Editing for Grammar and Punctuation Module Fourteen McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2014 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Creating a Professional Image Many business leaders see good grammar and mechanics as essential to creating effective messages—and to demonstrating quality. A sentence fragment is a group of words punctuated like a sentence but lacking necessary parts. Often, the subject or verb is missing in a fragment. Independent clauses are complete statements. Even when they are part of larger sentences, they could be sentences by themselves. While dependent clauses may have a subject and a verb, they lack the necessary parts to stand on their own. Therefore, they must be in a larger sentence. A period tells readers we’re stopping, a semicolon that what comes next is closely related to what came before, a colon that what comes next is an example of what came before, a dash that what comes next is a dramatic example of what came before, and a comma that what comes next is a slight turn, but we’re still going in the same basic direction.

The Case of the Personal Pronoun Figure 14.1 identifies the case of each personal pronoun.

What grammatical errors do I need to be able to fix? Modifiers are words or phrases that give more information about the subject, verb, or object in a clause. A modifier dangles when the word it modifies is not actually in the sentence. Modifiers are words or phrases that give more information about the subject, verb, or object in a clause. A modifier dangles when the word it modifies is not actually in the sentence. The solution is to reword the modifier so that it is grammatically correct.

How can I fix sentence errors? Main clause a complete statement Subordinate or dependent clause contains both a subject and verb but is not a complete statement and cannot stand by itself A sentence contains at least one main clause. A main clause is a complete statement. A subordinate or dependent clause contains both a subject and verb but is not a complete statement and cannot stand by itself. A phrase is a group of words that does not contain both a subject and a verb.

What Punctuation Tells the Reader Punctuation marks are road signs to help readers predict what comes next (see Figure 14.2 ).

What do I use when I quote sources? Use quotation marks around: the names of brochures, pamphlets, and magazine articles words to indicate that you think the term is misleading words that you are discussing as words words or sentences that you quote from someone else Use quotation marks around: the names of brochures, pamphlets, and magazine articles words to indicate that you think the term is misleading words that you are discussing as words words or sentences that you quote from someone else

How should I write numbers and dates? Spell out numbers from one to nine. Always use figures for amounts of money In dates, use numbers for the day and year. In general, spell out numbers under 10 unless a sentence starts with a number. In dates, use numbers for the day and year. Always use figures for money.

Proofreading Symbols Use the proofreading symbols in Figure 14.3 to make corrections when you no longer have access to a computer.

Marked Text Figure 14.4 shows how the symbols can be used to correct a typed text.