Grammar Friday: Dangling Modifiers

It is so nice that G falls on Friday because it allows me to continue my weekly Grammar Friday.

Today: Dangling Modifiers

modi•fi•er  n. a word, phrase, or clause that limits the meaning of another word or phrase
--Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition

It is oh-so important to make sure modifiers are clearly joined to the word or words they qualify. If they are not, they are called dangling modifiers.


Example:
Walking into the kitchen, dinner was ready. (Dangling modifier)
(The way this is worded, it indicates that dinner walked into the kitchen and was ready.)

Instead…


Example: Walking into the kitchen, we noticed dinner was ready.(Correct)
(We were the ones walking into the kitchen and noticed dinner was ready.)


Another example:
When the book was published, the author was happy. (Dangling modifier)
(The book is the subject. So what happened to the book? What happened to it when it was published?)

Instead…

The author was happy when the book was published. (Correct)

Watch those dangling modifiers. They can be sneaky.

Grammar Friday: Exclamation Points!

Pretty simple concept, I think. Exclamation points are used to add emphasis to sentences, phrases, and even individual words.

With a declaration: I can’t believe you put an exclamation point there!

With a command: Put a period there now!

With an interjection: Wait! Don’t put an exclamation point at the end of that sentence.

Overuse of exclamation marks causes them to lose their value. So, don’t be like Elaine. Mr. Lippman won’t be happy.

Grammar Friday: Compound Adjectives

During a long-ago writers’ group critique of my work, one of the members decided to debate hyphen usage in compound adjectives. It was quite annoying because it took away from the real mission of the group: to provide ways to make each member’s writing better. It was not a grammar class.

So as to avoid your own lengthy and off-topic discussions during your own writers’ group, here is the 411 on compound adjectives:

• When they are used before a noun, they are hyphenated as in...
             problem-solving technique


• If the compound adjective follows the noun, no hyphen is needed as in…
             a technique for problem solving


• If one of the modifiers is an adverb ending in –ly, then drop the hyphen as in...
             gently laid blanket


That’s the quick lesson for the day in the event you find yourself engaged in a debate about hyphen use with compound adjectives.

Grammar Friday: Collective Nouns

Collective Nouns

noun n. a person, place, thing, or quality

col•lec•tive adj. gathered into a whole; characteristic of a group

Collective nouns can be tricky when pairing them with the correct verb form. They can be singular or plural. Perhaps we should start with an example:

Team either can be singular or plural, depending on if you refer to the team as a unit or by its individual members.

Singular: The team is celebrating its big win.

Plural: The team are playing separate positions.

In the first, the team is a unit. It is one thing. In the second, the team actually refers to the individual members of the team. Of course, the plural sentence sounds more natural if the word members is inserted after team. But the meaning is the same whether the word is there or not.

Other examples of collective nouns:
Family
Management
Company
Swarm
Crowd

There really are way too many to list. Just another grammar tidbit to be aware of.

Grammar Friday: Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement

Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Today I thought it would nice to have a short grammar lesson about pronoun-antecedent agreement. This is a big pet peeve for me: The mismatch of a pronoun (he, she, it, they) to the phrase it refers.



A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in three ways:

• In number

• In person

• In gender

Number:
Example: If a student wants to go to recess, they must finish the assigned homework.

This is WRONG! Yet, I hear people saying such things often. The subject is the student. This requires a singular pronoun (he or she)—not they.

Instead, the sentence should read as follows: If a student wants to go to recess, he or she must finish the assigned homework.

Person:
Example: If a student wants to go to recess, you must finish the assigned homework.

Again, you is not a correct pronoun for student. You is second person while student is third person.

Just as in the previous example, the sentence should read as follows: If a student wants to go to recess, he or she must finish the assigned homework.

Otherwise, you could reword to sentence to read: If you want to go to recess, you must finish the assigned homework.

Gender:
Example: If a student wants to go to recess, he must finish the assigned homework.

While this seems correct in the instances of number and person, it is incorrect in terms of gender.

Instead, the pronouns should include both he and she (see sentence above).

Otherwise, the sentence can be made plural as such: If students want to go to recess, they must finish the assigned homework.

Obvious, right? Not to everyone. Just another simple grammar rule to keep in mind.

Grammar Friday

The Difference Between Bring and Take

My husband and I were chatting one night about grammar. Specifically, he was quite irked by the fact that people who travel in similar circles as he (i.e., business) do not know the difference between bring and take. He was almost starting to bristle.

So in the event you are one of those people (or know someone who is), here is the difference:

Bring: This is the act of carrying something to a place thought of as “here”. By example, I may ask my husband: “Will you bring me a glass of water?” He may refuse, but at least he will not be angry with me for using the wrong word. I, however, may be angry with him for not bringing the water to me.

Take: This is the act of accompanying someone (or something) to a place thought of as “there”. In this case, I may say to my husband: “I am not going to take your dishes to the sink.” Again, he may not be thrilled that he has to get up and walk his own plate to the kitchen, but at least he will feel less stressed because I did not refuse to “bring” his plate for him.

Idiomatic expressions such as “Bring to the table” and “Take someone under your wing” are exceptions. But in conventional speech, always follow the rules above.

Think of bring and take in terms of here and there. As a mnemonic device, take and there both start with “t”. 

Until next time…happy grammar!