English Punctuation: Usage of Comma

Commas are used for in the following situations:

Commas are used with lists.

Commas in English Grammar are a very common part English Punctuation. Commas are used to separate a list of nouns, including names), 2 or more adjectives , a list of independent clauses or any other kind of lists.

Rules For Using Commas With List

Commas are used when there are 2 or more nouns in a list (example: cats, dogs and mice).

It is common for "and" or "or" to separate the last 2 words in a list.

A comma is optional before the word "and" or "or".

Examples:

Tomorrow is going to be hot, sunny and dry.

I have to buy tomatoes, beans, peppers and a lot of onions.

Do you want to listen to rock music, Jazz or pop music?

Commas are used with addresses, dates and Titles.

Titles, Dates & Addresses

There are special puncation rules for date, names and addresses, Titles.

Rules for using commas with dates, names and addresses:

Dates - a comma is placed, between the day and the year, when the writing according to American English (Month, Day, Year - September 15, 2005.

Note: If the date is written the according to Europe (Day, Month, Year), then there is no comma.

Days and Dates - When writing the day and the date a comma is placed after the day, and follow the rules for dates (see above).

Example: Monday, July 15, 2008

Titles - A comma is place after a name followed by a title.

Example: John Brown, Ph.D.

Tim Lee, Jr.

Addresses - A comma is placed between a street and a town or city, State, and Country.

Example: 15 Fifth Avenue, Houston, England.

Commas are used with Independent and Dependent Clauses.

Independent clauses and dependent/Subordinate clauses made easy so everyone can understand!

Independent and Dependent /Subordinate Clauses

Independent Clauses	Dependent/Subordinate Clauses
A complete thought contains a subject and a predicate(object). is a complete sentence	not a complete thought contains a subject and a predicate(object). is not a complete sentence
Examples: I like to go to the store. We are going to the movies. The teachers at schools are really nice.	Examples: I like to go We are going The teacher at school

Commas are used with nonessential clauses.

Comma use with nonessential clauses, phrases and words

1. Clauses that are not sentences.

2. Clauses that provide extra information.

3. The sentence makes sense with out the nonessential clause.

Comma usage with nonessential clauses:

Commas are placed before the nonessential clause, and at the end of the nonessential clause.

Examples:

1. My English teacher, is really nice, is going to give me a letter for college.

2. The boy, that was playing in the street, that got hit by a car was my brother.

3. My neighbor, that lives on the 2nd floor, is going to take me to school tomorrow.

Commas are ued for introductry cluases, phrases and word/s.

Introductory clauses, phrases and words are:

1. Clauses, phrases or words that are not sentences.

2. Clauses, phrases or words that provide extra information.

3. The sentence makes sense with out the clause, phrase or words.

4. Clauses, phrases or words that come at the beginning of the sentence.

5. They are used as background information, extra information.

6. There can be more than one introductory clause, phrase or word in a sentences.

Commas are placed after the introductory clause, phase or words. If there is more than one introductory clause, phase or words a comma is placed after each introductory clause, phase or words.

Examples:

Wow, that was a great movie.

While I got dressed, The radio was playing a great song.

Excellent job, everyone did a really good job.

copy&paste from:

http://www.english-the-easy-way.com/Punctuation_English/Introductory_Clauses_Commas.htm

Learn and Improve Your English

Hi all...

I am sure all of us want to improve our command of English Language, right?

Here is a website that can help us to improve our English.




http://www.englishpage.com/

Free online English lessons & ESL / EFL resources

Between of To

Sometimes it can be very confusing when to use 'between or 'to'



Here is a simple explanation.



'Between' must be followed by 'and'.



'From' must be followed by 'to'.



For example:



There were between 200 and 300 people at the concert.



The seminar will be conducted from 8 a.m to 10 a.m

alot

So many people write a lot as one word instead of two.

If you do this, ask yourself if you would write a little as alittle.

Of course not. So please don't write alot!

The same goes for in spite of and in fact.




Taken from: Communication for Business by Shirley Taylor

Boring

I often hear people use boring instead of bored. One workshop participant was blatantly honest with me when she said 'My boss made me come here but I didn't want to attend because I think I'm going to be very boring'.

Hmmm... I think she meant she thought she was going to be very bored.

She could only be bored if I was boring!

An example:

The lecture is boring so I am bored.

- Shirley Taylor

Mommy... I'm bored...

Wordwise: Blood

BLOOD is the very essence of life. It is little wonder that ‘blood’ expressions relate to so many aspects of our life.

By: S.H Loke

Some of these ‘blood’ expressions can help you to describe your moods, emotions, temperaments and even ancestry in a more creative way.

1. Blood

It can be used to refer to the race or social class of someone’s parents or ancestors.
Jean can sing very well as she has Filipino blood in her veins.

2. Bad blood

If you say there is bad blood between people, it means that they have argued and dislike each other.
There is bad blood between Boon Seng and Chee Kin because of their gambling disputes.

3. Cold blood

It is used to describe something which is done deliberately and in an unemotional way.
The spy was shot in cold blood.

4. It makes one’s blood boil

If something makes your blood boil, it makes you very angry.
Students who consistently do not pass up their work will make a teacher’s blood boil.

5. Makes your blood run cold/freeze

If something makes your blood run cold, it makes you feel very frightened.
Our blood froze when we heard a tiger roaring near our camp.

6. Blood on one’s hands

If you say that someone has a person’s blood on their hands, it means they are responsible for that person’s death.

My cousin’s blood is on Bob’s hands, because he paid someone to kill him.

7. New blood/fresh blood/young blood

It refers to people who are employed in an organisation to improve it by using new ideas or doing things differently.

Penangites hope for better changes with new blood brought into the State Government.

8. Sweat blood

This is used to emphasise that someone is trying very hard to do something.
He has to sweat blood to obtain his Masters in Chemistry.

9. Flesh and blood

This is used to emphasise that someone has human feelings or weaknesses, often when contrasting them with machines.

We feel so weary after a long flight as we are flesh and blood.

10. Own flesh and blood

A member of your family.
Sometimes people find it so hard to get along with their own flesh and blood.

11. Blood and thunder

A blood and thunder performer is very loud and emotional.
The blood and thunder preacher captivated everyone’s attention.

12. Blood-curdling

A blood-curdling cry is a terrifying one.
The blood-curdling howls of his dog woke up the whole neighbourhood.


copy&paste from here

Count On

Do you get the joke? he...hee....

What Is Penaung In English?

Someone asked me to translate the Malay word "Penaung" into English...

Hmmm... What could be the English word for Penaung?

I anticipate this kind of question will pop up again due to the recent instructions from the 'above' prompting all working papers for students activities to be done in English.



... Penaung in English is PATRON

I Want To STORY You

My dear students...

I beg you to never ever say...

I want to STORY you...

please say...

I want to tell you or I want to inform you......

English Fast & Easy: In An Houar

Therefore it is wrong to say I'll be back in an hour later or I'll be back after one hour.

It's On The Tip Of My Tongue

No....! I am not making an entry about my tongue... hahaaa...

It's on the tip of my tongue is an idiom.

Idioms?

An idiom is a phrase whose meaning cannot be made sense of from the literal definition, but refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known only through common use.


A Picture Paints a Thousand Words: A visual presentation is far more descriptive than words.

A Piece of Cake: A task that can be accomplished very easily

Drive someone up the wall: To irritate and/or annoy very much.

Good Samaritan: Someone who helps others when they are in need, with no discussion for compensation, and no thought of a reward.


What's her name again? It's on the tip of my tongue.

If you are trying to remember something and cannot quite remember it, it is "on the tip of your tongue".

for more examples, pls visit this site:
http://www.idiomsite.com/

Phrasal Verb

Most of the time, I found my students having difficulties understanding a text due to the phrasal verbs used in the text.

So... hope this will help...

What is phrasal verb?

It's a verb + a particle (preposition or adverb) that changes the meaning to make a new verb.

defination from: phrasal verb demon

Here is a list of common phrasal verb;

Calm down.- Relax: Don't get so angry! Just calm down.

Carry out.- Do a task: According to a survey carried out in 1999 one in five Britons are now opting for alternative medicine.

Catch up.- Reach somebody or reach certain level: She tried to catch up with the other competitors, but they were just too fast.

Check in.- Report that you have arrived at a hotel or airport: We checked into the hotel a little after midnight.

Now you get the idea?

Here is more...

Give away.- Give something for free: I had a lot of books I didn't want to keep so I gave them away to a friend.

Look after.- Take care: She's looking after the child.

Give up.- Stop trying to do something or stop using something: Eating healthfully does not mean you have to give up everything that you enjoy

You might think that a dictionary would solve this problem, well.. not actually.. Only a few dictionaries would give you meanings for phrasal verb... so... you might opt for this

An example of phrasal verb in a dialogue...

The old doctor

An old doctor in a small town finally took a vacation. He asked his daughter, who had just graduated from medical school, to sit in for him.
When he returned home from his vacation, he asked her if anything unusual had happened.
“I cured Mrs Nathan’s chronic indigestion,” she boasted.
He blew up. “My dear, that indigestion put you through secondary school and university!”

Sit in for: To temporarily perform the duties of.

Blow up: To lose one’s temper.

Put someone through: To pay for one’s child to attend school, college or university

p/s: Did you get the joke??? :)

That's all for now...

More of phrasal verb n its meaning... from time to time...

English Is Fun!

I need something to spice up my class, especially for ELP 1000 class... I did a little googling and here is what I found...

Hmmm... the cover looks promising... will try to get hold of this book...





Last week on Friday I brought Boggle game to class (errkkk.. yes Dayah... we still owe u the prize..huhu), I thought that would cheer them up... but nope! I can see only few of them got pretty excited with them game, but the rest? Huarrrgghhh....

What else should I do to prove to them that learning English is in deed fun....

p/s:
Music... check... done that
Role-play... check, check
Games... yes .. check!

It's a-so-ci-a-tion NOT as-so-ci-a-tion

MANY of us do not realise that some words should not be pronounced as they are spelt.
George Bernard Shaw had wanted to revamp the English alphabet, but his project failed.

May I share with you the following:

1) “as” is not always pronounced as “ass” but as ”a”
association: a-so-ci-a-tion (not as-so-ci-a-tion, i.e. without the “ass” sound)
astonish: a-ston-ish (not ass-ton-ish)
Other words of similar bent - assign, assistant, assume, assess, assertive.
Asset, however, is pronounced ass-set.

2) “em” is not always pronounced as “am” but as “im”
embargo: im-bar-go (not am-bar-go)
empower: im-pow-er (not am-pow-er)
Other words - embarrass, embrace, employment, emporium.
Embassy, however, is am-bas-sy

3) “en” is not always pronounced as ”an”
encourage: in-cou-rage (not an-cou-rage)
engage: in-gage (not an-gage)
Other words - encyclopaedia, enforce, entitle, environment.
Entity, however, is an-ti-ty and entertain is an-ter-tain.
Entrepreneur is on-tre-pre-neur.

4) “es” is not always pronounced as “as” but as ”is”
especially: is-pe-cial-ly (not as-pe-cial-ly)
establish: is-ta-blish (not as-sta-blish)
Other words - estate, escape.

Escort, however, is as-cort, essence is as-sence, and espresso is as-pres-so.
If you beg to differ, I stand corrected. Please refer to the dictionary for more examples.



this is taken from here

English Grammar Made Easy: How To Use Who and Whom

http://www.public.asu.edu/~gelderen/314text/images/whom.gif

the following explanation is taken from here

The Rule.
Use the he/him method to decide which word is correct. he = who, him = whom

Examples:
Who/Whom wrote the letter?

He wrote the letter. Therefore, who is correct.

For who/whom should I vote?Should I vote for him? Therefore, whom is correct.

We all know who/whom pulled that prank.

This sentence contains two clauses: We all know and who/whom pulled that prank.

We are interested in the second clause because it contains the who/whom. He pulled that prank. Therefore, who is correct.

(Are you starting to sound like a hooting owl yet?) hahahaaa....

We want to know on who/whom the prank was pulled.

This sentence contains two clauses: We want to know and the prank was pulled on who/whom. Again, we are interested in the second clause because it contains the who/whom. The prank was pulled on him.

Therefore, whom is correct.

English Grammar Made Easy: Did and Bought

What did I bought?

That is wrong my dear...

You should have said...

What did I buy?






came across this in one of the blogs I've read.... let's improve our English together ok.... :)


.

English 101 : Which and What

Found yourself confused when to use which and what??



Maybe this might help you...

We ask which? when there is a limited choice.

For example

Which size do you want? Small, Medium or Large?

We ask what? when there is a wide choice.

For example

What is your shoe size?

English 101 : Is This Correct?

Can we say our foods ?

What About opening times?

English 101 : How English Works

Looking for good English Grammar reference book? Let me suggest you to buy this book. Written by Michael Swan and Catherine Walter, published by Oxford University Press. The price? Well... I bought this book way back in 2003, maybe it was about RM50.

English 101: How Do You Pronounce OFTEN, PLUMBER & DEBT ??

In English Language some letters in certain words are not pronounced. It means they are silent.

For Example:

Often = Ofen
Plumber = Plumer
Debt = Det


For more of these...click here