Conjunctions

Conjunctions, a part of speech, refer to words that connect words, phrases, or clauses. Words that show relationships between ideas, across words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. Key Concepts: Coordination & Subordination; Organizational Schema; Sentences; Writer-Based vs. Reader-Based Prose Why Do Conjunctions Matter? Writers, speakers, knowledge workers . . . use conjunctions to aid coherence—especially to ...

Primer Sentences

How can short sentences be effectively combined? Use Coordinating Conjunctions Simple sentences about a single topic may also be combined by using coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) and/or modifying clauses. Series of related sentences: Central Park is an urban park that is 843 acres. It is located in New York City. ...

The 9 Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech refers to the different ways words can function in a sentence. There are 9 Parts of Speech in English: Parts of Speech Grammatical Function 1. Articles 2. Adjectives modifies noun 3. Adverbs a word used to modify verbs and verb phrases 4. Conjunctions joins words 5. Interjections use of punctuation to denote ...

Nominalizations

In English, a nominalization refers to the grammatical construct whereby a verb, adjective, or adverb functions as a noun. Examples: Noun/Nominalization Verb, adjective, or adverb Action Act Administration Administer Cessation Cease Invention Invent exploration explore justification justify To avoid nominalizations, make sure to use more action verbs in your sentences. To do this, you should: ...

Digital illustration of a college-aged student standing on a high diving board, looking down nervously into the swimming pool below. The student appears hesitant, with a thought bubble that reads, 'Maybe this isn't such a great idea...'.

Ellipsis – How to Enhance Clarity, Concision & Drama in your Texts

Ellipsis Definition – What is an Ellipsis? An ellipsis, often known as ellipses in plural, consists of three consecutive dots and is a crucial punctuation mark in writing. It is frequently used to indicate the omission of words, phrases, or entire sentences from a direct quotation, to create suspense by leaving a sentence hanging, or ...

Dashes

A dash (—) is a punctuation mark used to set off an idea within a sentence and may be used alone or in pairs. Dashes interrupt a thought in a more dramatic way than a phrase enclosed in commas, but less theatrically than parentheses. To form a dash, type two hyphens—without a space before, after, ...

Hyphens

A hyphen (-) is used in the middle of a multi-word idea or joins two related words together. (The hyphen key is next to the +/= key on your keyboard (the same key with the underscore _ ) Use hyphens to join compound words and avoid awkward or confusing word combinations. A hyphen (-) is ...

Quotation Marks

One of the primary jobs of quotation marks is to set off exact spoken or written language. When writers use quotation marks correctly, they give credit to the original author and avoid plagiarism. Quotation marks are also used to enclose titles of short works and always appear in pairs. Quotation marks should be used to ...

Apostrophes

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark used to show possession, to indicate the plural form of letters of the alphabet, and to form a contraction. Of all forms of punctuation, the apostrophe appears to be in greatest peril of extinction. For proof that the apostrophe should be placed on an endangered species list in some ...

Colons

A colon is a punctuation mark used to separate significant parts of a sentence, particularly when the first part offers a sense of anticipation for the second. This form of punctuation is also used in other conventional applications as noted below. Use the colon when the first sentence anticipates the second sentence or phrase, thereby ...