1. Non-essential Elements Mom, guess what?! What, dear? I know how to use and correctly punctuate non- essential elements! Oh baby, I’m so proud of you!

2. What the @%#^ is a non-essential element? A word, phrase, or clause that adds information to a sentence, but is not important to understanding the main thought. Cannot act alone Often needs to latch onto the main clause with a comma

3. Names Mr. Salyer, why does your car smell like cat poop? Why does your car smell like cat poop, Mr. Salyer?

4. Transitions For example, Additionally, Furthermore, Secondly, However, Therefore, Next, Lastly, Consequently,

5. Participial phrases A phrase that includes a verbal and functions as an adjective. The verb ends in ING or ED Some past tense verbs are irregular and don’t end in ED I can’t wait until the weekend.

6. Examples! Heck yeah! Tired from playing Clash of Clans all night, Mr. Salyer took a nap during lunch. Mr. Salyer, tired from playing Clash of Clans all night, took a nap during lunch. Mr. Salyer took a nap during lunch, tired from playing clash of clans all night. However… Maria risked petting the pit bull wagging its tail.

7. Appositive phrase A noun phrase that rename another noun BESIDE IT Dylan, a skilled pokemon trainer, defeated Blastoise with his Charmander. A skilled pokemon trainer, Dylan defeated Blastoise with his Charmander. (WRONG!!!) Dylan defeated Blastoise with his Pikachu, a skilled pokemon trainer. (Right!!!) There is much we can learn from Dylan, a skilled pokemon trainer.

8. Relative clause A dependent clause that begins with a relative pronoun (who, whom, whose, that, which) or relative adverb (when, where, why) and acts as an ADJECTIVE. Similar to an appositive.

9. Examples! Bring’em on! Mr. Salyer, who was a four time All-Ohioan in cross country and track, is now a washed-up, lazy bum who sits on his sorry but all day playing CoC. Mr. Salyer’s E-day assignment, which was a bunch of bull $#!+ because he required two quote options, took me four hours to complete. I can’t stand Mr. Salyer, who is one of those teachers who thinks his class is the only one I’m taking.

10. Prepositional Phrase A phrase that begins with a preposition. Prepositions give information about time, movement, and location. In about an hour, I’m going to rush back to my house to play Mario Kart. I’m going to rush back to my house in about an hour to play Mario Kart.

11. Infinitive Phrase A phrase that begins with the verb “to” and is followed by a verb. To avoid burning another bag of popcorn, Brendan pressed his nose against the microwave door, sniffing suspiciously. Those basketball shoes, to be perfectly honest, do not complement the suit you are planning to wear to the interview. Janice and her friends went to the mall to flirt with the cute guys who congregate at the food court.

12. Your turn! These concepts won’t make sense unless you start incorporating them into your own writing. Quiz…why is there no comma after the word “sense”?

13. Answer Independent clause followed by dependent clause Could reverse it (Dependent COMMA Independent) Unless you start incorporating these concepts into your own writing, these concepts won’t make sense.

14. Write 3 participial sentences – Modified word close to phrase (beginning, middle) – Determine if comma needed at end Write 3 appositive sentences – Make sure word being renamed is close to phrase Write 3 infinitive sentences – Won’t need comma if it comes at end Write 3 relative clause sentences – Who for person and which for object Write 2 prepositional sentences (Beginning and end) – Need comma if comes at beginning