Sentence A sentence is words expressing a complete thought. It has a subject (in a command, understood to be “you”) and a verb. Both the subject and the verb may be expanded (complete subject, … [Read more...] about Parts of sentences
Non-essential
Em dashes
Dashes (-,–,—) Dashes come in different sizes: hyphen, en dash, and em dash. They each have different functions. Worse yet, the different official writing styles (AP vs. Chicago) have different … [Read more...] about Em dashes
Parentheses and brackets
Parenthetical (non-essential) information If the sentence is clear without the information, parentheses are appropriate (or commas or em dashes). ( )If what is enclosed is a separate, complete … [Read more...] about Parentheses and brackets
Parentheses
Parentheses Parentheses always come in pairs, an opening “(“ and a closing “).” Non-essential information ( ) Information that is not necessary to the sentence may be put in parentheses. It may … [Read more...] about Parentheses
Dashes
Dashes (-, –, —) Dashes come in three sizes: the hyphen (or minus sign), the en dash (the width of a non-proportional “n”), the em dash (the width of a non-proportional “m”). Generally, … [Read more...] about Dashes
Commas
Deep sigh! Commas are confusing, but they do have a reason (actually, several reasons) to exist. Uses for commas Lists Commas replace repeated “and’s” in lists of three or more items or … [Read more...] about Commas
Long Dash vs Commas vs Parentheses
Non-essential information Comma or em dash or parentheses Any of the three (em dash, commas, and parentheses) may be used to add non-essential information, but be consistent in your … [Read more...] about Long Dash vs Commas vs Parentheses
