The complete idiot guide part 16 ppsx

Chapter
10:
Dazed
and Confused:
Common
Usage
Dilemmas
133
Split Infinitives: To Boldly Go Where Everyone
Else
Goes
As
their
motto
proves, the crew of the USS
Enterprise
split their infinitives along with
their atoms. The
motto
should read: "To Go
Boldly
" They're not alone. You were
introduced to split
infinitives
in Chapter
2.
Remember
that
a split infinitive occurs
when an adverb or adverbial phrase is placed between to and the verb.
People

who feel strongly about their split
infinitives
really
feel strongly about their split
infinitives.
A famous New
Yorker
cartoon
shows
Captain
Bligh
sailing
away from the
Bounty
in a rowboat and shouting, "So Mr.
Christian! You propose to
unceremoniously
cast
me
adrift?" The caption beneath the cartoon
reads:
"The crew can no longer tolerate
Captain
Bligh's
ruthless splitting of
infinitives."
Even
though some people get their pencils bent out of shape over this matter, there is
no authoritative grammar and
usage

text
that
expressly forbids it. Famous writers have
been splitting their infinitives with abandon for centuries. George Bernard Shaw, the
brilliant
Irish playwright, once sent this letter to the
Times
of
London:
"There is a
busybody
on your
staff
who devotes a lot of time to chasing split infinitives: I
call
for
the immediate dismissal of this pedant. It is of no consequence whether he decides to
go
quickly or to quickly go or quickly to go. The important thing is
that
he should go
You
Could
Look
It Up
A
split
infinitive
occurs
when an adverb or adverbial

phrase
is placed between to and
the verb.
at once.
What
should you do? While I do not advo-
cate
that
you go around town splitting in-
finitives with abandon, there's no point in
mangling
a sentence just to avoid a split
infinitive.
Good writers
occasionally
split
infinitives
to create emphasis, achieve a
natural word order, and avoid confusion.
If
splitting an infinitive makes it possible for
you
to achieve the precise shade of meaning
you
desire, you have my
blessing
to split away.
Take
My
Word

for
It
The
twentieth-century
writer
and
cartoonist
James
Thurber had
this to say to the
editor
who
rearranged his
infinitive:
"When
I
split an
infinitive,
it is
going
to damn
well
stay split!"
|}1|
Part
2:
Under
the
Grammar
Hammer

The Good, the Bad, the
Ugly
Fortunately for me as the grammar
maven,
English
grammar and
usage
has many
confusing
issues.
And fortunately for you, only a handful of
them
come up
with
any
frequency.
Let's take a look at these hot
issues
in the grammar news: how to use
hope-
fully, whether to use like or
as,
and ending sentences
with
a preposition.
Hopefully
Since
the eighteenth century,
hopefully
has been used to mean "in a hopeful manner,"

as
in Robert Louis Stevenson's
saying,
"To travel hopefully is
better
than to arrive."
But
during the past generation, the adverb has come to mean "it is to be hoped."
Today,
it is
also
applied to situations as well as to people, as in "His fried eel will
hopefully
turn
out well." In addition, rather than modifying
(describing)
a specific
verb,
as in Stevenson's example,
hopefully
is now used to modify an entire sentence.
Except for a few lone holdouts (and if you're one of
them,
please don't contact me),
most people and dictionaries now accept
hopefully
as meaning "it is to be hoped." So
don't sweat this one.
Like/As
The

like/as
debate is another potential minefield.
About
50 years ago, a cigarette com-
pany
started a new ad campaign whose centerpiece was this
jingle:
"Winston tastes
good
like a cigarette should."
When
English
teachers, grammarians, and various
pun-
dits reacted
with
horror at the misuse of
"like"
for
"as,"
the company came back
with
this rejoinder:
"What
do you
want—good
grammar or good taste?" Thanks to all the
free
publicity Winston received, the marketing executives no
doubt

laughed all the
way
to the bank.
Here's the generally accepted
like/as
rule:
1.
Use like or
as
as a preposition to join a noun, as in these examples:
•
Cleans like a blizzard
•
Blind
as a bat
2.
Do not use like as a conjunction to introduce an adverb clause, as in this example:
Incorrect:
Nobody can do it
like
McDonald's can.
Correct:
Nobody can do it
as
McDonald's can.
_
Chapter
10:
Dazed
and

Confused:
Common
Osage
Dilemmas
135
Here's my
advice:
Write
sentences
that
sound good like a sentence should.
Don't
cre-
ate awkward-sounding sentences to conform to this (or any) rule.
Ending
with
a Preposition
Some
prissy scholars have tried
(with
a great deal of
success)
to foist a bunch of phony
Latin
grammar rules into
English
grammar, especially concerning the issue of not
ending
a sentence
with

a preposition. To be
correct,
you could
say,
"This
off me ticks."
To sound smooth, you could end
with
the preposition and
say,
"This ticks me off."
My
advice?
Try to avoid ending a sentence
with
a preposition when
possible,
but never
twist a sentence like something out of the
Kama
Sutra to avoid it. Make your sentences
sound natural and graceful. If a few sentences end
with
a preposition, you'll be just
fine.
I
give
you permission to write "This ticks me
off'
rather than "This off me ticks."

The Least You Need to Know
•
A
dangling
modifier is a word or phrase
that
describes something
that
has been
left out of the sentence. Fix it by adding what's missing.
•
A misplaced modifier is placed too far from the word or words it modifies. Put
all
modifiers as close as possible to the words they describe.
•
Don't
string together
clichés
and you
won't
get writing that's as dull as dishwater.
•
The jury's out on split infinitives and ending a sentence
with
a preposition.

Part
Usage
and
Abusage

Then there's the story about the man who appeared at the Pearly
Gates. St. Peter asked him, "Who goes there?"
"It is I," answered the man.
"Oh, no," moaned St. Peter. "Not another
English
teacher."
In this
part,
you get the lowdown on the building blocks of writing:
phrases,
clauses,
and sentences.
If
you ever
meet
St. Peter, you'll know
what
to
say—and
how to
say
it!

Chapter
Phrases:
Prime-Time Players
In This
Chapter
•
Probe prepositional phrases

•
Admire appositives
•
Visit verbals
In this chapter, we start the construction of your writing
with
the phrase,
one of the key building blocks of the sentence. There are several different
kinds of
phrases,
including prepositional phrases
(with
the subcategories
adjectival
phrases and adverbial phrases), appositives, and verbals. In this
chapter, you learn
them
all. First, I teach you the individual parts of each
different phrase and
then
ease you into the phrases themselves.
Phrases
of the
Moon
A
phrase
is a group of words
that
functions in a sentence as a
single

part
of
speech. A phrase does not have a subject or a verb. As you write, you use
phrases
to
•
Add detail by describing.
•
Make your meaning more precise.
•
Fold in additional information.
1M)
Part
3:
Usage
and
Abusage
You
Could
Look
It Up
A
phrase
is a
group
of
words,
without a
subject
or a

verb,
that
functions
in a
sentence
as
a
single
part
of
speech.
A
phrase
cannot
stand
alone
as
an
independent
unit.
A
phrase
can
function
only
as
a
part
of
speech.

The following table shows the different types of phrases.
Different
Types
of
Phrases
Type
of
Phrase
Definition
Example
Prepositional
Begins
with
a preposition and
ends
with
a noun or pronoun
Adjectival Prepositional phrase
that
functions as an adjective
Adverbial Prepositional phrase
that
functions as an adverb.
Appositive
Noun
or pronoun
that
renames
another noun or pronoun.
Verbal A verb form used as another

part
of speech.
Participle Verbal phrase
that
functions
as
an adjective.
Gerund Verbal phrase
that
functions
as
a noun
Infinitive Verbal phrase
that
functions
as
a noun, adjective, or adverb.
by the lake
She
has a
fish
with
red
gills.
We cheered with
loud
voices.
Lou,
a
Viking,

enjoys plunder.
(See
the following
three
entries.)
Eating
slowly,
the child was
finally
quiet.
Partying
hearty
requires
great
endurance.
To
sleep
late
on
Sunday is a
real
treat.
Prepositional
Phrases:
The Big
Daddy
of
Phrases
A.
prepositional

phrase
is a group of words
that
begins
with
a preposition and ends
with
a
noun or a pronoun. This noun or pronoun is called the "object of the preposition."
Here are some sample prepositional phrases:
•
By the ocean
•
Near the window
Chapter
II:
Phrases:
Prime-Time
Players
IM
•
Over the cabinet
•
With
us
•
In your ear
•
Under your hat
You can connect two or more prepositional

phrases
with
a coordinating conjunction.
The seven coordinating conjunctions are
for,
and,
nor,
but,
or,
yet, and
so.
For example:
•
The resort is
beside
the mountain and
by the lake.
The coordinating conjunction is and.
•
You can usually find Macho Marvin in
the
steam
room,
on the
exercise
bike,
or
under the
barbells.
The coordinating conjunction is

or.
You Could Look
It Up
A
prepositional
phrase
is
a group of words
that
begins
with
a preposition and
ends
with
a
noun or a pronoun.
$
r
Quoth
the
Maven
_
iVr
To
find
out if a prepositional
phrase
is
functioning
as an ad-

jectival
phrase,
see if it
answers
these
questions: "Which
one?"
or
"What kind?"
Offspring
1:
Adjectival
Phrases
When
a prepositional phrase serves as an adjective, it's called an
adjectival
phrase.
(That
was a no-brainer, eh? Who
says
you don't get a break in this
English
biz?)
An adjectival phrase, as
with
an adjective, describes a noun or a pronoun. Here are
some examples:
•
The manager with
the

pink
slips
terrorized the employees.
The adjectival phrase
"with
the pink
slips"
describes the noun "manager."
•
The price
of
the
promotion
was much too steep.
The adjectival phrase "of the promotion" describes the noun "price."
•
Something in the
corner
of
the
desk
was
moving.
The adjectival phrase "in the corner"
describes
the noun "something"; the
adjectival
phrase "of the desk" describes
the noun "corner."
You Could Look

It Up
TSSER^
An
adverbial
phrase
is
a
prepositional phrase
that
modi-
fies
a verb, an adjective, or an
adverb.
142
Part
3:
Usage
and
Abusage
Offspring
2:
Adverbial
Phrases
Like
Meryl Streep or Kevin Kline, the prepositional phrase is a versatile creature, able
to slip into different roles. Depending on how it is used in a sentence, a prepositional
phrase can function as an
adverbial
phrase
by modifying a verb, an adjective, or an

adverb. For example:
•
She lost her head at the
retro
love-in.
The adverbial phrase "at the
retro
love-in" describes the verb "lost."
•
The salesperson skimmed
over
the
product's
real
cost.
The adverbial phrase "over the product's real cost" modifies the verb "skimmed."
•
The boss was thrilled at their attitude.
^
y
Quoth the Maven
To
find
out if a
prepositional
phrase
is
functioning
as an
adverbial phrase, see if it

answers
one of these questions:
"Where?"
"When?" "In
what
manner?"
"To
what
extent?"
The adverbial phrase "at their
attitude"
modi-
fies
the adjective "thrilled."
•
The rock climbers arrived late at night.
The adverbial phrase "at night" modifies the
adverb "late."
Appositives:
Something
More
for
Your
Money
An
appositive
is a noun or a pronoun
that
renames another noun or pronoun. Appositives
are

placed directly after the noun or pronoun they identify. For example:
•
Bob's
car, a
wreck,
died a
grisly
death by the side of the interstate.
The appositive "a wreck" renames the noun, "car."
•
Spot, a
cat,
should understand my moods.
The appositive "a cat" renames the noun, "Spot."
•
She, my
sister,
is always late.
The appositive "my sister" renames the pronoun "she."
You
Could
Look
It
Up
_,
An
appositive
is a
noun
or

pronoun
that
renames
another
noun
or
pronoun.
Some
appositives are essential to the meaning of the
sentence; others are not. Be sure to use commas care-
fully
to establish meaning
with
essential and nones-
sential
appositives. Otherwise your sentences will not
make
sense,
as these examples show: