Elementary Rules of Usage

Question 1

Form possessive singular of nouns by adding ‘s

Answer 1

Follow this rule whatever the final consonant. Thus write:
Charles’s friend
Burn’s poems
The witch’s malice

Question 2

In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last

Answer 2

Red, white, and blue

This comma is often referred to as the serial comma

Question 3

Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas

Answer 3

Difficult to apply. If interruption is slight, commas may be omitted. Never omit one comma and leave the other

Question 4

Place a comma before a conjunction introducing an independent clause

Answer 4

The situation is perilous, but there is still chance of escape

Question 5

Do not join independent clauses with a comma

Answer 5

If two or more clauses grammatically complete and not joined by a conjunction are to form a single compound sentence, the proper mark of punctuation is a semicolon.

Mary Shelley’s works are entertaining; they are full of engaging ideas

Question 6

Do not break sentences in two

Answer 6

Do not use periods for commas.

I met them on a Cunard Liner many years ago. Coming home from Liverpool to New York.

Question 7

Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list of particulars, an appositive, an amplification, or an illustrative quotation

Answer 7

A 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 seperate than the semicolon, and more formality than the dash.

Question 8

Use a dash to set off an abrupt break or interruption and to announce a long appositive or summary

Answer 8

A dash is a mark of seperation stronger than the comma, less formal than a colon, and more relaxed than parentheses.

Use a dash only when another mark of punctutation seems inadequate.

Question 9

The number of the subject determines the number of the verb

Answer 9

Words taht intervene between the subject determines the number of the verb

Question 10

Use the proper case of pronoun

Answer 10

The personal pronouns, as well as the pronoun who, change form as they function as subject or object.

Question 11

A participal phrase at the begining of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject

Answer 11

Walking slowly down the road, he saw a woman accompaned by two small children

The word walking refer to the subject of the enetence, not the woman. To make it refer to the woman, the writer must recast the sentence.

He saw a woman, accompanied by two small children, walking down the road.