1. Dr. Stephanie Hester, Faculty of Arts Study Skills
Key Points of Grammar

2. In this presentation:
Complete Sentences
Punctuation
Apostrophes

3. Sometimes it can be hard to know what a sentence fragment is.
Sentence Fragments
Do you ever get that green wiggly line that asks you to consider revising your Sentence Fragment?
Sometimes it can be hard to know what a sentence fragment is.
The best way to understand sentence fragments is to first look at what makes a complete sentence. 3

4. Parts of a complete sentence
A ‘complete’ sentence needs a subject and a verb (or a doing word).
Frank hates grammar.
Judy loves grammar more than life itself.
Benny is turning into a tractor.
Life Impact The University of Adelaide 4

5. Sentence fragment
Without a verb and subject a sentence becomes a ‘fragment’.
Which of the following is a sentence fragment?
Judy loves grammar. More than life itself.
Judy loves grammar more than life itself. 5

6. Quiz Where is the subject in each of these sentences?
Peter wanted to be a professional inline skater.
Up the hill and down again ran the escaped ferret. 6

7. Building Compound Sentences
A compound sentence is a sentence made up of simple ‘independent clauses’ that have been joined together with conjunctions or semi-colons.
Conjunctions include and, but, both, for, therefore, however, yet.
Barry was beginning to wish he hadn’t come to the O-Week Grammar Tutorial and he was considering faking an asthma attack to escape.
Barry was beginning to wish he hadn’t come to the O-Week Grammar Tutorial; he was considering faking an asthma attack to escape.
HOW TO SPOT AN INDEPENDENT CLAUSE:
1. Independent clauses work as sentences by themselves.
Barry was beginning to wish he hadn’t come to the O-Week Grammar Tutorial. He was considering faking an asthma attack to escape.
Independent Clause (Sentence 1)
Independent Clause (Sentence 2) 7

8. Comma Splice
Independent clauses, or simple sentences, cannot be joined by a comma alone. This is called a comma splice.
We are going to the ferret race, it will be smelly.
We are going to the ferret race; it will be smelly.
We are going to the ferret race and it will be smelly. 8

9. Semicolons
A semicolon is used when both parts of the sentence are independent clauses, and are therefore ‘strong’ enough to work as simple sentences.
Semi-colons are especially effective when used to join two clauses that are related in thought.
I am still pumped about O-Week; it’s going to take more than a grammar tutorial to bring me down. 9

10. Colons
A colon stands between a clause that raises some kind of expectation and the clause/phrase/word that fulfils that expectation.
You use a colon when the two parts of the sentence aren’t strong enough to stand alone.
I realised immediately who had stolen all the jelly donuts: Dracula!
Colons can also be used to introduce a quotation or example or a list.
I love three things: chocolate, bananas and chocolate bananas. 10

11. Commas The comma can be used to insert a pause into a sentence.
The elephant is large, but he is friendly.
Commas can mark out a bit of a sentence, or ‘phrase’, that you could remove from a sentence without affecting it.
The elephant, although large, is very friendly.
Commas can be used to separate items in a list.
The elephant was large, friendly, happy and pink. 11

12. Quizzes
Which of the following sentences is not correct? A. I knew who was following me, what could I do? B. I knew who was following me but what could I do? C. I knew who was following me; what could I do? D. I knew who was following me: what could I do? This is an example of a comma splice. 12

13. Which of the following sentences is correct?
We need a few things; chocolate, movies and a room.
We need a few things: chocolate, movies and a room.
We need a few things, chocolate, movies and a room.
We need a few things; chocolate; movies; a room.
Remember: Colons are used to start a list.
Semi-colons divide ‘independent’ clauses (with subjects and verbs).
Commas separate items in a list (but don’t come before one).

14. Apostrophes 14

15. Apostrophes - Singular
Apostrophes are used to show who owns something.
You put an apostrophe before the s to show one person owns something.
The dog’s mobile phone.
Mr. Baker’s bowtie.
Sometimes, when something or someone’s name already ends in s, you can just put an apostrophe after the name, without an extra s (this is a personal preference, to an extent).
Mr. Dickens’ lengthy novels 15

16. Apostrophes - Plural
Apostrophes go after the s when you are indicating more than one person or thing owns something.
The dogs’ joint bank account.
The boys’ boxed sets of Games of Thrones.
Note: sometimes you will encounter a word that acts as a plural, such as ‘children’ or ‘women’. In this case, you place the apostrophe before the s.
The children’s playground.
The women’s boxed sets of Breaking Bad.
Life Impact The University of Adelaide 16

17. Apostrophes in contractions (abbreviations)
Apostrophes can indicate you have contracted or joined two words together:
It’s (it is) just not cricket.
She’ll (she will) be apples.
You don’t use an apostrophe in ‘its’ when you are demonstrating the ‘it’ owns something.
The cat and its servants. (You couldn’t write this out as the cat and it is servants). 17

18. Which of the following is correct?
The dog’s off it’s leash
The dog’s off its leash
The dogs off it’s leash
The dogs off its leash
The apostrophe shows possession (the leash of the dog). If you wrote out A, it would be ‘The dog is off it is leash.’ 18

19. Which of the following is correct. A
Which of the following is correct? A. A Room of Ones Own is a popular womens book. B. A Room of Ones Own is a popular women’s book. C. A Room of One’s Own is a popular womens’ book. D. A Room of One’s Own is a popular women’s book. Both apostrophes show a ‘single’ person or thing owns something. The room belongs to ‘one’; ‘women’ is singular.

20. Further Resources
Consider ways in which your Grammar Journey can continue:
Use our especially devised resource in Academic Preparation - in the Academic Skills Resources folder on the homepage of your My Uni
Check out the wide range of resources online and in-text in the Barr Smith Library:
Join our Facebook Page to post your questions: ‘Uni Adelaide Arts First Year Group 2015’ 20