Punctuation in complex sentences

You might have noticed that you didn’t get your usual Monday morning post this week. When I don’t manage to post it’s usually a sign that I’ve been very busy and this time is no exception! However, I did manage to put up a guest post last week which has some nice tips about immersing yourself in English (here if you missed it!).

My students are now getting down to some serious writing practice because of the exams that are coming up in the summer. Students’ punctuation is often good in short, simple sentences, but once sentences get longer things can get more difficult. One thing I’ve noticed is that many students make punctuation mistakes with complex sentences which have subordinate clauses in them. Don’t click away just because I said ’subordinate clause’! It’s not that hard:

1. Because I was busy, I didn’t write a post at the weekend.

2. I didn’t write a post at the weekend because I was busy.

You should notice the comma in the first sentence but not the second and that is where students often go wrong – over punctuating! Look at the page on complex sentences from Sacramento State University which you can find here.

Punctuation in relative clauses (again!)

One excellent way of improving your English is to follow the news in English so I am going to be more active in mentioning news stories to you. These will usually be British news stories so I hope that those of you who want to improve your general knowledge about Britain and British culture will find this useful. In the news today is the story that Gurkhas have won the right to settle in the UK. Gurkhas are soldiers who come from Nepal but who fight in the British army. They want the right to settle in the UK after they retire – as people say: if they have fought and risked their lives for us then they should be allowed to live here! There is a much loved British actress called Joanna Lumley who has been supporting the Gurkhas (her father served in the army with them). Joanna Lovely – sorry I mean Lumley – is articulate, (talks well), refined (well-educated), famous and very forceful and has helped the Gurkhas in their campaign.

Now look at some of the sentences from a news story about the Gurkhas:

1. Some 36,000 Gurkhas who left before 1997 had been denied UK residency.
2. Ms Lumley, the actress who has been the public face of the campaign on behalf of the Gurkhas, said: “This is the welcome we have always longed to give.”
3. She called Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who she had met earlier, a “brave man who has made today a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave”.

You should notice that sentence 1 does NOT have commas around the relative clause:

Some 36,000 Gurkhas who left before 1997 had been denied UK residency

But sentences 2 and 3 DO have commas around the relative clauses:

Ms Lumley, the actress who has been the public face of the campaign on behalf of the Gurkhas, said: “This is the welcome we have always longed to give.”
She called Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who she had met earlier, a “brave man who has made today a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave”.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE?
The information in the relative clause in sentence 1 is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Not all Gurkhas had been denied residency, only the 36000 who left the army before 1997 had been denied residency. The phrase who left before 1997 defines which Gurkhas we are talking about. Therefore this is called a defining relative clause and does not use commas.

In contrast, in sentence 2 the phrase the actress who has been the public face of the campaign on behalf of the Gurkhas simply gives us extra information about the subject of the sentence. If you take out that phrase you get this:

Ms Lumley, the actress who has been the public face of the campaign on behalf of the Gurkhas, said: “This is the welcome we have always longed to give.”

and I hope you can see that the sentence still makes perfect sense. None of the essential information to understand the sentence is missing. This is called a non-defining relative clause and does use commas.

Similarly in sentence 3 the relative clause could be deleted:
She called Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who she had met earlier, a “brave man who has made today a brave decision on behalf of the bravest of the brave”.

because it is not essential information. This is another example of a non-defining relative clause with commas.

Read more about the story here!

Danger! Proceed with caution!

The other day I was looking at links to my site (yes, this one!) and I found a site in Korea which liked it, but it also said:

“However, although McMahon claims to have been a teacher and materials writer since 1987, the user would need to exercise caution in that this and any other statements are neither verified nor moderated in any way. This site represents the opinions of one person and the links provided would each need to be evaluated on an individual basis.”

So, just be careful you guys!

On another note I have been looking at some writing by some very good German students. The one area that these students could improve is their puncutation because they tend to put in too much – usually too many commas!

Look at that previous sentence:
The one area that these students could improve is their puncutation because they tend to put in too much.
No commas needed!

This page from Towson University in the USA does a really good of breaking a sentence down into its separate parts and showing the difference between simple and complex sentences and how they should be punctuated. The link is here but, remember, be careful!

The semicolon returns!

Don’t forget about the monthly competition to win a free Advanced English and IELTS course from Macmillan! All you have to do is subscribe to my posts using the form at the top right hand side of the page and then send me an e mail saying Please enter me for the draw! Read more details and get the e mail address here.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;   – there you go, some more semicolons before you forget what they look like. I would like to emphasize a couple of key points about using a semicolon:

1. The two parts of the sentence on both sides of the semicolon make sense as individual sentences

2. The two parts of the sentence are both on the same topic and are closely related.

So in this example sentence:

I hate sunbathing; I get burnt really easy.

the use of the semicolon is correct because the two parts of the sentence could be independent sentences, and they are very closely related.

However, this example sentence using  a semicolon is NOT correct:

I hate sunbathing; really boring and dangerous.

because the second part of the sentence would not make a sentence on its own.

Similarly, this example sentence is NOT correct:

I hate sunbathing; I drive to work every day.

because although the two parts of the sentence would make sense on their own, they are not closely related.

Got it? Now, here is a great online exercise in which you can test yourself! This page from Bristol University is excellent and challenging. It’s here.