Part v: Rules Even Your Great-Aunfs Grammar Teacher Didn"t Know in .NET framework

Generation USS Code 128 in .NET framework Part v: Rules Even Your Great-Aunfs Grammar Teacher Didn"t Know

Try another Untangle the following sentence No one knows when Analivia sleeps Answer: Clause #1: no one knows Clause #2: When Analivia sleeps

Why would you want to untangle clauses Not just because you have nothing better to do You should untangle clauses when you're choosing pronouns, verbs, and punctuation Read on for the whole story

When you're deciding whether you need a subject or an object pronoun, check the clause that contains the word Don't worry about what the entire clause is doing in the sentence Untangle the clause and ignore everything else Then decide which pronoun you need for that particular clause Many of the decisions about pronouns concern who and whom (For tricks to help you make the who/whom choice, see 23 For a general discussion of choosing the correct pronoun, see s 10 and 17) Here's one untangling example, with the pronoun problem in parenthesis: SENTENCE: Ludmilla wasn't sure (who/whom) would want a used engagement ring UNTANGLED INTO CLAUSES: Clause #1: Ludmilla wasn't sure Clause #2: (who/whom) would want a used engagement ring RELEVANT CLAUSE: (who/whom) would want a used engagement ring CORRECT PRONOUN: who (subject of would want)

When you're deciding subject-verb agreement in one clause, the other clauses are distractions In fact, if you're writing (not speaking), I recommend that you cross out or cover the other clauses for a moment Check the clause that worries you Decide the subject-verb agreement issue, and then erase the crossing-out line or remove your hand (For more information on subject-verb agreement, see 11) Here's one untangling example, with the verb choices in parenthesis: SENTENCE: Ludwig, whose brides are all thrilled to marry into the royal family, (needs/need) no introduction UNTANGLED INTO CLAUSES: Clause #1: Ludwig (needs/need) no introduction Clause #2: whose brides are all thrilled to marry into the royal family

RELEVANT CLAUSE: Ludwig (needs/need) no introduction CORRECT VERB: needs (Ludwig =singular, needs =singular)

Sometimes you have to untangle clauses in order to decide whether or not you need commas Go through the same untangling steps that I discuss earlier in the chapter (see "Untangling subordinate and independent clauses'') and then flip to 25 to see how to use commas correctly

Finding the correct place to put your subordinate clauses is simple Clauses acting as subjects or objects nearly always fall in the proper place automatically Don't worry about them! Put the subordinate clause that describes a noun or pronoun near the word that it describes (For lots more detail on placing descriptions in their proper places, see s 8 and 18) If the subordinate clause describes the verb, it may land at the front of the sentence or at the rear On rare occasions, the clause settles down in the middle of the sentence Here are some examples, with the subordinate clause in italics:

Analivia failed the test; but until her mother found out about the question mark, Analivia was not distressed

for a semicolon in front of a conjunction when a comma appears elsewhere in the sentence (For more information on conjunctions, see 7) I followed that rule (an act which once and for all settles the question of my normalcy) in the preceding sample sentence Because of the comma after mark, I placed a semicolon in front of the conjunction but Warning: You should know that if you follow this rule, most of your readers will think that you've made an error However, a few die-hard grammarians will break into tears of gratitude because someone else knows how to use a semicolon correctly (Excuse me for a moment while I wipe my eyes)