English in the trenches—those pesky compound sentences

When I started writing for kids, I relied heavily on the English I had absorbed during my school days. Unfortunately, I was a little hazy on compound sentences and their punctuation. I could see this was something of a frustration to my ICL instructor when I took the class. She tried to help, but alas, it wasn't until I started teaching that the light went on for good.

1. How do you know when you have written a compound sentence?

This is easy. If you believe you have written a compound sentence, put your finger over the conjunction which is between the alleged independent clauses and read them separately. I've highlighting the conjunction in blue in my example.

Bob has booby-trapped Fred's locker, and he is waiting in the shadows. 

I put my finger over the conjunction. (I'll wipe away the smudge on my laptop later.) Now I have the following:

Bob has booby-trapped Fred's locker.
He is waiting in the shadows.

We most definitely have two independent clauses here. Each one can be a sentence all by itself. Each has a subject and a predicate. Each sounds complete. If English was algebra, my formula for this sentence would be S / V + S / V. Let's look at another possibility. What if I had written this instead?

Bob has booby-trapped Fred's locker and is waiting in the shadows.

Now what happens when I put my finger over the conjunction?

Bob has booby-trapped Fred's locker.
Is waiting in the shadows. (Oops! There is no subject here. We're using a conjunction, but we're using it to join two verbs rather than two sentences.)

We have two parts, but only one of the parts has a subject and a predicate and sounds complete. It's actually only a simple sentence with a compound verb. The formula for this sentence would be S / V + V. You'll also notice the conspicuous absence of a comma right before the conjunction.

2. What about commas? Where do they go?

Fred approached the locker, and he spun his combination lock. 

This is a compound sentence. Notice that there is a comma at the end of the independent clause before the conjunction and the next independent clause. This is important. Although there are a couple of exceptions to using the comma, you are always safe using a comma followed by a conjunction to join compound sentences.

But, you wonder, what do you mean about those exceptions? It is appropriate to omit the comma when you join two clauses which are very short and closely related.

Fred opened his locker and Bob snickered.

No comma, but that's okay. The two clauses are closely related and are also short, so they fit the requirements for a no-comma compound sentence.

You may also, on rare occasions, use a semicolon instead of a comma. This is done when the clauses are quite long and already have commas in them being used for other purposes. I've never run across these sentences except in text books, so I find it better to just write two separate sentences.

Bob knew it was prudent to duck, run, and hide; but he wanted to see the spring-loaded cream pie hit Fred in the face. 

3. Is there anything else I should know?

Unfortunately, yes. This post is my way of giving back after having driven my ICL instructor half nuts with my compound sentence density. At least now you'll be able to hold your head up confidently, knowing you have written a sentence that is, in fact, everything a compound sentence should be by definition. For finer points, I suggest The Elements of Style. It's short. If you are a writer, buy it and read it cover to cover. (If you need a cure for insomnia and want to become an expert on the stickier points of grammar, improve yourself by wading through the Chicago Manual of Style, which is updated every ten years or so.)

See previous post for more on sentences.

English in the trenches—conjunction junction, what's your disfunction?

If you grew up around the time that I did and watched Saturday morning cartoons, the title to this post instantly brings a School House Rock tune to mind. I liked them so well that I set up a tape recorder next to the TV on Saturday mornings, hoping to record School House Rock songs to listen to later. (This was before CDs and DVDs.)

Combined with the occasional comma, I've noticed that there is quite a bit of usage confusion going on out there when it comes to conjunctions. If you suffer from conjunction disfunction, here are a few tips to help you.

Conjunctions can join words, phrases, or clauses.

Bob and Fred are tormenting the neighbor's cat. (Compound subjects)
The neighbor's cat is hissing and clawing. (Compound verbs)
The cat is jumping into the air and onto Bob. (Compound phrases)
Bob is bleeding, and Fred is laughing. (Compound sentences)

The main takeaway here is that the two parts which you join with a conjunction have to be equal to each other. This means you cannot join a word and a phrase with a conjunction. They are not equal.

Bob and ran to the store.

Obviously joining a subject and a verb with a conjunction doesn't work. It doesn't even sound right, so it's unlikely anyone will make this mistake. However, there are other possibilities which are more subtle.

Bob, frustrated (word) and showing quick thinking, (phrase), is dropping the angry cat on Fred's head.

This sounds a little better, but it's still wrong. You can't put a word and a phrase together with a conjunction. In the School Rock vein, it's like trying to hook up a bicycle and a train car. Not pretty.

So today's lesson is two-fold. Don't try to join unequal sentence parts with conjunctions, and don't mess with your neighbor's cat. It will be bad. Very bad.

English in the trenches—what is a sentence, anyway?

Your proofreader has scrawled a note on your manuscript that says, "This isn't a sentence."

You look down and consider that the "sentence" in question has a capital letter at the beginning and punctuation at the end. Isn't that enough? Actually, it isn't.

When writing for young children, there are editors who are touchy about the use of complete sentences. This is because they want your writing to be a good influence on those impressionable youngsters who are still in the process of learning the English language, rather than annihilating it like the rest of us.

As you write for older children, you're allowed a little more leeway. Dialogue, in particular, sounds stilted when it's written as complete sentences. This is because no one really talks that way except for aliens from other planets who, if you've noticed, never use contractions.

So what is a sentence?

A sentence must meet two requirements.

1. It must contain a clause.
2. It must sound complete.

In case you didn't know, a clause is made up of at least a subject and a verb. Independent clauses sound complete, and therefore are sentences. Here are a few examples.

Bob threw the ball.
Mary is friendly.
Jennifer is running.

By comparison, here are some dependent clauses. You'll notice that they don't sound complete, even though they each contain a subject and a verb.

If Bob threw the ball.
When Mary is friendly.
Where Jennifer is running.

These could be fixed by attaching them to an independent clause or by rewriting them.

If Bob threw the ball, he's in big trouble.
When Mary is friendly, she doesn't eat your Cheetos.
There is a vicious bull in the field where Jennifer is running.

In short, a sentence has to have a subject and a verb, and it has to sound complete. If it doesn't sound complete, it must be fixed before the grammar police nab you.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I'll get to them in future posts.

English grammar from the trenches

I've noticed that language as a whole is on a downward slide. Between texting and emails, we're learning to ad lib like never before. Even in the best of circumstances, we only use a small chunk of the vocabulary Shakespeare used in his day. Something must be done.

Now, it's not that I'm an English whiz compared to a friend of mine who was an editor and now runs a close-captioning company. His level of perfection is possibly beyond me, but I can hold my own and detect perhaps 95 percent of the troubles most writers would do well to avoid if they wanted to keep their credibility as craftsmen of the English language. No matter where we each are, we could always be better and use a hand up from our English-using pals. Maybe you're mystified by compound sentences (like I used to be). Perhaps you're confused by perfect tenses and spelling rules. Whatever the case, I'll be posting a few simple lessons which should help.

(And in respect to that sad comment about Shakespeare's vocabulary being so superior to our own, I'll be giving you a word to add to your cache. Your mission is to use it in a sentence and impress your friends, family, and coworkers.)

If this post has depressed you too much, check out this Shakespeare version of the Three Little Pigs.


Word for the day

eucatastrophe—[noun] a sudden and favorable resolution of events in a story; a happy ending.

Example: Do you prefer a book with a eucatastrophe?