Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjective- Words used to modify nouns. They tend to answer the question which, what kind of and how many.
For example:
The tall man is leading the older generals. In this case tall gives a specification of which and older is a specification of what kind of.
The tall man had an army of three hundred. Saying he has an army of three hundred is a specification of how many.

Adverb- Words that modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They usually answer the question how, but can also answer when, where and why.
For example:
He moved gracefully. Gracefully is the adverb modifying the verb moved while answering how.
That horse is terribly vicious. Vicious modifies horse while terribly tells us how vicious thereby modifying vicious.
For the most part they come after the nouns they are modifying however they come after if the verb is a form of be, feel, taste, smell, sound, look, appear, and seem.
For example:
The dog is smelling. Smelling comes after is as is is a form of be.

Spelling rules

Today we will be covering some rules of spelling. Let us begin with "i" before "e". If one is spelling a word with both an "i" and an "e" next to each other the "i" will come first except when after the letter "c". Or when it sounds like an "a" such as the word "neighbor". I before E words are relief, chief and believe while e before i words are receive, deceive and eight.

The exceptions to this rule are: seize, either, weird, height, foreign, leisure, conscience, counterfeit, forfeit, neither, science, species and sufficient.

If the root of a word is not a complete word, then add "ible". For example vis"ible". If the root is a complete word then add "able". For example swimm"able". In the case the root had an "e" then drop the "e" and add the "able". For example desire + able = desirable.


Exceptions to this would be words like responsible, flexible and inevitable.

Italics

Today, as promised, we will cover italics. As some of you may know, italics serve essentially the same purpose as underlining your words. Before word processors were around words would be underlined in the original paper and the publisher would italicize them. The current trend is to italicize instead of underlining but you should be consistent in which you choose.

With that said let us get to the rules of when one should italicize or underline. First it is used to show the name or title of a magazine, a singular ship, plane or train, a work of art, a long poem, a film, television shows, plays of three or more acts, news papers, operas and albums.
Examples are:
Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull is a great album.
New York Times is a reliable news source.
U.S.S Enterprise is the name of an air craft carrier that is known for its numerous battles against the Japanese navy in World War 2.


Foreign words are also italicized:
Momento mori is a Latin phrase which means "remember your mortality".

A word can be italicized for importance.
My life is at stake!

Finally we italicize when referring to a specific word.
Time is often abused in plots.

Punctuation

Yep it is this time of year where we reach to something else you commonly use. The rest of the rules of punctuation! Let us begin with a parenthesis.

A parenthesis is used to emphasize something very important (as well as making my computer have to spell check me) such as date of birth-date of death (or any time for that matter) and is used to set off material that is nonessential. The difference between a comma and the parenthesis is that a comma gives less emphasis to its contents.

Jim (1900-1975) was an important and influential politician.


But what if a parenthesis is not enough emphasis for what you have to say? In that case we have dashes. Dashes place more emphasis on their contents then parenthesis and they set off appositive phrases that already have a comma. From Purdue OWL the definition of an appositive is "a word that adds explanatory or clarification to the noun preceding it."

The ship sank in the North Atlantic-no one had predicted icebergs. This is an example of the first purpose.
The people present-Tim, Reilly and Tom- marched to the shores. Is an example of the latter purpose. Here the appositive is the clarification of who is present at the march to the shores.

The next rule to be covered is quotation marks. The most obvious use of the rule is to show a direct quote of what someone said. The next most used example is to show irony in a statement. They are also used to show that whatever you are speaking about is the title of a short poem, a song, a short story, an article from a newspaper or magazine, an essay or speech, a chapter from a book, a short film or an episode of either a television show or a radio show.

"That is not right" said John. This is an example of the first rule.
Don't worry, he is doing the "right" thing. Is an example of irony.
"Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan. An example of the title rule.

In the next post, Italics and underlining will be covered.

Too, To and Two

When words are pronounced the same way it can be hard to remeber which word means what. This is often the case with the words "Too, to and two".

The easisest one to remember here s the word "two" which is the dpelling of the number "2" and is used for amounts.
Those are two eggs.
The word "to" is a preposition, the first part of the infinitive for the verb.
We went to the zoo.
The word "too" is used to mean "very" and "also".
We went to the bear exhibit too. I was quite thirsty too.

Two Neccesary Definitions and Examples

The definitions of "Independent Clause" and "Dependent Clause" will now be clarified for future reference.

Independent clause is the main clause while the dependent clause is a clause that cannot stand alone and needs another clause to complete its meaning. It is also known as a subordinate clause.
This cake is very tasty.
An example of an independent clause.
When there is light, we know the sun.
The first part is an independent clause becuase it needs the second part to tell you what it means.

Colons and Semi colons

First we will show what a colon and a semi colon is. A colon looks like ":" and a semi colon looks like ";". So now that we are clear on what's being discussed let us discuss what they are and their differences.

A colon can be used between two independent clauses to emphasize the second clause.
The guitarist knew what to think of his band: they were absolutely terrible.
Here we are emphasizing what a person is thinking, which is the second independent clause in this sentence.
A colon can also be used after an independent clause in relation to an idea following the independent clause such as a quote or list.
The most powerful world leaders: America, China and Russia.
In his address late last night the President said: "Today is a great day for America. Our economy has recovered just in time for re elections."
The greatest invention ever conceived: sliced bread.
A colon is used at the end of business greetings
Dear Supervisor:
Used to separate hours and minutes when telling time
1:57 pm
Finally to separate verse and chapter in the bible
Acts 18:9
And those are the uses of a colon.

The semi colon can be used to join two independent clauses when the second clause restates the first or they are both of equal emphasis.
I am tired; I am very sleepy.
A semi colon can be used to join two independent clauses when they are separated by a conjunctive adverb or a transition.
Conjunctive adverbs are: however, therefore, moreover, furthermore, thus, meanwhile, nonetheless and otherwise.
Transitions are the phrases: even so, in fact, for example, that is, for instance, in addition, in other words and on the other hand.
On one hand he is a good person; on the other hand I need my goat.
Finally to join elements of a series that already includes commas such as listing the capitols of nations.
Washington D.C., America; Moscow, Russia.

And so where the differences stand: A colon is used for lists, quotes or when you wish to emphasis the second independent clause over the first independent clause as well as being used in formal letters, the telling of time and quoting the bible.

A semi colon is used when two independent are of equal emphasis or the second clause is greater in emphasis, used to separate two independent clauses when there is a transition or conjunctive adverb separating them and finally to join elements of a series that already has commas in it.

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are often used for the omission of letters, forming the possessive of nouns and to indicate plurals of certain lowercase letters.

To begin we review what is probably one of the first things we learned in elementary school. The omission of letters is often times explained by teachers as "letter a steps out of line to use the bathroom. Apostrophe steps in and holds his spot while he is gone". That explanation is perfect. Examples include:

Would've = Would have

Isn't = Is not

I'm = I am

She'll = She will

'60 = 1960

'99 = 1999

Basically the second word is shortened and attached to the first. The use of apostrophes when applied to years is heard in spoken language when one leaves out the Nineteen when talking about the Sixties.

The next subject is where things get fun. You want to say something belongs to a noun so you put an apostrophe. For example:

The guitarist's guitar

The king's car

The horse's hay

Now what if you are trying a possessive for a noun that is plural? You place the apostrophe normally but exclude the 's' as such:

The married couples' argument was never resolved and the couples hated each other.

Here the sentence refers to more than one couple and so there is no 's' placed after the apostrophe. The next part will deal with mistakes everyone make, in this case the difference between 'its' and 'it's'. Its is a possessive pronoun meaning belonging to it while "it's" is a contraction for it is. An example of this where it is confusing would be:

Its the King!

It's the King!

While they may seem similar, they are not. The top say that what ever it is belongs to the King while the bottom announces the King arriving. More errors and their corrections are listed below:

His's notebook

His/one's/anybody's notebook

Who's train ticket is this?

Whose train ticket is this?

I have waited nine hours' to get a ticket!

I have waited nine hours to get a ticket!

The words are one should look at are in bold. In all cases the correct choice is the bottom one because apostrophes are not used for personal pronouns, the relative pronoun who, or for noun plurals.

The next one is more typographical than grammatical and reads that if one is discussing more than one lowercase letter than use an apostrophe to indicate. For example:

a's

or

as

The correct choice according to the rule is the top one other wise we have created a whole new word.

So, in conclusion, we use apostrophes when we want to omit letters, form the possessive of nouns, but not for personal pronouns, the relative pronoun who, or for noun plurals and finally if discussing more than one lowercase letter use an apostrophe so you don't make it a completely different word.

Commas part 1

The comma. It is a majestic creature in the world of writing. So majestic that I know people who were never able to fully embrace it and some who embraced it a little to much for comfort. I have no idea how many points I've lost in my life over improper comma use on essays but I know its a lot and so the first thing covered shall be the comma.

The comma is a dragon that must be slayed. There are many rules involving their use and at times it does come down to the quality of the writer and not the mastery of the comma itself that will make the difference. For example:

Then the great master, for that is what he was, in all greatness, which radiated from him, saw what was presented as an offering.

In this case the comma is presenting information that is wholly unneeded for the sentence and can actually be seen as confusing because of the three pieces of unnecessary information presented next to each other through the comma. The reason why this is included is because one might at times be tempted to place exposition inside of commas. This is a terrible idea and will end up as redundant as the sample sentence just above.

Now of course the more common and proper use of a comma is to connect two sentences together. This is usually done when they are separated by the seven coordinating conjunctions which are and, but, for, or, nor, so. An example of proper usage would read like:

The King looked upon the hills, but he saw nothing except despair. In this case the two sentences are "The King looked upon the hills. He saw nothing except despair." The comma in the sentence, in my opinion, creates for a smoother read. The comma is acting as a modifier to the main idea of the sentence which doesn't have the reader pausing for breath every several seconds. A major goal of a writer is to make their works readable and commas should only be used to help in this but not hinder it.

Another way to accomplish this goal is by using commas in lists. If all lists read The cow Cloverleaf and Milk we would have for a confusing sentence. Is the cow's name cloverleaf or is it a cow made of cloverleaf? If it is a cow made out of cloverleaf then why is milk involved? So to ease this problem we can list things as The cow, Cloverleaf, and Milk with the comma separating individual items on the list and make it easier on the eyes of both the reader and the writer.

For today the hour is getting late but commas are not. As such I will end this here and have a new post to finish commas tomorrow.

Promised video

Welcome

Welcome. First and foremost I would like to thank you for choosing this site as your source of information. I would like to assure each and every person reading that I regard you as a person. However it is often seen that simple, basic grammer rules are often forgotten amongst us writers and so starting today I shall research all these rules and technicalities to place here and explain. Do not think you are alone in this venture, I to need desperate help despite being a hard core writer over the last four years. Nearly every point I lose on essays are grammer points and it is the same way to for other people I know. So I make this pledge: Very soon this site will become a bountiful reference of grammer for all to use and refer to. Eventually it will be more things, such as citing (which I have always despised). To prove my dedication I will have a viedo later on this site to show my face and restate my pledge.

To the future and great grammer,

Mike Hand