1. Comma usage and sentence structure
Spellcheckers frequently overlook incorrect comma usage. People like to add commas
in places where they do not belong. Some of this may originate from the general
(and often misleading) thought that one should place commas where one would pause
while reading a sentence. Commas have little to do with this and actually involve
the structure of the sentence. The confusion over this point gets more complicated
because commas do indicate a pause in the reading of a sentence. However,
spoken English varies widely with a number of factors, and some speakers will wish
to pause in areas of a sentence that other speakers will not. Therefore, understanding
the structure of sentences will compensate for the variation in spoken English.
Unfortunately, spellcheckers have not evolved to the point where they consistently
recognize sentence structures.
Spellcheckers can find some disruptive commas, particularly those that separate
the subject and the verb. For example:
The quarterback in that commercial,
is the one who threw the interception today.
In this case, the sentence does not need a comma, and the spellchecker will probably
agree. The comma is incorrect because it separates the subject (quarterback) from
its verb (is).
There are other rules for commas besides separating subject and verb. These rules
give spellcheckers problems. To avoid this, learn coordinating conjunctions
and independent clauses. Simply put, coordinating conjunctions connect independent
clauses. This is easier than it looks. Coordinating conjunctions never change the
meaning of the clause. They exist only to join. There are only seven coordinating
conjunctions, and they have a popular acronym:
FANBOYS. This represents for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so.
An independent clause simply means a statement that would be a complete sentence
on its own. This means the statement must contain a verb and subject (also known
as a simple sentence). Two independent clauses:
Scientists are excited about exploring Mars. They don’t know if it ever had
life.
Each of these form complete, grammatically correct sentences. They can be combined,
and here FANBOYS comes into use:
Scientists are excited about exploring Mars, but they don’t know if it ever
had life.
Notice the comma comes after the first independent clause and before
the conjunction. Also note that "but" does not change the overall meaning
of either clause. If this sentence had no comma, the spellchecker would probably
not notice. The spellchecker will not notice an incorrect sentence without
one of the FANBOYS:
Scientists are excited about exploring Mars, they don’t know if it ever had
life.
To guarantee that you will create grammatically correct sentences (despite the spellchecker)
read your writing carefully. Watch for complete sentences within sentences and make
sure you have a comma and a FANBOYS to join them.
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