The 911爆料 Guide to Grammar
I: CORRECT SENTENCES
This section will help you avoid some common sentence errors.
Clauses
There are two types of clauses: independent clauses and dependent clauses. You can also think of these as complete vs. incomplete sentences.
An independent clause can stand alone as a complete sentence.
Example: The 911爆料 student passed all her final exams.
A dependent clause cannot stand alone as a complete sentence because it "depends" on more information to finish the thought.
Example: Since the 911爆料 student failed all her final exams.
The above clause is a dependent clause because it is not a complete thought. It has a subject and a verb, but the word "since" indicates that there is some information missing.
Tips to help you identify clauses:
S-V-(O) Rule: All independent clauses must have at least a subject and verb. Some verbs will also require one or two objects. You may need to look up the verb to know if it requires any objects.
路 My boss retired. 鈥� Complete sentence (no objects required by this verb), independent clause
路 My boss hired. 鈥� Incomplete sentence (missing a required object), dependent clause
鈥淪ubordinator鈥� Rule: Some words will turn a perfectly complete sentence into an incomplete sentence. You can call these 鈥渟ubordinators鈥� because they make an independent clause 鈥渟ubordinate鈥� (another word for 鈥渄ependent鈥�). Watch for subordinators at the beginning of the clause.
路 Common subordinators: Words like because, since, if, whether, when, while, before, after, etc.
路 Example: Grades were submitted yesterday. (complete sentence, independent clause)
路 Because grades were submitted yesterday. (incomplete sentence, dependent clause)
Combining clauses
When you write sentences, you have some choices for how to use independent and dependent clauses. It is important that you explore these different ways of saying the same thing. Different clause combinations can add variety or even enhance the logic of your writing.
To check for accuracy, just remember these rules:
路 You can use any independent clause as a full sentence.
路 You cannot let a dependent clause stand alone as a sentence.
路 You cannot join two dependent clauses to make a full sentence.
路 You can combine two independent clauses using only a semicolon.
路 You can combine an independent and dependent clause, but you must pay attention
to punctuation and a set of conjunctions called 鈥�FANBOYS鈥� (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so).
Here is a list of common sentence formulas for these same rules:
IND.
IND; IND. (semicolon)
IND DEP. (no comma)
DEP, IND. (comma required)
IND FANBOYS DEP. (no comma)
IND, FANBOYS IND. (comma required)
Example 1: Combining clauses with a semicolon
You can join two independent clauses by placing a semicolon between them. Make sure the clauses are closely related.
Example: The data revealed a significant relationship between sleep and academic performance; students who slept more consistently achieved higher grades.
You can see more information about using semicolons in a dedicated section further down this page.
Example 2: Combining clauses with a subordinator
Subordinators are words that turn an independent clause into a dependent clause (sometimes called a 鈥渟ubordinate鈥� clause).
Unlike FANBOYS conjunctions, which appear between clauses, subordinators appear at the very beginning of a clause.
Here are some examples of subordinators: since, because, although, before, after, as, if, unless, once, until, when, while, whether.
Notice how subordinators help describe the relationships between your ideas. As a result, they can make your writing clearer and more logical. Without these small clue words connecting ideas together, our writing can seem like a 鈥渓ist鈥� or 鈥減ile鈥� of disconnected statements.
Example: Because books are expensive, Lulu applied for a job on campus.
Notice that we've used the subordinator "because" at the beginning of the sentence. This makes the first clause, 鈥淏ecause books are expensive,鈥� a dependent clause. Also notice that we must use a comma after the first clause, which is dependent. This follows the simple rule 鈥淒EP, IND.鈥�
If we discarded the subordinator, we could make this into two independent clauses, but the connection between the ideas is far weaker: 鈥淏ooks are expensive. Lulu applied for a job on campus.鈥�
Example 3: Combining clauses with a FANBOYS conjunction
When you combine two independent clauses, you need a connecting word along with the comma. The connecting words are called coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. You can remember these with the acronym FANBOYS. Memorizing this list of conjunctions is worthwhile鈥攖hey are very common, and they have an effect on how you need to punctuate the sentence.
Example: Kate was the best player on the team, and she was the smartest girl in her graduating class.
Notice we used the FANBOYS conjunction "and" along with a comma. The comma is required because we are combining independent clauses. This sentence follows the simple rule 鈥淚ND, FANBOYS IND.鈥�
Also notice that the comma goes before the FANBOYS conjunction. (A common mistake is to put the comma after the FANBOYS conjunction.)
If we changed one of the statements into a dependent clause, we wouldn鈥檛 use a comma: 鈥淜ate was the best player on the team and the smartest girl in her graduating class.鈥� This follows the simple rule 鈥淚ND FANBOYS DEP.鈥�
Fragments
A fragment is simply an incomplete sentence, i.e., a dependent clause. The most common
fragments are missing either a subject or a main verb. Another common fragment occurs
when an independent clause (i.e., a complete sentence) is turned into a dependent
clause by a subordinator.
The following is a fragment: Studying for the exam in Mateo鈥檚 dorm room.
At first glance, this might look like a full sentence. It has a verb: studying. But it doesn鈥檛 tell us who is studying 鈥� and that鈥檚 the problem.
A complete sentence basically explains, 鈥淲ho (or what) does what?鈥� We might expect each sentence to tell us that 鈥渟omeone (or something) does something.鈥�
In the example above, we don鈥檛 know who is 鈥渄oing something.鈥� We could make this a complete sentence by saying, "John was studying for the exam in Mateo鈥檚 dorm room."
Another fragment: Students who sleep more than six hours per night.
This one is trickier, especially if you think of subjects and verbs as single words rather than phrases. It has both a noun (students) and a verb (sleep), so why is it still a fragment?
Let鈥檚 apply that same sentence test:
鈥淪omeone does something.鈥�
Here, 鈥淪tudents who sleep more than six hours per night鈥� is the someone 鈥� the full subject of the sentence. But where鈥檚 the verb? The word sleep might look like the main verb, but in this case, it鈥檚 part of the subject. What鈥檚 missing is what they do.
We could fix it like this:
Students who sleep more than six hours per night report lower levels of stress.
This sentence is identical in structure to all of the following:
鈥淸Some people] [do something].鈥�
鈥淸Some people] report lower levels of stress.鈥�
鈥淪tudents who sleep more than six hours per night [do something].鈥�
Another common fragment: Because the study examined several risk factors.
Here again, we have a fragment that actually contains a noun and verb! To identify the problem, you must notice that the subordinator 鈥渂ecause鈥� turned a perfectly correct independent clause into a dependent clause.
A longer fragment: After acknowledging the limits of the study鈥檚 design, which include a small sample
group drawn exclusively from a relatively selective college, as well as an observation
period that only lasted two weeks.
It鈥檚 crucial to remember that longer sentences can be fragments鈥揳nd they don鈥檛 stick out as obvious problems. We need to read carefully to find them.
Comma splices
A comma splice occurs when a comma is used incorrectly to join two independent clauses. The comma either lacks a required FANBOYS conjunction or appears where a semicolon should go.
Here's an example of a comma splice: The 911爆料 student tried to stay awake all night, she fell asleep before sunrise.
The problem here is that a comma is being used to join two independent clauses, but we've forgotten to use a FANBOYS conjunction.
Here's how the sentence would look revised correctly: The 911爆料 student tried to stay awake all night, but she fell asleep before sunrise.
Notice that we added the coordinating conjunction "but" after the comma.
Fused or "RUn-On" Sentences
A fused sentence occurs when independent clauses are combined without proper punctuation
and conjunctions. These are also called 鈥漴un-on鈥� sentences, because of how one sentence
runs into the other without any break.
Here's an example of a fused sentence: The library has books for every subject however you may find that journal articles
are more helpful.
Another example: When I read the story, I felt a lot of emotions it reminded me of carefree summer
days with my friends.
Agreement
Agreement means consistency. That is, if a noun is singular, it takes a singular verb
form or pronoun; if a noun is plural, it takes a plural verb form or pronoun.
Noun-verb agreement
Here are some examples of noun-verb agreement.
I am studying. ("am" agrees with the subject, "I")
The girls are studying. ("are" agrees with the subject, "the girls")
The 100-question survey requires two hours to complete. (鈥渞equires鈥� agrees with the singular noun 鈥渟urvey.鈥�
It is essential to remember that while subjects or other noun phrases can be more than one word long, these units are always built from a single core word, called the 鈥渉ead noun.鈥� It is the head noun that determines agreement.
To find the head noun, simply cross out any words that you can logically remove from the sentence. This will help you see the essential core of the sentence.
Example: A group of 75 college presidents is meeting next week in the capitol.
If you cross out any nonessential words, you get this version:
A group of 75 college presidents is meeting next week in the capitol.
Notice that the verb 鈥渋s鈥� agrees with the singular 鈥済roup鈥� and not the plural 鈥�75 colleges.鈥� You can see this easily, even in long sentences, by using this cross-out technique.
Tip: If you try to 鈥渉ear鈥� or 鈥渇eel鈥� the correct verb form, you might not notice the error in this sentence: 鈥淎 set of different factors explain the outcomes we observed." (Can you see that "explain" does not agree with the head noun "set"?)
You can also make this mistake if the head noun is distant from its verb. This is a common problem because college writing is full of long, complicated sentences!
Pronoun-noun agreement
Pronouns take the place of nouns. If a pronoun replaces a subject, use these subject pronouns: I, she, he, it, we, they.
路 My brother and I will go to Florida in May.
If pronouns come after a verb or preposition in a sentence, use these object pronouns: me, her, him, it, us, them.
路 I thanked her for the letter of recommendation.
路 Send a reply to Sally and me.
Here is a typical pronoun error: Me and my roommate went to the movies.
Since the pronoun is used as a subject, 鈥淢e鈥� should be changed to 鈥湵�.鈥� Therefore, the correct sentence is: My roommate and I went to the movies.
Use the cross-out technique to see this more easily: Me and my roommate went to the movies. 鈥淢e" cannot be used as the subject of a sentence.
Here's another example of the same type of error: The pizza was served to my teammates and I.
Since the pronoun comes after the preposition "to," the sentence should read: The pizza was served to my teammates and me.
You can also see this error by using the cross-out technique: 鈥淭he pizza was served
to my teammates and 滨.鈥�
Here鈥檚 an example under current debate: A college student can decorate their dorm room with any poster they want.
The rule for agreement states that a singular pronoun should replace a singular noun. So traditionally, the sentence above would be an error: 鈥渁 student鈥� is singular, and therefore it should not be replaced by the plural words 鈥渢heir/they.鈥�
At the same time, many writers naturally sense the danger of repeating the lengthy phrase 鈥渉e or she鈥� or embracing the stiff, lifeless pronoun 鈥渙ne.鈥� Using either solution more than a couple times can make any passage tedious or confusing.
In recent decades, some writers have also noticed that 鈥渉e or she鈥� is not entirely inclusive because it seems to avoid non-binary people, for example. Meanwhile, some linguists have observed that native speakers of English seem happy to use 鈥渢hey鈥� in sentences like the example above鈥搒o much so that it may suggest an evolving answer to the linguistic need for a catch-all 3rd-person pronoun. Under this thinking, the rules simply haven鈥檛 caught up to the language.
For these reasons, some instructors may allow you鈥搊r even invite you鈥搕o use 鈥渢hey鈥� as a singular, gender-neutral pronoun. Some instructors may not allow it. When you begin writing for your discipline or for publication, you may find the most reliable answer inside a style guide.
Language is a living, changing system, so you will certainly encounter more examples like this. Learning more about language will support productive discussions of conventions like these.
Of course, every writer should know another solution to this classic problem: simply make all the nouns plural. This way, we can use the gender-neutral plural pronoun 鈥渢hey鈥� with absolute confidence. The revised sentence would look like this: College students can decorate their dorm rooms with any posters they want.
Parallel construction
Parallel construction means that words or phrases are written in the same form. If
one phrase in a list begins with "to," then other phrases should, too. If one phrase
uses the verb form ending in "ing," then other phrases should, too.
Here is an example of mismatched sentence parts: I like skiing, ice skating, and to hike.
Here we have two "ing" verb forms and one infinitive ("to hike"). By using matched parts, we can improve the parallelism:
路 I like to ski, ice skate, and hike.
or
路 I like skiing, ice skating, and hiking.
Lists are easier than a sentence like this one: 鈥淲hile confidence is important for success, it can鈥檛 replace being prepared.鈥�
The two connected ideas are expressed differently: 鈥渃onfidence鈥� is a single word that is solidly a noun, while 鈥渂eing prepared鈥� is a multi-word noun that probably feels more like a verb. See if you prefer a version that aligns the two word forms: 鈥淲hile confidence is important for success, it can鈥檛 replace preparation.鈥�
Although neither version of the sentence above is grammatically 鈥渨rong,鈥� these kinds of stylistic enhancements can create more impactful, elegant sentences.
Consider this example: In the debate, she argued for tax reform, checks on corporate power, and that the government should invest more in public infrastructure.
This example is subtle, but it could be more direct if the final item in the list fit the basic structure (鈥淪he argued for noun, noun, and noun.鈥�)
Revised sentence: In the debate, she argued for tax reform, checks on corporate power, and greater investment in public infrastructure.
Modifiers
A modifier is a word or phrase that describes or explains another element in the sentence. This is a broad category that includes adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and more. They often seem to answer classic questions like where, when, why, how, or what kind.
Modifiers are usually the items that we cross out when we want to see the essential core of a sentence.
Every morning, red birds sing loudly on my doorstep.
(Four modifying words or phrases crossed out: when, what kind, how, and where.)
You will notice that modifiers can often move around the sentence. Sometimes a little rephrasing helps you do this. For instance, 鈥渃ollege students鈥� is the same as 鈥渟tudents in college.鈥� Notice the modifier can appear on either side of the noun 鈥渟tudents.鈥� Use this to your advantage to help balance the elements in your sentence. For example, if all the modifiers appear in a cluster on the right side of the sentence, try to move one to the left.
Rules of thumb: In your mind (or on the page), you should always be able to draw an arrow from the
modifier to the idea that it modifies. Generally, readers will want to link modifiers
to the closest possible connecting idea. When modifiers appear far from the ideas
they modify, or when we can鈥檛 find the idea being modified at all, reading becomes
difficult and confusing.
I only went to school on Friday.
In this sentence, the word "only" is a modifier. Right now, it modifies the word "went" because it is closest to that word. It creates a package of connected words that looks like this: I [only went to school] on Friday.
The sentence likely means that on Friday, the writer did nothing else but go to school. But suppose the writer wants us to know that last week she went to school on just one day. In that case, the sentence should read:
I went to school only on Friday.
We have changed the meaning by moving the modifier 鈥渙nly鈥� closer to the phrase 鈥渙n Friday.鈥� Now, readers will likely see a package of connected words like this: I went to school [only on Friday].
Misplaced modifiers
Misplacement occurs when the modifier is not as close as it could be to the idea it modifies.
Example: The student was told that she had been expelled from school by the professor.
Look at the modifying phrase 鈥渂y the professor.鈥� Draw a line from that phrase to what the professor did. Did the professor tell the student she was expelled? Or was she told by someone else that the professor had expelled her? Who expelled her, and who told her the news? The sentence is too confusing and requires a lot of needless effort from the reader.
Here is the same sentence revised: The student was told by the professor that she had been expelled from school.
Now, the phrase 鈥渂y the professor鈥� is as close as possible to the idea being modified, which in this case is the verb phrase 鈥渨as told.鈥�
Dangling Modifiers
Dangling modifiers occur when you just can鈥檛 draw an arrow to the idea being modified鈥搕hat idea is missing from the sentence.
Example: Having completed the assignment, the television was turned on.
The modifier 鈥淗aving completed the assignment鈥� wants to tell us that someone did their homework, but you can鈥檛 draw a line to that person. Instead, the only logical solution is that the television completed the assignment. We can guess, since televisions don't generally do that sort of thing, that the person who turned on the television is missing from the sentence.
We can revise the sentence by adding a subject for the first part of the sentence to modify: Having completed the assignment, Jonas turned on the television.
Now, the introductory phrase "having completed the assignment" refers clearly to Jonas.
II: CORRECT PUNCTUATION AND QUOTATIONS
In this section, you'll find information about how to use commas, semicolons, colons,
hyphens, and quotations.
Commas (, )
Commas are commonly described as a kind of pause, but the pause needs to be justified by a grammatical reason. Commas should never be placed in a sentence arbitrarily. Therefore, it is unwise to rely entirely on folk wisdom like 鈥淧lace commas where you would take a breath鈥� or 鈥淵ou can hear/feel where commas go.鈥�
As a college student, your work is too valuable to guess at. Knowing a few key rules allows you to be utterly confident in the writing you submit to a professor, academic journal, or potential employer.
Here are some essential rules for commas:
1) To join two clauses:
Simply follow the formulas below. To use these formulas, you must be able to identify independent vs. dependent clauses and FANBOYS conjunctions (see that section above).
IND DEP. (no comma)
DEP, IND. (comma required)
IND FANBOYS DEP. (no comma)
IND, FANBOYS IND. (comma required)
Example: When Joe arrived at school, he realized that he'd forgotten to wear pants.
In this sentence, the comma joins a dependent and independent clause.
Example: Joe arrived at school half-dressed, and he blushed from head to toe.
In this sentence, the comma and a FANBOYS conjunction join two independent clauses.
2) After an introductory word or phrase:
Clearly, Alex's dorm room was too small for his pet mongoose.
According to Nussbaum, philosophy is at the heart of many job descriptions today.
After climbing Mt. Everest in 1953, Edmund Hillary explored Antarctica.
3) Before short, optional phrases at the ends of clauses
Students interested in Zhao鈥檚 research can read her journal articles, for example.
There are better ways to organize a spreadsheet, in my opinion.
Don鈥檛 confuse these short, optional 鈥渢ag鈥� phrases with dependent clauses, which do not get commas.
4) Around extra, optional phrases that 鈥渋nterrupt鈥� the flow of a sentence:
The intention of the poem, according to most scholars, was to preserve oral history for future generations.
You will commonly insert 鈥渋nterrupters鈥� in college essays when you introduce scholarly sources or define key terms.
Ken Robinson, an educational author who advocates for student-centered instruction, rejects a one-size-fits-all approach to learning.
Positive psychology, the study of human well-being and flourishing, is a relatively new field of study.
Commas can also affect the meaning by implying that information is optional. Much like parentheses, commas signal to readers that you can cross out the information without affecting the core meaning of the sentence.
Consider the following sentence:
The professor, who has a background in marketing, reviewed our cover letters.
The commas around 鈥渨ho has a background in marketing鈥� tell readers that this information is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. While the extra information may be helpful, the core statement is 鈥淭he professor reviewed our cover letters.鈥�
This is fine if there is just one professor at your school, but an interested reader needs the extra information to know exactly which professor to email for help with a job application.
Simply removing the commas tells readers this is essential information:
The professor who has a background in marketing reviewed our cover letters.
As the writer, you decide whether or not a clause is essential.
Semicolons (;)
When you first grasp the rules of how to use semicolons, you'll be tempted to overuse them. However, the semicolon won't be necessary most of the time. Nonetheless, here are the rules:
A semicolon can be used...
1) To join two independent clauses that make sense when combined. Remember that both clauses must be able to stand on their own as complete sentences.
The time spent on readings and guest lectures didn鈥檛 settle the issue; the students asked for an evening study group to explore the topic further.
Note: This sentence follows the simple rule 鈥淚ND; IND.鈥� Do not use a semicolon to join an independent clause (complete sentence) to a dependent clause (incomplete sentence).
Wrong: The speaker discussed ethical questions; which are hard to settle in just one hour.
Correct: The speaker discussed ethical questions, which are hard to settle in just one hour.
The 鈥渃orrect鈥� example follows the simple comma rule for extra, optional information.
2) To join two independent clauses along with a transition word.
The first phase of the experiment yielded promising results; however, subsequent attempts failed to produce the same level of significance.
If the transition were not used in this example, the connection between these ideas would not be articulated to readers. Instead, the connection would be implied by the writer鈥檚 choice to use a semicolon. Readers often prefer you provide a stronger connection by including a transition.
Transitions can be single words or multi-word phrases. Unlike subordinators, they do not make an independent clause into a dependent clause.
Here are some examples of transitions: therefore, instead, additionally, afterward, in fact, in effect, as a result, for example, on the other hand.
Note: Since transitions are NOT conjunctions, they should not be used with only commas to join two independent clauses.
The formula for using a transition looks like this: IND; TRANSITION, IND. Notice that a semicolon is required before the transition word, and a comma is required after the transition word or phrase.
Any time you use a semicolon, you could just as easily use a period. This means you
should have a good reason to prefer a semicolon. Perhaps for this reason, you will
find semicolons are the least common way to combine sentences. Maybe one semicolon
per page is a good limit for most college writers, at least in the beginning.
3) To separate items in a list when one or more of the items contains a comma.
Tracy brought her pet hamster, Pickles; her three hundred CDs; and her antique, mahogany lounge chair to her dorm room.
Since two items in this list contain commas, using semicolons helps avoid confusion.
Colons (: )
A colon can be used at the end of an independent clause鈥�
1) to introduce a list (relatively uncommon in academic writing)
There are many interesting things in Billy's closet: old shoes, a few vintage shirts,
and hundreds of baseball cards.
2) to add further explanation of the clause (an advanced technique)
I decided not to apply for the job: the company鈥檚 values didn鈥檛 align with mine.
3) as a clever way to introduce a quote (the most important use for college writers). Typically, we use colons to show readers what to notice about the quote, to interpret complicated language, or to explain why the quote matters to our discussion.
Show readers what to notice:
Orwell鈥檚 admission reveals the internal conflict of his narrator: 鈥淚 did not want to shoot the elephant.鈥�
Interpret complicated language:
The philosopher Michel Foucault describes a surprising link between knowledge and power: 鈥淧ower and knowledge directly imply one another... there is no power relation without the correlative constitution of a field of knowledge.鈥�
Explain why the quote matters to our discussion:
We can see in the author鈥檚 language how identity is shaped not only by how we see ourselves but also by how others view us: 鈥淚 knew who I was until they started calling me something else.鈥�
Tip: Notice how the colon offers another way into a quote besides a typical reporting verb like 鈥渨rote鈥� or 鈥渁rgued.鈥� This offers some nice variety to your writing. It also opens an extra slot before the quote for you to analyze it or integrate it into your argument, allowing you to offer more information efficiently compared to plain old reporting verbs, which often waste at least a few words when they declare the obvious (鈥渢he author wrote鈥�).
Tip: Don't use a colon after a verb or a phrase like "such as" or "consisting of" or after a form of "to be" (am, are, is, was, were).
Hyphens (-)
Use a hyphen to indicate compound words:
- Mother-in-law
Use a hyphen to join two word units:
- Long-standing
Use a hyphen to avoid doubling vowels and tripling consonants:
- Anti-intellectual instead of antiintellectual
Use a hyphen between words that are spelled alike but have different meanings:
- Re-creation does not mean the same thing as recreation.
Use a hyphen to form a compound adjective preceding a noun:
- Spike Lee is a well-known film director.
Do not use a hyphen to form a compound word after a linking verb.
- Film director Spike Lee is well known.
Quotations
First, it's important to know when to use a quotation.
Don鈥檛 quote as a way of 鈥減adding your stats鈥� or suggesting that your work is more scholarly just because it has more quotes. Needless quotations have the opposite effect: they reveal that the student is not familiar with how quotations are used in academic writing.
Don't quote simply because you can't think of a better way to phrase something. Quotations, as a kind of evidence, should support your own thinking, and they should come after you've already used your own words to explain something. Quotes should not replace your own words.
When you do quote something, bring readers into the quotation gently. You have to "set up" a quotation. Explain where (and whom) the quotation is coming from. Explain how it relates to your argument or discussion.
Rule of thumb: Quotations don't speak for themselves. You need to tell the reader what the quotation means and how it relates to your own ideas.
Here's an example of a properly used quotation:
Many students at 911爆料 have been concerned that they won't be able to find jobs after they graduate. One student even commented, "I'm worried I'll have to work at McDonald's for the rest of my life!"
Notice how the writer explains the concerns of the students before quoting. And notice how the quotation is set up by a lead-in phrase.
Here's an example of the same information with a misuse of quotation:
Many students at 911爆料 have been concerned that they will "have to work at McDonald's for the rest of" their lives.
In the sentence above, the quotation is not introduced properly; the reader can have no idea who is being quoted. Is it a student? A parent? Someone from the Career Services office? Remember, your professors are looking for evidence that you can express your ideas and then support them with quotations, not simply use a quotation to replace your own words.
Introducing Your "Voices"
Quotes are a chance to bring other people (or "voices") into the conversation, but not all people will have the same expertise to offer. Therefore, you should start taking steps to communicate why a quote is valuable to the conversation. A good place to start is by sharing the qualifications or relevant experience of the people you quote.
The first time you introduce your authors, tell readers who they are. Use their full name when you first mention them. Include information you鈥檝e found about their job title, their relevant scholarship, or their field of expertise.
A poor introduction: I agree with Jones that 鈥渓earning is a lifelong experience.鈥�
Who is Jones, where did you find this, and why should we care what Jones thinks about education?
A better introduction: I agree with Dr. Loretta Jones, chair of the Education department at Driscoll University and author of Teaching for Tomorrow, when she describes learning as 鈥渁 lifelong experience.鈥�
As the writer, you will sometimes need to take the initiative and search online for information about the qualifications of authors and scholars.
Punctuating your quotations
The basic rule is this: commas and periods go inside quotation marks; semicolons and colons go outside of quotation marks.
(If you are reading a source printed in the United Kingdom or Canada, you'll see commas and periods outside of quotation marks. Nevertheless, you need to learn and to use American conventions.)
If the quotation you are using in the sentence contains the question, the question mark goes inside the quotation mark:
During the meeting Matt asked, "When can we leave?"
If the sentence itself is a question, the question mark goes outside the quotation mark.
What do you think Matt meant when he said, "I want to leave"?
If you need to cite the quotation you are using, then the period will go after the parenthesis:
"To be or not to be" (Hamlet V165).
If you are not citing the quotation, you must put the period inside the second quotation mark:
Gabby told Becky, "Please don't eat all the muffins."
Capitalizing Your Quotations
The basic rule is this: if the quote is an independent clause (i.e., it can stand on its own as a complete sentence), it should be capitalized.
Sapir and Whorf famously claimed, 鈥淲ords shape reality.鈥�
Lisa shared how much she liked the class and 鈥渢he incredible baked treats that get devoured immediately by students.鈥�
There is one exception to the rule. When the quotation follows the linking word "that," do not use a comma, and do not capitalize the first letter of the quotation. This is true even if the sentence is an independent clause.
This is part of a broader rule that states quotes should not be capitalized if they are integrated into the grammar of the sentence. But by far the most common instance to watch for is the little word 鈥渢hat.鈥�
Professor Smith told the class that "knowing how to do research is a valuable skill."