Grammar lesson on COMMAS AFTER INTRODUCTORY PHRASES and 6 on THINGS THAT REFER TO THE WRONG THING OR TO NOTHING AT ALL

COMMAS AFTER INTRODUCTORY PHRASES

 

What does it mean when people’s names appears on a roster like this?

Anderson, Kate

Beltran, Jose

Contreras, Dora

It means that the normal order of the names has been switched.

 

One of the many jobs that a comma has is to show that the normal order of something has been switched.

(This fact will pop up many times over the semester.)

 

From an earlier lesson:

The most common sentence pattern in the English language is

Subject verb [everything else].

When this normal order is disrupted by putting something in front of the subject, a comma is placed there to show that the order was switched.

• One situation in which this happens was shown in the previous lesson.
  • Austin is the capital of Texas. Additionally, Helena is the capitol of Montana.
  • The cat’s name is Beeps. However, the dog’s name is Fred.
  • Clean the kitchen. Alternatively, sweep out the garage.
  • It is called a semicolon because it has one dot. Therefore, half of it looks like a colon.

 

• Another situation in which this happens is when a writer wants to set the scene for the sentence by telling how/where/when it happened.
  • Examples
    • Without even breaking a sweat, the soccer team made three goals.
    • On the practice field at the school, the soccer team made three goals.
    • Yesterday afternoon, the soccer team made three goals.
    • Energetically, the soccer team made three goals.
      • NOTE: When the sentences are put back into the normal “Subject verb [everything else]” order, no comma is needed!
        • The soccer team made three goals without even breaking a sweat.
        • The soccer team made three goals on the practice field at the school.
        • The soccer team made three goals yesterday afternoon.
        • The soccer team made three goals energetically.

 

 

This is also the way in which it is possible to start a sentence with because.

It must fit this pattern

Because ______ , subject verb [everything else].

Because they were so talented, the soccer players made three goals.

The soccer team made three goals because they were so talented. (No comma is needed here.)

 

THINGS THAT REFER TO THE WRONG THING OR TO NOTHING AT ALL

 

There are many grammatical problems that can be grouped into this category.

 

 

MISPLACED MODIFIERS

 

Here is another look at a pattern from the earlier lessons.

 

_____, subject verb [everything else].

 

 

Whatever goes in that blank has to refer exactly to the subject right after the comma.

Example:

Singing loudly, the children walked onto the stage.

The children were singing loudly.

 

What is wrong with this sentence?

Driving drunk, the car went over a cliff.

Answer: this makes it sound like the car was driving drunk.

Correct version: Driving drunk, the man steered his car over a cliff.

 

Note: This type of mistake is hard to catch because the reader’s brain knows what the sentence is TRYING to say, and see THAT instead of what the sentence is actually saying.

 

The brain tends to autocorrect errors without the reader even realizing it. (This fact will pop up many times over the semester.)

 

This lesson leads into two other ones.

1. Things that belong together should go next to each other.
2. “The article says”

 

1. Things that belong together should go next to each other.

• Look at this sentence:
  • They served the steak to the customers on porcelain plates.
• What is the problem?
  • It sounds like the customers were on porcelain plates.

Correct version: They served the steak on porcelain plates to the customers.

 

A similar problem happens with the word only. Placement matters!

2. “The article says”

 

In a summary of an article by Joe Smith, a student might write the following.

• In Smith’s article, it says that the war is over.
  • What is “it”? The thing before the comma has to be the same as the subject after it. There is no word before the comma that “it” can refer back to.[1]
• Is this better?
• In Smith’s article, he says that the war is over.
  • No! The word “Smith’s” is not the same as the word “Smith.”
  • It is not possible to refer to “Smith’s” as “he.” Only “Smith” can be a “he.”

 

• What should students write?
• EITHER
• The article says…
• OR
• Smith says…
• Please remember this when writing about articles in school assignments!

 

• (Notice also, that authors are referred to by last name only, and that present tense verbs are used to talk about writing, no matter how far in the past the text was written. Those are just the rules.)

 

 

A related problem regarding the word “it”…

 

 

MEANINGLESS “IT”

 

What is wrong with this sentence?

He is an alcoholic, and it makes him sad.

 

Many people would say nothing is wrong, because their brains auto-correct it and tell them what the sentence means instead of what it actually says.

 

The sentence is trying to say that being an alcoholic makes him sad, or that alcoholism makes him sad, but the sentence does not actually say that. Technically the word “it” is just a pronoun with no noun to refer back to.

 

Similar confusion happens when there is more than one thing that the word “it’ can refer to.

She put the cheese on the bread and then burnt it. (Did she burn the cheese or the bread?)

 

Students who make this type of error on a paper will see the comment “What is IT?” or “Mystery It!”

 

 

“It” is not the only pronoun that can have this problem.

 

Alex and Rey took his car to the beach. (Whose car was it?)

The joggers and the sprinters competed against each other in a 10K, and they won. (Who won?)

 

 

 

 

[1] This is complicated, and it is not necessary to know for this class, but  the reason why “it” cannot refer back to “article” is that “article” is only the object of the preposition “in” and not an actual subject, in case anyone was curious.