Transcript The Elements of Style - APE LIT Survival Guide

The Elements of Style
By E. B. White
Elementary Rules of Usage
Are these correct?
 Red, white and blue
 Life, liberty and happiness
 Britt, Collins, & Kling Associates
The Rule
 In a series of three or more terms with a single
conjunction, use of a comma after each term except
the last.
 This comma is often referred to as the “serial”
comma.
 In the names of business firms the last comma is
usually omitted.
Correct
 Red, white, and blue
 Life, liberty, and happiness
 Britt, Collins & Kling Associates
Are these correct?
 The best way to see a country unless you are pressed
for time is to travel on foot.
 The audience which had at first been indifferent
became more and more interested.
 In 1769 when Napoleon was born Corsica had but
recently been acquired by France.
The Rule
 Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas.
 Nonrestrictive relative clauses are parenthetic, as are
similar clauses introduced by conjunctions indicating
time or place. Commas are therefore needed.
 A nonrestrictive clause is one that does not serve to
identify or define the antecedent noun. They merely
add something; they do not limit or define.
Correct
 The best way to see a country, unless you are pressed
for time, is to travel on foot.
 The audience, which had at first been indifferent,
became more and more interested.
 In 1769, when Napoleon was born, Corsica had but
recently been acquired by France.
THAT
WHICH
 Grandpa took the lawnmower
that was broken to the
hardware store to be fixed.
 Grandma hated the
lawnmower, which a neighbor
had given to her for free,
because it was hard to start.
 The early records of the city have disappeared and
the story of its first years can no longer be
reconstructed.
 The city had a strong Spanish heritage yet some of
the homes in the historical district were built with a
definite French influence.
The Rule
 Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an
independent clause.
 The city had the first fire district and notified citizens
of emergencies with a bell.
Correct
 The early records of the city have disappeared, and
the story of its first years can no longer be
reconstructed.
 The city had a strong Spanish heritage, yet some of
the homes in the historical district were built with a
definite French influence.
Correct?
 Mary Shelly’s works are entertaining they are full of
engaging ideas.
 It is nearly half past five we cannot get to the movie
on time.
The Rule
 Do not join independent clauses with a comma.
 If two or more grammatically complete clauses not
joined by a conjunction are to form a single
compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation
is a semicolon.
 An exception to the semicolon rule is worth noting
here. A comma is preferable when the clauses are
very short and alike in form, or when the tone of the
sentence is easy and conversational.
Correct!
 Mary Shelly’s works are entertaining; they are full of
engaging ideas.
 It is nearly half past five; we cannot get to the movie
on time.
 The gate opened, the bridge fell.
Correct?
 She was an interesting talker. A woman who had
traveled all over the world and lived in half a dozen
countries.
 I met them on a cruise many years ago. Coming home
from Venezuela to Miami.
 Again and again he called out. No reply.
The Rule
 Do not break sentences in two.
 Do not use periods for commas.
 It is permissible to make an emphatic word or expression
serve the purpose of a sentence and to punctuate it
accordingly. Be certain that the emphasis is warranted, lest
a clipped sentence seem merely a blunder in syntax or in
punctuation.
 Generally speaking, the place for broken sentences is in
dialogue, when a character happens to speak in a clipped
or fragmentary way.
Correct!
 She was an interesting talker, a woman who had
traveled all over the world and lived in half a dozen
countries.
 I met them on a cruise many years ago, coming home
from Venezuela to Miami.
 Again and again he called out. No reply.
 Correct?
 Your dedicated whittler requires: a knife, apiece of
wood, and a back porch.
 Understanding is that penetrating quality of
knowledge that grows from:
theory, practice, conviction,
assertion, error, and humiliation.
The Rule
 Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list
of particulars, an appositive, and amplification, or an
illustrative quotation.
 The colon tells the reader that what follows is closely
related to the preceding clause. The colon has more effect
than the comma, less power to separate than the
semicolon, and more formality than the dash.
 It usually follows an independent clause and should not
separate a verb from its complement or a preposition from
its object.
Correct!
 Your dedicated whittler requires three props: a knife,
apiece of wood, and a back porch.
 Understanding is that penetrating quality of
knowledge that grows from theory, practice,
conviction, assertion, error, and humiliation.
Correct?
 Thunder usually follow lightning.
 The destruction of tornadoes are devastating.
 John and his friends is about to leave.
The Rule
 The number of the subject determines the number of
the verb.
 Words that intervene between subject and verb do
not affect the number of the verb.
 A compound subject formed of two or more nouns
joined by and almost always requires a plural verb.
Correct!
 Thunder usually follows lightning.
 The destruction of tornadoes is devastating.
 John and his friends are about to leave.
Correct?





The famous historian is her.
Our closest friends have always been them.
Us seniors have the most spirit.
Our language arts teacher praised Holly and he.
The company gave we students an award.
The Rule
 Use the proper case of pronoun.
 Use the nominative case when a pronoun is used as
the subject of a verb or as a predicate nominative.
 The objective case is used with the objects of the
verbs and prepositions as well as with the objects of
verbals.
 The possessive case of pronouns is used to show
possession before nouns and before gerunds. Some
possessive pronouns are used by themselves.
Correct





The famous historian is she.
Our closest friends have always been they.
We seniors have the most spirit.
Our language arts teacher praised Holly and him.
The company gave us students an award.
Who - whom
 Pierre is the one who likes to laugh.
 [Pierre is the one] he likes to laugh.
 Whoever finishes first gets a prize.
 [he finishes]
 Give the book to whomever. [her]
 Give the book to whoever needs it. [she needs it]
Correct?
 Walking down the road, he saw a woman
accompanied by two children.
 Young and inexperienced, the task seemed easy to
me.
 Playing the trumpet, the parade was enjoyable.
The Rule
 A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence
must refer to the grammatical subject.
 Participial phrases preceded by a conjunction or by a
preposition, nouns in apposition, adjectives, and
adjective phrases come under the same rule if they
begin the sentence.
 Sentences violating the rule are often ludicrous!
Ridiculous.
 Falling from the tree, he saw the monkey before it
saw him.
Ridiculous.
 He saw the monkey falling from the tree before it saw
him.
Correct!
 He saw a woman, accompanied by two children,
walking down the road.
 Young and inexperienced, I thought the task seemed
easy.
 Playing the trumpet, Elizabeth enjoyed the parade.
Active / Passive
 The truck hit the dog.
 The dog was hit by the truck.
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