We had an interesting conversation in my high school creative writing class this week. One of the students started a sentence with and, and, of course, the more grammarly types thought that he should not.

 

Being the kind of teacher who does not like to let any potential lesson pass, I delved in. That is what I would like to “teach” here today–but first let’s go back to those earlier lessons on compound sentences and comma use–and, of course, what a coordinating conjunction is to begin with.

 

You might remember a recent post (one of my PUNCTUATION PUZZLES, actually) in which I discussed how to create a compound sentence using a semicolon. (Remember, compound has to do with TWO, just like a compound fracture is a break in two places. Thus, a compound sentence is two sentences joined together as one.)

 

Of course, the two sentences you are combining must be linked to each other in subject matter in order to do this; each half the compound should be somewhat similar in weightiness as well. This compound-creating helps a writer to link common thoughts and show their link without any additional words.

 

Then I also had another post about creating a compound sentence with a comma-coordinating conjunction. In this post, I described how you can combine two sentences into one with the same guidelines for the semicolon compound sentence–but with the added benefit of meaning via the coordinating conjunction.

 

Download your FANBOYS graphic to hang up and use with your students HERE!

 

I also taught this little trick: FANBOYS. This is a quick method to learn the seven true coordinating conjunctions:

 

 

 

Again, the beauty of the compound sentence with the coordinating conjunction (as opposed to the semicolon, which is good for showing off!) is that each of those seven little words has the potential to bring a meaning, a relationship, a link, a causality, and more. 

 

So, what if you (or your student) wants to START a sentence with one of those little meaningful, relational, linking, causal words?

 

Learn how to do it well! Or teach your student how to do it well!

 

According to R.W. Burchfield in The New Fowler’s Modern English Usage, it is completely legal: “There is a persistent belief that it is improper to begin a sentence with And, but this prohibition has been cheerfully ignored by standard authors from Anglo-Saxon times onwards. An initial And is a useful aid to writers as the narrative continues”

 

Of course, if you are a lover of great literature as some of my kids are, you can find time after time when a noted author began narrative, as well as poetry, with a coordinating conjunction. And, obviously, most of the time he or she did it well!

 

 

When and how would one begin a sentence with a coordinating conjunction?

 

1. When the material following the coordinating conjunction is LINKED to the previous sentence (much like creating the compound sentence)

 

2. When the meaning of the coordinating conjunction is valuable to the sentence:

a. And–linking, additionally, and even sometimes because of: She was going to be late. AND she didn’t care.

b. Or–linking, contrasting, giving another option: You can have the cake. OR you can have the ice cream.

c. But–constrasting, showing causality or exception: You may have cake or ice cream. BUT you may not have them both.

 

3. When the coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, & yet are used.

a. These are the four that work the best at the beginning of a sentence.

b. For is usually a preposition when it is at the beginning of a sentence. (More on that later.)

c. Sometimes so will work, but it might be a little stilted.

d. Nor doesn’t work at all.

 

 

4. When you want a stop after the first sentence–a beat, if you will. Then you want the second sentence to have more power than the first–and the contrast or causality to be greater.

 

I’m a teacher through and through. I go to sleep thinking about teaching and writing–and I get up thinking about teaching and writing. So…..I woke up this morning with a mnemonic to use with my students for this sentence structure. (I am mnemonic, rhyme, and jingle crazy in my textbooks!)

 

 

 

I was thrilled that my creative writing students are thinking so deeply about sentences. Creative writing, story writing, poetry, narratives–all of these are writing areas in which thinking deeply about sentence structure really pays off. And beginning a sentence with a coordinating conjunction is a way to really add punch and emphasis to a creative writing piece. 🙂

 

 

The post Can I Start a Sentence With a Coordinating Conjunction? appeared first on Character Ink.

“Conjunction Junction—what’s your function?”

Did you start to sing along? Can you picture the images?

How old are you????? Lol

Most kids today are not raised on “School House Rock,” which is such a shame! Because you really can’t forget the songs, jingles, rhymes—and dare I say—rules learned from those little ditties. (You can still find them on YouTube!)

And those little ditties are really needed when it comes to commas! Commas are a mystery to many people–and rightly so! They are extremely subjective at times across the board. And then, different handbooks and authorities stress different rules for them, making them even more elusive.

Today I would like to give you a little lesson on creating a compound sentence (two sentences joined together as one) using a comma-coordinating conjunction between the two sentences.

Download this Tricky Trick sheet for your student(s) here!

Before you watch the video in which I teach this skill (as part of my Checklist Challenge for most writing projects in all 100 of my books!), let me give you some details in writing:

1. Coordinating conjunctions (cc’s) include the following with the acronym FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

2. A comma must be used with the cc when combining two complete sentences into one.

3. With a comma only (no cc), you would be creating a comma splice, also known as a run-on sentence–two sentences joined together incorrectly.

4. Each side of the compound sentence must be able to stand alone in order to be combined with a comma-cc.

5. Complete sentence (CS) on the left: The spider’s prey seldom escapes & a complete sentence on the right: it is caught in a sticky web: The spider’s victims seldom escape, for they are caught in a sticky web.

6. -If a CS is not on one side or the other of the cc, no comma is used: The spider’s prey seldom escapes and oftentimes gets eaten (no CS after and, so no comma).

CS ,cc CS SAMPLES…

1. The spider’s victims seldom escape, for they are caught in a sticky web.

2. The victims are stuck, and they become “dinner.”

3. They can not free themselves, nor can they be freed.

4. They sit in the web and wait, but they do not wait for long.

5. The spider lets the victim sit in the sticky mess for a while, or it carries the victim away to eat it right away.

6. The spider is ruthless, yet it is also known for its special “web designs.”

7. The spider has special skills, so it puts these skills to good use.

Watch the Live Online Class Video of me teaching how to create compound sentences with FANBOYS!

Wish you could teach your students parts of speech word lists effortlessly? Check out my Think Fast Grammar Quiz downloadable product! It teaches kids prepositions, subordinators, FANBOYS, interjections, Being/Helping/Linking verbs and more effortlessly with mnemonics and more!

The post Creating Compound Sentences With Coordinating Conjunctions (Live Video AND Tricky Trick Download!) appeared first on Character Ink.

Welcome to another Punctuation Puzzle! Yep… a puzzle that you solve by putting in the correct punctuation and words/usage fixes—along with explanations and answers about each error!

Perfect for students and teachers alike!

Today’s Puzzle is about Led verses Lead and Alot verses A Lot … and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books.

Read More….

Save

Save

The post Punctuation Puzzle: Led vs. Lead & Alot vs. A lot appeared first on Character Ink.

By Zac Kieser and Donna Reish

Welcome to another Punctuation Puzzle!  Yep… a puzzle that you solve by putting int he correct punctuation and words/usage fixes– along with explanations and answers about each error!  Perfect for students and teachers alike!

Today’s Puzzle is about Compound Sentences… and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books.

Read More…

Save

The post Punctuation Puzzle: George Washington Carver—Compound Sentences! appeared first on Character Ink.

There are hard ways to learn things. And there are easy ways to learn things. Teaching is in my blood. Love for students runs deep within me.

Those two things combined make me want to ALWAYS teach students the easy way to learn things.

Life is hard already. Let’s make grammar as easy as we possibly can. And for sure, let’s teach things that students actually need and use in real writing.

Short commercial message…..

That is why I drive my family (and anybody near by!) crazy with my jingles, rhymes, mnemonics, songs, tricks, and more for teaching!

Check out my lesson about creating compound sentences below….and you’ll see what I mean!

Oh….if you are rusty on your compound sentences, check out this Comma Clue #1 post. Then be brave and take a Compound Sentence Quiz! 🙂

The post Compound Sentences with FANBOYS—Middle School Lesson Video appeared first on Character Ink.

“Conjunction Junction—what’s your function?”

Did you start to sing along? Can you picture the images?

How old are you????? lol

Most kids today are not raised on “School House Rock,” which is such a shame! Because you really can’t forget the songs, jingles, rhymes—and dare I say—rules learned from those little ditties. (You can still find them on Youtube!)

And those little ditties are really needed when it comes to commas! Commas are a mystery to many people–and rightly so! They are extremely subjective at times across the board. And then, different handbooks and authorities stress different rules for them, making them even more elusive.

I hope to demystify them at least a little bit in this series–and give you the confidence you need to write using commas correctly.*

Note: If you are in test taking situations or contest writing situations, it is more important than ever for you to master comma, semicolon, colon, and quotation use. As a matter of fact, we have an entire unit in our Meaningful Composition 11 I: Timed Essays book just focusing on these skills because when they are done correctly, it is impressive. When they are done incorrectly, it is obvious to graders. Work hard to learn these skills, students! Smile…that was my mom/teacher voice!

Comma Clue #1: Creating a Compound Sentence With a Comma-Coordinating Conjunction (,cc)+

CS ,cc CS+

1. The spider’s victims seldom escape, for they are caught in a sticky web.

2. The victims are stuck, and they become “dinner.”

3. They can not free themselves, nor can they be freed.

4. They sit in the web and wait, but they do not wait for long.

5. The spider lets the victim sit in the sticky mess for a while, or it carries the victim away to eat it right away.

6. The spider is ruthless, yet it is also known for its special “web designs.”

7. The spider has special skills, so it puts these skills to good use.

Why/How:

-Coordinating conjunctions (cc’s) include the following with the acronym FANBOYS: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
-A comma must be used with the cc when combining two complete sentences into one.
-With a comma only (no cc), you would be creating a comma splice, also known as a run-on sentence–two sentences joined together incorrectly.
-Each side of the compound sentence must be able to stand alone in order to be combined with a comma-cc.
-Complete sentence on the left: The spider’s prey seldom escapes & a complete sentence on the right: it is caught in a sticky web.
-If a CS is not on one side or the other of the cc, no comma is used: The spider’s prey seldom escapes and oftentimes gets eaten (no CS after and, so no comma.

+This series, as well as upcoming series’ will use the following abbreviations to teach:

a. CS–complete sentence
b. cc–coordinating conjunction (think FANBOYS–For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
c. CA–conjunctive adverb
d. Sub–subordinator
e. Prep–preposition
f. PP–prepositional phrase
g. sub clause–subordinate clause (or dependent clause–group of words with a subject and a verb/verb phrase that cannot stand alone)
h. phr–phrase (group of words that does not contain both a subject and a verb that cannot stand along

The post Comma Clues #1: Creating a Compound Sentence With a Comma-Coordinating Conjunction (,cc) appeared first on Character Ink.

Okay…here is another Punctuation Puzzle for you to solve! Try to figure out where punctuation marks should go–before you look below at the answers/explanations! Smile…

I read the magazine article titled “Baby Games” and I read an encyclopedia essay called “Baby Showers”

Okay….are you ready?

Proper punctuation of that sentence is as follows:

I read the magazine article titled “Baby Games,” and I read an encyclopedia essay called “Baby Showers.”



Here is why the punctuation is the way it is:

1. “Baby Games” is the title of a magazine article; an article is a minor work (a work within a work–in this case, an article within a magazine). Minor works are shown by surrounding the title in quotation marks.

                           I read the magazine article titled “Baby Games,”



2. You need a comma before the AND because this sentence is a compound sentence (Complete Sentence {CS}, and Complete Sentence {CS}). One way you can combine two sentences into one to create a compound sentence is to use a comma-coordinating conjunction (,cc–,for/,and/,nor/,but/,or/,yet/,so). Always test to see if you are really creating a compound by reading each “half” of the sentence by itself–and ask yourself if it could stand alone.

                          I read the article titled “Baby Games,” and I read an encyclopedia essay called “Baby Showers.”

3.  In the US, a comma ALWAYS goes inside a closing quotation mark (whether it is part of the quoted material or not). (This is not the case in British writings.)

                         “Baby Games,”



4. “Baby Showers” is the title of an encyclopedia essay; an essay is a minor work (a work within a work–in this case, an essay within an encyclopedia). Minor works are shown by surrounding the title in quotation marks.

                    “Baby Showers.”




5.  In the US, a period ALWAYS goes inside a closing quotation mark (whether it is part of the quoted material or not). (This is not the case in British writings.)

                      “Baby Showers.”

*Picture from https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/jigsaw-puzzle-punctuation-marks-28310853.jpg

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