by NatashaDeen | Aug 29, 2011 | Mechanical Monday
According to Strunk & White: “The paragraph is a convenient unit; it serves all forms of literary work. As long as it holds together, a paragraph may be of any length—a short sentence or a passage of great duration.”
by NatashaDeen | 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...
by NatashaDeen | 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 can stand on...
by NatashaDeen | 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 ran to...
by NatashaDeen | 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,...
by NatashaDeen | Jul 18, 2011 | Mechanical Monday
Quotations go around dialog, “You’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 “winner.” Things to remember—make sure the quotes face the...
