Conjunctions

A conjunction joins words, phrases, clauses, or sentences. I think we all know the most common conjunctions and when to use them; and, but, for, or, yet, and so. But here are two conjunctions that always confuse people.

When should you use or and when should you use nor?

Don't let these guys trick you. Remember this simple rule and you'll never be confused again.

When using the word either, us or. They both start with vowels. When using the word neither, use nor. They both start with "n."

Examples:

We had to decide if we were going to either the movies or to dinner.
My boss had neither the time nor the patience to listen to Bill's complaining.

Beginning a Sentence with a Conjunction

Just as there is widespread belief that you should not end a sentence with a preposition, there is also no historical or grammatical foundation that you should not begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction.

A coordinating conjunction you'll remember is for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. Once again, I could find no substantial evidence that beginning a sentence with a conjunction is an error and is mainly taught to avoid writing fragmented sentences.

If you decide to begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction, keep these points in mind:

– Be sure that a main clause follows the coordinating conjunction.

– Use a coordinating conjunction only when it makes the flow of your ideas more effective.

– Do not use a comma after the coordinating conjunction. Coordinating conjunctions are not considered transitional expressions like in addition and for instance.

– But used as an adversative conjunction can sometimes be unclear at the beginning of a sentence. You'll need to evaluate whether the but in question contradicts the preceding statement and see whether and is really the word you want. If and can be substituted, then but is almost certainly the wrong word.

Examples:

He went to work this morning. But he left his briefcase at home.

Between those sentences is an indirect idea, since the two actions are in no way contradictory. What is implied is something like this:

He went to work, intending to give a presentation, but he left his briefcase behind.

Because and would have made sense in the original statement, but is not the right word.

Correct: He went to work this morning. And he left his briefcase at home.

Of course there are other options for structuring this sentence; however this post being about conjunctions, the example uses only conjunctions.




Source: Grammar Done Right!

Vocabulary

Good Morning Friends! Oh how exciting it is to be back in the Blogosphere!

I want to thank everyone for your well wishes and also for the birthday wishes. It was a happy day! Of course I had to share that outrageously expensive diamond and amethyst tiara with you!



So after recovery and birthday fun and a lot of other stuff thrown in during my absence, this is a super HAPPY day, to be returning to all of my blogging buddies! I sure have missed you!


Okay, now on to business! I thought I'd start with a light post and give you a Weird Word today. CCP will be posting every Wednesday, alternating the infamous tutorials with the Weird Word and the Spelling and Thoroughness Challenges.

Increase your vocabulary with not-very-common and/or not-frequently-used words.

Today's Weird Word is: mentimutation, and its pronunciation is: mentih-mu-ta-shun.

Mentimutation is a noun meaning: change of mind.

His mentimutation was a result of hours of pondering the facts.





Source: Luciferous Logolepsy

I miss everyone!

I expected to have returned by now – I'm recovering from surgery and it's taking a bit longer than anticipated.

Please don't forget me!

Thoroughness Challenge

The Ides of March

The Thoroughness Challenge is a post consisting of paragraphs that contain spelling and/or grammatical errors. The paragraphs with the errors corrected and highlighted in red can be found at the end of the post.

Note: The purpose of the Challenge is thoroughness. You're only looking for errors in spelling and/or grammar. Names and places will NOT be misspelled, nor will there by any changes to punctuation or sentence structure.


Your Challenge paragraphs today look at the origin of the term, Ides of March, and contain 11 errors. Good Luck!

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The term ides originally referred to the day of the full moon. The Romans considered this an auspiscious day in their calender. The word ides comes from Latin, meaning "half division" (of a month). The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martias) was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was assasinated in 44 B.C.E.

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has forever imbude that date with a sense of forboding. But in Roman times the expression "Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a dark mood—it was simply the standard way of saying "March 15." Surely such a fancyful expression must signify something more than merely another day of the year? Not so. Even in Shakespeare's time, sixteen centuries later, audiances attending his play Julius Caesar wouldn't have blinked twice upon hearing the date called the Ides.

So, the Ides of March is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. Kalends, the word from which calender is derived, is another exotic-sounding term with a mundain meaning. Kalendrium means account book in Latin: Kalend, the first of the month, was in Roman times as it is now, the date on witch bills are do.


Vincenzo Camuccini, Mort de César, 1798


Now, let's see how thorough you are!

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The term ides originally referred to the day of the full moon. The Romans considered this an auspicious day in their calendar. The word ides comes from Latin, meaning "half division" (of a month). The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martias) was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C.E.

The soothsayer's warning to Julius Caesar, "Beware the Ides of March," has forever imbued that date with a sense of foreboding. But in Roman times the expression "Ides of March" did not necessarily evoke a dark mood—it was simply the standard way of saying "March 15." Surely such a fanciful expression must signify something more than merely another day of the year? Not so. Even in Shakespeare's time, sixteen centuries later, audiences attending his play Julius Caesar wouldn't have blinked twice upon hearing the date called the Ides.

So, the Ides of March is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. Kalends, the word from which calendar is derived, is another exotic-sounding term with a mundane meaning. Kalendrium means account book in Latin: Kalend, the first of the month, was in Roman times as it is now, the date on which bills are due.


Julius Caesar

Sources: Wikipedia and infoplease

Clauses

Let's find out more about the fun world of sentences, specifically, clauses. If writing is your passion, then having a solid knowledge of what makes a sentence work and what doesn't will separate your writing from the rest.

Different Types of Clauses

Sentences may contain these different types of clauses:

Phrase

A phrase is a group of words that lacks a subject, a verb, or both. Phrases cannot stand alone; they add information to the sentence.

Examples:

to the store
in a hurry
past the window

Independent Clause

An independent clause is a group of words that consist of a subject and a verb but depends on another clause to complete the thought. A dependent clause begins with a connector (or subordinator): if, when, because, although, since, which, or that – and prevents the sentence from standing alone.

Examples:

because I was late
when they arrived
since we're here



Next week we'll take a look at what joins clauses—conjunctions. See you then!




Source: Grammar Done Right!