Promote Your Brand the Right Way, and Avoid Grammatical Pitfalls!

The Oxford or Serial Comma

Link to Slide 1 Screenshot

• http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/426960/we-need-oxford-comma-michael-r-strain

Oxford Comma, part 2

It is never wrong to include the Oxford comma, but it can sometimes be wrong to omit it.

The Appositive Phrase---an appositive is a phrase that further identifies the

word it follows.

Joe Schmoe, the co-chair of the Emergence 2017 Task Force announced the replacement for the law firm of Grifter, Scamme, and Chase.

ORJoe Schmoe, the co-chair of the Emergence 2017 Task Force,

announced the replacement for the law firm of Grifter, Scamme, and Chase.

Why does the second comma change the meaning?

Avoid WordinessUse strong, vivid verbs instead of excessively wordy statements.

Avoid overusing words ending in -tion.

The committee looked at several options and then agreed to use the Emergence 2017 plan to shut down six plants.

OR

The committee opted to use the Emergence 2017 plan to shut down six plants.

End an introductory element with a comma.

Punctuation Rule #1. (see attachment for words that ordinarily start sentences in this category)

If a sentence includes one of the following words as the first word in the sentence, then it is almost always the case that a comma is necessary at the end of the group of words initiated by that word.

Whenever I see this mistake, I will deduct points from your assignment.

As the course progresses, the deduction for making the same mistake over and over again will increase.

Words that usually begin introductory word groups• Subordinating Conjunctions:

• http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/subordinateconjunction.htm

• Prepositions:

• http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/preposition_list.htm

Coordinating ConjunctionsUse a comma before a coordinating conjunction when the

coordinating conjunction is separating groups of words that can exist as complete sentences. There are seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet.

The time is right, so you should ask them now.

Their . . . they’re . . . there

http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/there_their_theyre.htm

Its . . . it’s

http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/its_its.htm

Possessive apostrophes

bird house’s for saleBird houses for saleBird’s house is for saleBirds house is for sale

Microsoft Word Readability Statistics

Readability Statistics in

Microsoft Word

Grammarly

Link to Review Excercise

• Use this link to access and complete the sample quiz on today’s presentation. If the link does not work for you, email me at asalachi@gmail.com, and I will forward a link to you.

• https://goo.gl/forms/Ru2ZOpLLJonSMAlJ3