The complete idiot guide part 17 ppt

Chapter
II:
Phrases:
Prime-Time
Players
\ki
Confusing:
Do you know my
friend
Bill?
Is Bill
the friend or is the speaker talking to
Bill?
Clear:
Do you know my friend,
Bill?
Appositive
Phrases
Appositive
phrases
are nouns or pronouns
with
modifiers. Appositive phrases provide
additional information and description to the sentence. As
with
solitary appositives,
appositive phrases are placed near the noun or pronoun they describe. For example:
•
Columbia University, the second-largest
landowner in New York City
{after

the
Catholic
Church),
is
part
of the Ivy
League.
•
David Prowse,
the
guy in the Darth
Vader
suit in the Star Wars
movies,
did not find
out
that
his lines were
going
to be
dubbed
over by
James
Earl
Jones
until
he saw the screening of the movie.
Appositives are great stylistic devices because they allow you to eliminate unnecessary
words and put more information in one sentence. They can
also

help you
•
Create more graceful sentences.
•
Eliminate repetition.
•
Create a beat or
rhythm
in your writing.
•
Make your writing more interesting.
Here's an example:
Two
sentences:
Phineas T. Barnum was a great American showman. Barnum was near
death in
1891
when a New York newspaper asked if he'd like to have his obituary
published while he could still read it.
One
sentence:
Phineas T. Barnum, a great American showman, was near death in
1891
when a New York newspaper asked if he'd like to have his obituary published while he
could still read it.
You Could Look
It
Up
_
Appositive

phrases
are
nouns
or pronouns
with
modifiers.
In grammar
lingo,
nonessential
appositives
are called
"nonrestric-
tive."
More on this and
other
stylistic devices in Part 5.
IMt
Part
3:
Usage
and
Abusaqe
appositives
with
commas.
The
Moment of
Truth
As
with

appositives, appositive phrases come in two varieties: essential and nonessen-
tial.
Don't
set off essential appositives
with
commas, but be sure to set off nonessen-
tial appositives
with
commas.
Essential
appositive:
The
famous
British
mystery
writer
Danger,
Will
Robinson
A
S
atha
Christie disappeared in
1924
and was missing
Don't set off
essential
Nonessential
appositive:
Agatha Christie,

the
famous
British
mystery
writer,
disappeared in
1924
and was
missing
for 10
days.
One of the most common writing errors concerns misuse of commas
with
appositives
and appositive phrases. Writers sometimes set off essential appositives
with
commas,
but neglect those poor nonessential ones. You would never do
that,
would you? To
make sure you're not guilty of
that
comma abuse, let's take a
minute
to practice, shall
we?
Add commas as needed to each of the following sentences.
1.
Isadora Duncan a great American dancer of the early
twentieth

century has
become almost as famous for her death as her dancing.
2.
John Styth Pemberton an Atlanta pharmacist created the original Coca-Cola
in
1886.
3.
Richard Nixon is the only American president who was forced to resign his office.
4.
King Louis XIV of France a ballet dancer from the
time
he was a teenager
established the Royal Ballet Company.
5.
Robert Benchley the American humorist and critic was a member of the
Algonquin table of noted wits.
6. Nellie
Melba
a famous Australian soprano of the late nineteenth and early
twen-
tieth
century
gave
her name to a snack food called "melba toast."
7.
The centaur a mythological creature is said to feast on raw flesh and prodigious
amounts of liquor.
8. Alexander the Great died of
a
fever.

9. Ferrets a domesticated variety of polecats were
first
tamed in 1500
B.C.E.
by the
Egyptians.
10.
Some people consider the number
13
unlucky.
Chapter
II:
Phrases:
Prime-Time
Players
US
Answers
1.
Isadora Duncan,
a
great American dancer
of
the early
twentieth
century,
has
become almost as famous
for her
death as
her

dancing.
2.
John Styth Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist, created
the
original Coca-Cola
in
U
3.
No
punctuation
change needed.
4.
King Louis XIV
of
France,
a
ballet dancer from
the
time
he
was
a
teenager,
established
the
Royal Ballet Company.
5.
Robert Benchley,
the
American humorist and critic, was

a
member of the
Algonquin table of noted wits.
6. Nellie
Melba,
a
famous Australian soprano
of
the late nineteenth and early
twentieth
century,
gave
her
name
to a
snack food called "melba toast."
7.
The
centaur,
a
mythological crea-
ture,
is
said
to
feast
on
raw flesh and
prodigious amounts of liquor.
8.

No
punctuation
change needed.
9. Ferrets,
a
domesticated variety
of
polecats, were first tamed
in
1500
B.C.E.
by
the
Egyptians.
10.
No
punctuation
change needed.
Take
My
Word
for
It
Appositives, as
with
other
parts
of
a
sentence,

can be
com-
pound. To create
a
compound
appositive, connect
the
apposi-
tives
with a
correlative conjunc-
tion:
and,
but, or, for,
so,
nor,
and yet.
Verbal
Phrases:
Talk Soup
A
verbal
is
a
verb form used as another
part
of speech. Like Gaul, verbals come
in
three
varieties:

participles,
gerunds,
and
infinitives.
Each
type
has
a
different function
in
a
sentence:
•
Participles
function as adjectives.
•
Gerunds
function as nouns.
•
Infinitives function as nouns, adjectives,
or adverbs.
You
Could
Look
It
Up
A
verbal
is a
verb

form
used
as
another
part
of
speech.
IM>
Part
3:
Usage
and
Abusaqe
Although a verbal doesn't function as a verb in a sentence, it does retain two qualities
of
a verb:
•
A verbal can be described by adverbs and adverbial phrases.
•
A verbal can add modifiers to become a
verbal
phrase.
Let's
get to know the
three
verbals a little
better.
Part and Participle
A
participle

is a form of
a
verb
that
functions as an adjective. There are two kinds of
participles:
present
participles
and
past
participles.
•
Present participles end in -ing
(jumping,
burning,
You
Could
look
It
Up
_,
SpeMng)
-
•
Past participles usually end in
-ed,
-t, or -en
(jumped,
burnt,
spoken).

A
participle
is a
form
of a verb
that
functions as an
adjective.
In
the mood to add some participle action to your
sentences?
Here's how you do it:
•
The
howling
children disturbed the neighbors.
The present participle "howling" describes the noun "children."
•
Fred Flintstone
gave
Barney
Rubble a
crumbling
rock.
The present participle "crumbling" describes the noun "rock."
•
The
frozen
candy bar broke her $900 bridgework.
The past participle "frozen" describes the noun "candy bar."

•
Annoyed,
Rita ate dinner by herself in the bathroom.
The past participle "annoyed" describes the noun
"Rita."
Don't
confuse participles and verbs. Participles aren't preceded by a helping verb, as
these examples show:
•
The
sputtering
car jerked down the
road,
(participle)
•
The car was
sputtering
down the
road,
(verb)
Chapter
II:
Phrases:
Prime-Time
Players
H7
Participle phrases contain a participle modified by an adverb or an adverbial phrase.
The whole kit and caboodle acts as an adjective, as these examples show:
•
Swimming

slowly,
I didn't notice the shark on my tail.
The participle phrase "swimming slowly" describes the pronoun "I."
•
Annoyed
by
its
heavy
breathing,
I told it to get lost.
The participle phrase "Annoyed by its heavy breathing" describes the pronoun "I."
However, the participle phrase can
also
be placed after the word it describes. In
that
case,
it is usually set off by commas, as in this example:
•
"My sister, burning the
toast,
looked distracted."
Like
appositives, participles and participle phrases are an indispensable
part
of the
writer's bag of tricks because they allow you to create concise and interesting sen-
tences. Use
them
to combine information from two or more sentences into one sen-
tence. Notice how much more punch the following sentence has when it is combined

by using a participle:
Two
sentences:
Noel Coward made a slight but pointed adjustment to an old
cliché.
He
once described another writer as every other inch a gentleman.
One
sentence:
Making a slight but pointed adjustment to the old
cliché,
Noel Coward
once described another writer as every other inch a gentleman.
Gerund
Phrases
A
gerund
is a form of a verb used as a noun. Remember the following two guidelines
when you
hunt
for gerunds:
•
Gerunds always end in -ing.
•
Gerunds always act as nouns.
Gerunds can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of
a
preposi-
tion, predicate nominatives, and appositives. Here are some examples of gerunds:
•

Leroy expanded his
skills
by
studying.
^^0^%.
The gerund "studying" is the object of fifTj
6
^°
u
Could
Look
It
Up .
the preposition "by."
^«43?
A gerund is Q verb form
•
At the age of
10,
Irving started running.
use<
^
QS a noun
-
The gerund "running" is a direct object.
IMI
Part
3:
Usage
and

Abusaqe
•
My mother's sole occupation,
kvetching,
makes her tedious company.
The gerund
"kvetching"
(an
especially
virulent form of
complaining)
is an
appositive in this sentence.
Like
a participle, a gerund can be
part
of a phrase. In
that
case,
the whole package is
called
a
gerund
phrase.
(Got you
with
that
one, didn't
I?)
Here are some gerund

phrases
busy at work in their sentences:
•
The
quiet,
steady
rowing
soothed him.
The gerund phrase is "the quiet, steady rowing."
Danger, Will Robinson
Don't
confuse gerunds
and present participles,
because
both
end in -ing. A gerund func-
tions only as a noun,
while
a
participle
functions only as an
modifier.
•
My evening routine
features
jogging
slowly
around
the
block.

The gerund phrase is
"jogging
slowly around
the block."
•
Thousands of "Dead Heads" show their dedica-
tion to their departed leader
by
following
what
s
left
of
The Grateful
Dead
around
the
country.
The gerund phrase is "following what's left of
The Grateful Dead around the country."
Infinitive
Phrases:
The
Final
Frontier
Last
but not least we have the infinitive, a form of the verb
that
comes after the word
to

and acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb. Versatile little babies, infinitives can
fill
as
many roles as gerunds,
with
the addition of adjectives and adverbs. Here are some
examples:
•
To
succeed
takes courage, foresight, and luck.
The infinitive is "to succeed," and it functions as the subject.
•
Alone in her cubicle, all she wanted was
to
survive.
The infinitive is "to survive," and it functions as
the direct object.
•
Afraid
to
move,
she froze in terror.
You Could Look It Up
The
infinitive is a verb
form
that
comes
after

the
word
to
and functions as a noun, adjec-
tive, or adverb.
The infinitive is "to move," and it modifies the
adverb "afraid."
Chapter
II:
Phrases:
Prime-Time
Players
H9
An infinitive can be used as a phrase. An infinitive phrase, as
with
the
other
verbal
phrases,
contains modifiers
that
together act as a
single
part
of speech. Following are
some examples:
•
His
goal,
to

break
into
Fort
Knox,
was
never achieved.
The infinitive phrase is "to break into
Fort Knox" and modifies the noun
"goal."
•
The pilgrim's hope was to
reach
the
shrine
before
sundown.
The infinitive phrase "to reach the
shrine before sundown" describes "hope."
I 1
Danger,
Will
Robinson
Don't
confuse
infinitives
with
prepositional
phrases
that
begin

with
to. Remember
that
a
prepositional
phrase always ends
with
a
noun
or a
pronoun;
an
infinitive
always ends
with
a verb.
The
Least
You Need to Know
•
A phrase is a group of words,
without
a subject or a verb,
that
functions as a
single
part
of speech. Phrases cannot stand alone as independent units.
•
Prepositional phrases begin

with
a preposition and end
with
a noun or pronoun;
they can function as adjectival phrases and adverbial phrases.
•
Appositives rename another noun or pronoun; appositive phrases include modi-
fiers.
•
Verbals are verb forms used as another
part
of speech. Participles function as
adjectives,
gerunds function as nouns, infinitives function as nouns, adjectives,
or adverbs.
•
This sounds a lot more difficult than it is.
Chapter
Clauses:
Kickin'
It
Up
a Notch
In This Chapter
•
Learn about independent clauses
•
Discover dependent clauses
•

Explore adverb, adjective, and noun clauses
You know all about Santa
Claus,
retractable claws, and
Claus
von
Bulow.
There's no reason to be claustrophobic: Clauses are your
friends.
In this chapter, you
meet
independent
and
dependent
clauses,
including adverb,
adjective,
and noun
clauses.
Along the way, you learn how to use clauses to
add description, show relationships between ideas, and eliminate unneces-
sary
words.
Clauses:
Phrases
on Steroids
You've got words, you've got phrases, and now you've got
clauses.
The pro-
gression

suggests
that
clauses are
pumped
up phrases. Indeed, clauses tend
to be beefier than phrases. That's because a clause is a group of words
with
its own subject and verb.
Like
phrases, clauses enrich your
written
and oral expression by adding
details
and making your meaning more exact. Clauses
also
allow you to
combine ideas to show their relationship. This adds
logic
and cohesion,
very
good things when you're trying to communicate.
152
Part
3:
Usage
and
Abusaqe
You
Could
Look

It Up
A
clause
is
a
group
of
words
with its own
subject
and
verb.
An
independent
(main)
clause
is a
complete
sentence;
a
dependent
(subordinate)
clause
is
part
of a
sentence.
A
depend-
ent

clause
cannot
stand
alone.
There are two types of
clauses:
independent
clauses
(main
clauses)
and
dependent
clauses
(subordinate
clauses
and relative
clauses).
•
An independent clause is a complete sentence; it
can
stand alone.
•
A dependent (subordinate) clause is part of
a
sentence; it cannot stand alone.
Here are some examples of each type of
clause.
Dependent
Clause
Independent

Clause
Until Captain Cooke returned
from his
voyage
to Tahiti,
Although they had the worst
batting average in baseball,
Because
his
salary
in 1930 and
1931
was $80,000,
Tattooing was not known in the
Western world.
The New York Mets won the World
Series
in 1969.
Babe
Ruth was the best-paid
athlete in the world at the time.
Strictly
Speaking
Why is
there
a
period
at
the
end

of
each
independent
clause?
Because
they
are
complete
sen-
tences.
Note
that
there's
no
period
at
the
end
of
each
dependent
clause.
That's
because
they're
not
complete
sentences.
Independent
Clauses:

Top
Dogs
An independent clause contains a subject and a pred-
icate.
It can stand alone as a sentence because it
expresses
a complete thought. The three independ-
ent clauses shown on the previous chart all contain a
subject and a verb and express a complete idea.
The following table shows some independent clauses
divided
into their subjects and predicates.
Subject
Predicate
The door opened.
Dancing
burns up 200 to 400 calories per hour.
Elvis's
twin died at birth on January 8,
1935.
Don Larsen pitched the only perfect game in World
Series
history.
It was the
fifth
game of the 1956
Series.