Odds and Ends strategy

Question 1

What is wrong?

I need to relax, I have so many things to do!

Answer 1

Connecting Words

• I need to relax, BUT I have so many things to do!*
• I need to relax, BECAUSE I have so many things to do!*

A comma is not enough to join two main clauses

The original sentence is considered a run-on. You can correct the sentence by adding a logical connecting word, such as but.

A conjunction gives equal value to both sentences

and, but, or, for, nor and so

A subordinator reduces one clause to a subordinate clause.

Although Because Before After Since When If Unless
That Though While

Question 2

What is wrong?

New data from the Labor Department indicate that producer prices rose rapidly last month, some analysts contend that the economic slowdown in the euro zone and in Asia will stem the rise in commodity prices, lessening inflationary pressures in the United States.

Answer 2

Connecting Words

• New data from the Labor Department indicate that producer prices rose rapidly last month, BUT some analysts contend that the economic slowdown in the euro zone and in Asia will stem the rise in commodity prices, lessening inflationary pressures in the United States.*
• ALTHOUGH new data from the Labor Department indicate that producer prices rose rapidly last month, some analysts contend that the economic slowdown in the euro zone and in Asia will stem the rise in commodity prices, lessening inflationary pressures in the United States.*
• The above sentence is a run-on because it uses only a comma to join two main clauses.*

You can fix this sentence by adding a coordinating
conjunction or a subordinator.

Question 3

And

Whenever you see an and after a comma you should check for…

Answer 3

Connecting words - conjunctions

• 1) a list with more than 3 itens*
• (apples, grapes and pears)*
• 2) two main clauses*
• (I like apples, and she likes grapes)*

Question 4

What is wrong?

Althoug I need to relax, yet I have so many things to do!

Answer 4

Connecting words

• ALTHOUGH I need to relax, I have so many things to do!*
• I need to relax, YET I have so many things to do!*

Use only one connecting word at once

Question 5

What is wrong?

She is not interested in sports, and she likes watching them on TV.

Answer 5

Connecting words

• She is not interested in sports, BUT she likes watching them on TV.*
• ALTHOUGH she is not interested in sports, she likes watching them on TV.*

You should also make sure that clauses are connected by a sensible connecting word.

The 2 sentences are in opposition to each other, so and is not sensible.

Question 6

What is wrong?

Earl walked to school, and later ate his lunch

Answer 6

Connecting Punctuation - comma (,)

• Earl walked to school AND later ate his lunch.*
• Earl walked to school, AND HE later ate his lunch*
• Earl walked to school; he later ate his lunch.*

Do not use a comma before and to separate two verbs that have the same subject.

Either eliminate the comma or add a subject to the second verb, creating a second main clause.

The semicolon (;) connects two closely related statements. Each statement must be able to stand alone as an independent sentence.

Question 7

What is wrong?

Andrew and Lisa are inseparable; doing everything together.

Answer 7

Connecting Punctuation - Semicolon (;)

Andrew and Lisa are inseparable; they do everything together.

The second part of this sentence cannot stand on its own. Therefore, the two parts may not be connected by a semicolon.

In the corrected example, the two sentence parts can each stand alone. Therefore, they may be connected by a semicolon.

Moreover, when you use a semicolon, you should ensure that the two sentence parts are related in an independent, balanced way.

If it seems that the author originally meant to subordinate one part to the other, you must preserve that intent.

Question 8

What is wrong?

The dam has created dead zones; fish have disappeared.

Answer 8

Connecting Punctuation - Semicolon (;)

The dam has created dead zones, WHERE fish have disappeared.

In the original sentence, the writer seems to be saying that fish all over the world have disappeared.

The example above is appropriately limited to the dead zones.

When you use a semicolon, you should ensure that
the two sentence parts are related in an independent, balanced way.

If it seems that the author originally meant to subordinate one part to the other, you must preserve that intent.

Question 9

What is wrong?

Andrew and Lisa are inseparable, therefore, we never see them apart

Answer 9

Connecting Punctuation - Semicolon (;)

Andrew and Lisa are inseparable; THEREFORE, we never see them apart.

The semicolon is often followed by a Conjunctive Adverb or other transition expression, such as however, therefore, or in addition.

In this way, we can modify the equal relationship
that a bare semicolon implies.

Note that these transitional elements are not true conjunctions like and. As a result, you must use semicolons, not commas, to join the sentences.

Question 10

What is wrong?

I listen to Earth, Wind & Fire, Wow, Owls, and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

Answer 10

Connecting Punctuation - Semicolon (;)

I listen to Earth, Wind & Fire; Wow, Owls; and Blood, Sweat & Tears.

A minor use of the semicolon is to separate items that themselves contain commas.

Question 11

Define the main use of a semicolon (;)

Answer 11

Connecting Punctuation - Semicolon (;)

The semicolon (;) connects two closely related statements.

Each statement must be able to
stand alone as an independent sentence. For instance, we can flx the previous example by
using a semicolon.

Question 12

Define the use of a colon (:)

Answer 12

Connecting Punctuation - Colon (:)

• The colon (:) provides further explanation for what comes before it. For example, you can use a colon to equate a list with its components.*
• You should be able to insert the word namely or the phrase that is after the colon.*
• What comes before the colon must be able to stand alone as a sentence. What comes after the colon does not have to be able to stand alone.*

Question 13

What is wrong?

I love listening to: classical, rock, rap, and pop music.

Answer 13

Connecting Punctuation - Colon (:)

I love listening to many kinds of music: classical, rock, rap, and pop.

In the corrected version, the words preceding the colon can stand alone as a sentence.

Moreover, the words following the colon iclassical; rock, rap, and pop) give further explanation of the many kinds of music mentioned.

You can insert namely or that is after the colon, and the result would make sense.

Question 14

Explain the precise place of the colon (:)

Answer 14

Connecting Punctuation - Colon (:)

Worse: Three factors affect the rate of a reaction: concentration, surface area, and temperature.

Better: The rate of a reaction is affected by three factors: concentration. surface area, and temperature.

Whatever needs explanation should be placed as close to the colon as possible.

Notice that this principle helps justify the use of the passive voice in the second example.

Question 15

What is wrong?

On January 1, 2000, the national mood was completely different from what it would become just a few years later: at the turn of the century, given a seemingly unstoppable stock market and a seemingly peaceful world, the country was content.

Answer 15

Connecting Punctuation - Colon (:)

nothing is wrong

You can put a main clause sfur a colon as well.

The key is that this clause must explain what precedes the colon-perhaps the entire preceding clause.

Question 16

Define the apropriate use of a dash (-)

Answer 16

Connecting Punctuation - Dash (-)

The dash (-) is a flexible punctuation mark. You can use a dash as an emphatic comma, semicolon or colon.

ByJanuary 2,2000, the so-called “Y2K problem”was already widely considered a joke–although the reason for the non-event was the huge corporate and governmental investment in prior countermeasures.

Question 17

Name some uses where the dash (-) is preferred

Answer 17

connecting punctuation - Dash (-)

My three best friends-Danny, Jimmy, and Joey-and I went skiing.

you should use dashes to separate an appositive from an item in a list:

Post-MBA compensation for investment bankers tends to surge far ahead of that for management consultants-by tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars a year.

use the dash to restate or explain an earlier part of the sentence. Unlike the colon, the dash does not need to be immediately preceded by the part needing explanation.

Question 18

Fill up the table

Contable__________Uncountable

(hats)____________________(patience)

MANY hats__________
NOT MANY hats__________
____________________LlTILE patience
____________________LESSpatience
____________________LEAST patience
NUMBER of hats__________
FEWER THAN 10 hats__________
___________________GREAT patience
___________________GREATER patience

Which work in bothe cases?

Answer 18

Countable__________Uncountable

MANY hats__________MUCH patience
NOT MANY hats__________NOT MUCH patience
FEW hats__________LlTILE patience
FEWER hats__________LESSpatience
FEWEST hats__________LEAST patience
NUMBER of hats__________AMOUNT of patience
FEWER THAN 10 hats__________LESSTHAN a certain AMOUNT of patience
NUMEROUS hats__________GREAT patience
MORE NUMEROUS hats__________GREATER patience

More, most, enough, and all work with both countable (plural) and uncountable (singular) nouns:

More hats; More patience; Most people; Most furniture; Enough hats; Enough patience; All people; All furniture.

Question 19

What is wrong?

There were less Numidian kings than Roman emperors.

Answer 19

Quantity

There were FEWER Numidian kings than Roman emperors.

Do not use less with countable items.

This error has become common in speech and in the
signs above express lines in grocery stores: 10 items or less. Since the noun item is countable, the sign should read 10 items or fewer.

Question 20

What is wrong?

We have less than twenty dollars.

Answer 20

Quantity

The sentence is correct

This means that the amount of money we have, in whatever form, totals less than $20.

If we write We have FEWER THAN twenty dollars, we mean the actual pieces of paper. (You would probably say fewer than twenty dollar bills to make the point even clearer.)

Be careful with unit nouns, such as dollars or gallom. By their nature, unit nouns are countable:
one dollar, two dollars, three dollars.

However, unit nouns represent uncountable quantities: money, volume.

(You can count money, of course, but you cannot count the noun money: one money (?), two moneys (?), stop.) As a result, we use less with unit nouns, when we really want to indicate something about the underlying quantity.

Question 21

What is wrong?

The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its numbers are now suspected to be much more than before.

Answer 21

Quantity

The rare Montauk beaked griffin is not extinct; its NUMBERS are now suspected to be much GREATER than before.

numbers is possible in a few contexts.

If you wish to make a comparison, use greater than, not more than (which might imply that the quantity of numbers is larger, not the numbers themselves).

Question 22

Increase and Decrease vs. Greater and Less

Answer 22

Quantity

• The price of silver INCREASED by ten dollars.*
• The price of silver is five dollars GREATER than the price of copper.*

Increase and decrease express the change of one thing over time.

Greater and less signal a comparison between two things.

Question 23

What is wrong?

The invitees to the fundraiser include: corporate sponsors, major individual donors, and important local leaders.

Answer 23

Odds and ends

The invitees to the fond raiser include corporate sponsors, major individual donors, and important local leaders. (no colon after include)

The original sentence places a colon incorrectly after the word include. The words that come before a colon must constitute a complete sentence.

Question 24

What is wrong?

The negotiations between the company, the union, and the city government were initially contentious but ultimately amicable.

Answer 24

Odds and ends

The negotiations AMONG the company, the union, and the city government were initially contentious but ultimately amicable.

The word between can only be used with two things. You must use the word among to describe relationships of three or more things.

Question 25

What is wrong?

Though canals have experienced a severe decline in barge traffic over the past several decades, yet with the rise in fuel costs, “shipping” by actual ships may once again become an important means of transporting goods within the country.

Answer 25

Odds and ends

Canals have aperienceda severe decline in barge traffic over the past several decades, yet with the rise in fuel costs, “shipping” by actual ships may once again become an important means of transporting goods within the country. (no Though at the beginning of the sentence)

Using both Though and yet is redundant. It is preferable to keep yet in order to delineate the contrast clearly; otherwise, you might mistakenly consider the phrase with the rise offuel costs as part of the first clause.

Question 26

correct any errors in the underlined sections. Do not change anything that is not underlined.

Jim is trying to reduce the number of soda that he drinks_,_ at last night’s party, although, his resolve to drink fewer soda was sorely tested_,_ he found himself quaffing many of sodas.

Answer 26

Odds and ends

Jim is trying to reduce the AMOUNT of soda that he drinks; at last night’s party, HOWEVER, his resolve to drink LESS soda was sorely tested, AND he found himself quaffing A NUMBER of sodas.

Number should be amount or quantity. Here we are thinking of soda as an uncountable substance-otherwise, soda would be sodas.

The comma after drinks should be a semicolon, which would appropriately separate two main clauses: jim is trying … that he drinks and at last night’s party … sorely tested.

Although should be however. Although is a subordinator; therefore, it must be placed at the start of a subordinate clause. In contrast, the conjunctive adverb however can be placed in the middle of a main clause.

Fewer should be less. Once again, we are regarding soda as an uncountable substance.

An and should be inserted after the comma after tested. This placement ofllml appropriately separates two main clauses: at last night’s party … sorely tested and hefound … sodas.

Many should be a number. Since there is an -s on the end of sodas, we know that sodas are now thought of as countable things-presumably servings of soda.

A number of is an appropriate modifier for countable things.

Question 27

correct any errors in the underlined sections. Do not change anything that is not underlined.

Most legislators - including much in the governor’s own party - realize that the governor’s budget would imperil the state’s finances_, nonetheless,_ the budget is likely to be approved_, because_ few legislators want to anger voters by cutting spending or raising taxes.

Answer 27

Odds and ends

Most legislators - including MANY in the govemo’s own party - realize that the govemo’s budget would Imperil the state’s finances; nonetheless, the budget is likely to be approved, because few legislators want to anger voters by cutting spending or raising taxes.

Both dashes are correct here. These dashes serve the same role as commas or parentheses, except that the dashes add extra emphasis, drawing the reader’s attention to the somewhat surprising information in the phrase including … own party.

Much should be many, because legislators are countable.

Nonetheless should be preceded by a semicolon. Nonetheless is a conjunctive adverb, like however and therefore.

A conjunctive adverb needs to be preceded by a semicolon if it is to separate one main clause from another. The clauses in question are Most legislators … state’sfinances and the budget is likely to be approved.

The comma before because is correct. Because is a subordinating conjunction; therefore, it can be separated from a main clause by a comma.