The perils of present participles: Part II

Last week's posting defined the present participle, discussed the present participle's function in a sentence, and pointed out one common mistake in usage - placing present participle or participial phrase so that it modifies the wrong word in the sentence. The other common mistake in the use of participial phrases involves time order.


When a present participial phrase is used in a sentence, the writer indicates that the action in the participial phrase is occurring at the same time as the action in the main clause of the sentence. A writer must understand this time implication in order to use present participial phrases correctly.

Incorrect:


Walking into the room, he helped himself to a large plate of food from the buffet. [He has to walk into the room before he can help himself to a plate of food.]

Zipping herself into her sleeping bag, she snored all night long. [She has to zip herself in before she falls asleep and snores.]

Correct:

Smiling broadly, Georgia shook hands with the President. [The smiling and shaking hands are occurring at the same time.]

Shouting at the top of his lungs, Ralph raced after the pickpocket. [Although Ralph could shout before he races after the pickpocket, the use of the present participial phrase informs the reader that he is shouting while he is racing after the pickpocket.]


In Brief: Do not use a present participial phrase unless the action in the phrase is happening at the same time as the action in the main clause.


 

The perils of present participles: Part I

The present participle of a verb is formed by adding -ing to the present form of the verb. Present participles can be used as adjectives to modify or describe persons, places, or things.

The crying baby annoyed all the other passengers on the plane. [The present participle crying modifies or describes the noun baby.]

Present participles can also be used to begin participial phrases, which consist of the participle and its object and/or modifiers. Like participles, participial phrases function as adjectives to modify nouns or pronouns.


Staring into the bathroom mirror, Janelle touched up her eye makeup. [The participial phrase "staring into the bathroom mirror" modifies the noun Janelle.]

The old man and woman, remembering their wedding day, smiled at each other. [The participial phrase "remembering their wedding day" modifies the nouns man and woman.]

Mrs. LaRue was horrified to see the children darting heedlessly into the busy street. [The participial phrase "darting heedlessly into the busy street" modifies the noun children.]



Note:

• When a participial phrase begins the sentence, it modifies the subject.
  
• A participial phrase in the middle of the sentence is set off by comas and follows the noun or pronoun it modifies.
• A participial phrase at the end of the sentence modifies the noun or pronoun it follows.
  

Writing instructors stress the importance of varying the types of sentences used within a paragraph. This is important in non-fiction as well as in fiction. Beginning a sentence with a participial phrase can be an effective way of doing that, as long as it is done infrequently and as long as the present participial phrase is used correctly.

Using present participial phrases correctly can be tricky, so beginning writers are often advised to avoid using them at all.


One common error occurs when the participial phrase is placed so that it modifies the wrong noun.


Incorrect:

Having been thoroughly instructed in the safety procedures, Mr. Williams let us begin the science experiment. [This sentence is incorrect because Mr. Williams (the subject) is the one who did the instructing, not the one who received the instruction.]


Possible corrections:

Keeping the participial phrase unchanged: Having been thoroughly instructed in the safety procedures, we were allowed to begin the science experiment.

Changing the sentence to eliminate the participial phrase: After he had thoroughly instructed us in the safety procedures, Mr. Williams let us begin the science experiment.

 


In Brief: A participial phrase that begins a sentence must modify the subject of the sentence. Participial phrases used elsewhere in the sentence must modify the nouns or pronouns that precede them.

Regarding relatives: using relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are used to introduce relative clauses. Relative clauses function as adjectives in sentences, which means that they describe or give more information about a noun or pronoun. Unlike adjectives, however, relative clauses follow the noun or pronoun they modify.

There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and that. The first two, who and whom, are used to refer to people or animals. The last two, which and that, are used to refer to places or things. Neither should be used to refer to people. Whose, the only possessive form, may be used to refer to either.

There are two types of relative clauses: restrictive and non-restrictive.

• A relative clause is restrictive when it is necessary to identify the noun or pronoun it modifies. No commas are needed before or after a restrictive clause.

The boy who led the team onto the field is my son. [The clause 'who led the team onto the field' is necessary to identify the particular boy to whom the clause refers.]

• A relative clause is non-restrictive when the information in the clause provides extra information but is not necessary to identify the person, place, or thing it modifies. Commas are needed before and after a non-restrictive clause.

John, who led the team onto the field, is my son. [The boy is already identified by name, so the information in the clause is not necessary to identify him and is thus non-restrictive.]

Note that whether commas are used or not can actually indicate a difference in meaning of the same sentence.

The principal who sat at the head of the table proposed a toast. [Lack of commas implies that there are a number of principals sitting at the table; the clause identifies one in particular.]

The principal, who sat at the head of the table, proposed a toast. [The use of commas implies that only one principal is sitting at the table; therefore, mentioning his position at the table is not necessary to identify her or him.]

It is not vital to remember the names of the two types of relative clauses. What is important is knowing that commas are needed if the information in the clause is not necessary to identify the particular person, place, or thing the clause modifies.

In Brief: Use the relative pronouns who and whom to refer to people. Use commas before and after non-restrictive relative clauses.

Hyphen or dash - what's the difference?

A hyphen and a dash are both relatively short horizontal lines. For that reason, writers can be unsure about the difference between the two and confused about whether to use a hyphen or a dash in a particular situation.

• A hyphen is used to join two words to form a compound word.

Our daughter and son-in-law live in North Carolina.

Note: You may see compound words, such as African American, written both with and without hyphens. Such compound words are not hyphenated when used as compound nouns but are hyphenated when used as compound adjectives.

• A hyphen is used in writing compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.

Helena celebrated her twenty-first birthday by taking a Caribbean cruise.

• A hyphen is used in writing a fraction which is used as an adjective.
  

A change in the by-laws requires a two-thirds majority vote of the membership.

• In handwritten material, a hyphen may be used at the end of a line when the entire word cannot fit on the line. The hyphen is placed at the end of a syllable where the word is divided to indicate that the syllable(s) at the beginning of the next line are part of that word. (This also applied to typewritten material, but with computer word processing programs, writers using computers no longer hyphenate words at the ends of lines.)

Note: No spaces are used before or after a hyphen.

A dash is a longer version of a hyphen. A dash is created by typing a space, two hyphens, and another space. Many word-processing programs automatically combine the two hyphens into a dash. Others (like this one) do not.

• A dash can be used in place of a colon to introduce a list.

The student art show included a wide variety of art forms -- paintings, lithographs, collages, mobiles, and sculptures.

• A dash can be used to indicate a sudden break in thought or an interruption in dialogue.

I think I'd better -- on second thought, maybe not!

"Well," said Darla, "if you would just let me -- "
"No way!" cried her brother.

• A dash or pair of dashes may be used to set off parenthetical information in a sentence. In this case, dashes create a greater break than commas, though not as great as parentheses.

The china horse -- the one Jenny had given me for my birthday -- fell off the shelf during the earthquake.

In brief: Hyphens (no spaces between hyphens and words) are used to join words. Dashes (spaces between dashes and words) are used in various ways that separate parts of sentences (as explained above).

The changing language

The English language is constantly changing. New words are added from other languages. Inventions and improvements in technology spawn new terminology. New meanings or usages also arise for existing words. Some words and idioms fall into disuse; others become more widely acceptable. That's why Shakespeare's English is not quite like modern English.

It's important for a writer to remember that grammar rules also change over time. Grammar is not a list of immutable rules that must be adhered to but rather a guideline that reflects current usage of the language. Knowing the rules of proper usage is important. Although a writer may sometimes choose to use an incorrect form, the writer needs to have a justifiable reason for doing so.

Changes in the usage of existing words may not be as rapid or as common now as they were before literacy became widespread, but such change nevertheless continues. When a writer crafts a story or novel that is set in a previous decade or century, the language - especially the dialogue - should reflect the usage of that time period.

Thirty years ago, grammar rules required that the future tense of the personal pronouns I and we use the auxiliary verb shall and all other nouns and pronouns use the helping verb will.

Formerly correct: I shall finish that tomorrow.

Now, however, will is used in all cases to show the future tense. The language has changed.

One change currently taking place in the language is the use of the preposition down when referring to travel to the shore instead of using the prepositions to or at.

We're going down the shore for the weekend.

Twenty years ago, no educated person would have talked of 'going down the shore.' I still cringe when I hear this usage of down, but it has become so widely used in conversation and in the media (at least on the East Coast) that it is becoming a new standard usage.

In Brief: Language usage has changed over time. Make sure the language used in your story reflects its time period.

All about apostrophes

Apostrophes have three functions in a sentence:

• to form possessives of nouns
  

[see blog entry "Possessive nouns, or who owns what," July 22, 2009]

• to show where one or more letters or numerals have been left out

The most common use of the apostrophe to show omitted letters is in the contraction, when two words are combined and the second word loses one or more letters. Contractions are common in everyday speech and have become common in writing as well. Contractions are used frequently in less formal writing and less formal or not at all in formal writing.

can't [joining the words can and not, leaving out the letters n and o]
I've [joining the words I and have, leaving out the letters h and v]
didn't [joining the words did and not, leaving out the letter o]

The apostrophe is also used to show the omission of one or more letters at the beginning of a word or at the beginning of a combination of two words.

'twas [the letter i left out of the combination of the words it and was]
'cause [the letters b and e left out of the beginning of the word because]

The apostrophe is also used to show the omission of numerals, most often when referring to years.

the class of '09 [the numerals 2 and 0 are left out of the year 2009]

• to form the plural of a numeral, sign, letter of the alphabet, or word referred to as a word.

How many 0's are there in a million?
Indicate the most important points by marking them with *'s.
There are only two l's in the word follow.
You have too many too's in this paragraph.

In Brief: Use apostrophes to form noun possessives, to indicate where one or more letters or numerals have been left out, and to form plurals of numerals, signs, letters, and words referred to as words.

Perplexing pair - passed and past

Although people often go to the internet for directions to unfamiliar locations, occasionally we still receive written directions from other people or are asked to write them ourselves. Several times in the last few weeks I've read driving directions that contained errors in usage of that perplexing pair - passed and past.

The confusion is easy to understand. While both words have numerous meanings and can be used as more than one part of speech, they have similar meanings when used in directions. The difference is reflected in the part of speech. Passed is used as the verb in directions, while past is used as a preposition, usually after a verb.

• Passed is used to express the action in a sentence.

Lucinda passed the doughnut shop and gas station before turning right onto Main Street.

[Passing is the action in the sentence. Doughnut shop and gas station are the objects of the verb.]

• Past is a preposition indicating a spatial relationship - one thing beyond another in space/location.

Lucinda drove past the doughnut shop and gas station before turning right onto Main Street.

[Driving is the action in the sentence. Past is used to indicate a spatial relationship - where Lucinda is driving. In this sentence, doughnut shop and gas station are objects of the preposition, not the verb.]

Note that the prepositional phrase follows the verb. When deciding whether to use passed or past, the writer must determine whether the word needed will express the action in the sentence or the location of the action.

In Brief: Use the verb passed to express the action in a sentence; use the preposition past to indicate the location or direction of the action.

Those pesky pronouns - possessives

For a relatively small group among the parts of speech in English, pronouns cause a great deal of difficulty for writers. The nouns which pronouns replace comprise a a large and ever-growing group. The number of pronouns, on the other hand, is small and static.

While forming noun possessives [discussed in last week's entry] may cause writers some problems, errors involving pronoun possessives are more frequent. The source of the confusion is the difference in how nouns and pronouns form possessives. Nouns use an apostrophe to form possessives, but apostrophes are mostly used with pronouns when forming contractions [an exception occurs in indefinite pronouns, such as anyone, everybody, something].

• With the exception of indefinite pronouns, pronouns do not use an apostrophe to form the possessive.
  

Unlike nouns in English, pronouns have specific forms to indicate their usage in a sentence, and that includes the possessive. Personal pronouns, interrogative pronouns [who, whom, whose, which, what], and relative pronouns [who, whom, whose, which, that] have one form when used as a subject in a sentence, another form when used as an object, and a special form for the possessive.

• Possessive pronouns include:
  

Singular: my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, whose

Plural: our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs, whose

Among these, the ones which cause the most confusion are its and whose. The writer using these pronouns needs to stop and think what the words means in the sentence.

its means "belonging to it"
it's is the contraction which means "it is"
whose means "belonging to whom"
who's is the contraction meaning "who is"

In Brief: Never use an apostrophe to indicate the possessive form of personal, reflexive, or relative pronouns.

Possessive nouns, or who owns what

To make a noun show possession, an apostrophe is needed. There are two general rules that cover most situations. These rarely present difficulties for writers. Problems sometimes arise with the exceptions to those rules.

• To form the possessive of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and an s.

After a semester at college, Tom had a greater appreciation for his mother's cooking.

The exception to this rule occurs when the singular noun ends with an s or z. You may have noted that sometimes an apostrophe and an s are used after a singular noun ending with s or z and sometimes only an apostrophe is used. So how do you know which is correct? Pronounce the word aloud. If you add a syllable when you say the word in the possessive, then it is correct to use an apostrophe and an s. Otherwise, only use an apostrophe.

One of the the lioness's cubs wandered away from the pride.

Achilles' heel was the only place he could be wounded.

• To form the possessive of a plural noun that ends with an s, add only an apostrophe after the s. To form the possessive of a plural noun that does not end in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
  

The Stevensons' car is two years older than ours. [The car belongs to more than one person.]

The employees' uniforms were ruined in the flood. [The uniforms of all the employees, not just one.]

The children's toys were scattered across the carpet.


Note that the placement of the apostrophe can change the meaning in the sentence:

The nurse's schedule is on the bulletin board. [There is one nurse.]

The nurses' schedule is on the bulletin board. [There is more than one nurse.]


Those are the basic rules. There are additional rules for special cases. The first one may seem obvious, but the other two often cause problems for writers.

• To form the possessive of a compound noun (one comprised of more than one word, with or without hyphens), add an apostrophe and s or an apostrophe at the end of the compound.

Jarred is painting his mother-in-law's house.

Memorial Day's weather was unseasonably cool.

• To form the possessive when two or more nouns own the same item(s), use an apostrophe and an s or an apostrophe after the last noun only.

Sally and Francie's presentation impressed the Mrs. Porter. [The two prepared a single, group presentation.]

Matt and Andy's mom teaches computer science. [Both have the same mom; they are brothers.]

• To form the possessive when two or more nouns individually own the same type of item, use an apostrophe and an s or an apostrophe after each noun.

Sally's and Francie's history reports were two days late. [Each girl wrote her own separate report; both reports were two days late.]

Matt's and Andy's moms baked cupcakes for the bake sale. [Both Matt's mom and Andy's mom - they are not brothers - baked cupcakes.]

In Brief: There are no shortcuts. Learn the rules so that misplaced apostrophes don't cause confusion for your readers.

One last note about using than

This is a brief and straightforward rule. In sentences where the writer is expressing how something is unlike something else using the word different, the word than is sometimes incorrectly used after the word different. The correct word to use in such a case is from.

• Use from after the word different instead of the word than.

The leaves on this tomato plant look different from the leaves on the others.

The path he chose was different from the one I chose.

In Brief: Use different from, not different than.

More about than

Last week's post explained that than, not then, should be used when making a comparison. The word than also causes confusion when a pronoun is used after it in the comparison. Writers tend to use the incorrect form of the pronoun because they treat than as if it were a preposition (which it isn't) and use the objective form of the pronoun.

Does that sound confusing? If you're not an English major, it might. You really don't have to memorize the cases of pronouns or remember the reason for using a particular case. You just need to remember the trick.

The problem arises because we leave out words when using a pronoun after than. The trick is to mentally insert them.

• Find the correct pronoun to use after than by mentally supplying the missing words.

The following example shows how we are tempted to express the camparison incorrectly:

Keith can type a lot faster than her. {incorrect!}

This may sound all right, but it's not. If you add the 'understood' words that have been left out, you will see why:

Keith can type a lot faster than she [can].

It may sound strange, but she is the correct form of the pronoun. When you supply the missing thought, her does not make sense.

Generally, the subjective form of the pronoun is the correct one since the objective form does not make sense. However, some sentences make sense with either form, but the form you use changes the meaning of the sentence.

I have know Jerry longer than he [has known Jerry].

I have known Jerry longer than [I have known] him.

In Brief: To use the correct pronoun after than, mentally supply the missing words.

Using than and then

I've read a lot of high school English papers and manuscripts for other writers. Two words that frequently cause confusion are the words than and then. Rarely do writers use than when they should use then; it's usually the other way around. Here are some tips to clear up the confusion.

• Use than in comparisons.

Use than to compare two people, places, things, actions, groups, activities, preferences, etc. The use of a comparative form - using an -er ending or the word more - often indicates the comparison. For instance, one thing may be bigger, shorter, faster, redder, or easier than something else. Or one thing may be more effective, more difficult, more inclined, more beautiful, or more current than something else.

She was much more interested in tasting the cranberry-apple pie than in making it.

I would rather suffer with New Jersey's allergies than live in Florida's heat.

The word then is never used to compare two things.

• The word then generally has some meaning relating to time. It can mean next in time or next in order, at that time or at another time, or can refer to something that happened in the past. Sometimes it can be used to mean therefore.

First, you double-check your measurements; then, you cut out the pieces.

Calculators didn't exist when I started teaching; I made the calculations by hand then.


In Brief: Use than, not then, in comparisons.