

Strunk & White say: Put a comma before a conjunction that introduces an independent clause. Okay, what does that mean? Conjunctions are: and, but, or, so, yet¦ What they’re saying is when you have a sentence and you’re joining it with a phrase that...

Monday Mechanics: Clauses

by | Aug 8, 2011 | Mechanical Monday

Wow. So, reading up to do a Monday Mechanics post and realized there are terms being tossed around that I don’t remember. So, refresher for those of us no longer in secondary school. An independent clause has a subject, verb, and expresses a complete thought: I...

Monday Mechanics: Period

by | Jul 25, 2011 | Mechanical Monday

Yep, pretty simple. A period is that wonderful dot at the end of a sentence that indicates the writer’s thought is complete.It’s handy with simple sentences (noun & verb: John ran.), and (noun, verb, and anything else you can think of: Heart beating,...

Mechanical Monday: Quotations

by | Jul 18, 2011 | Mechanical Monday

Quotations go around dialog, œYou’re the best teacher, ever, said Julie. They’re also used to set out terminology (usually as an indication the writer/character is being sarcastic: That guy was a real œwinner.  Things to remember”make sure the quotes...