conjunctions
the seven conjunctions can used to connect two independent clauses:
For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So
comma only cant connect two sentences; but can connect two independent clauses using a semicolon(;)
semicolon is often followed by a transition expression, (however, therefore, in addition), but these expression are not conjunctions, so must use semicolons, not commas to join.
noun modifiers
in the format: prepositon, part participle, presetn participle without commas. put the noun and its modifier as close together as possible
“ comma which” is a nonessential modifier
relative pronouns
which, cant modify people,
who/ whom, must modify people
whose, can modify either people or things
where, can modify a noun place, can’t modify a metaphorical place, such as situation, case …
when, can modify a noun event or time
Noun Modifier markers
any -ing that are not verbs and not separated from the rest of the sentence by comma will either be a noun, or a modifier of another noun.
any “comma -ing” is adverbial modifiers
adverbial modifier
in the format of: prepositional phrase, present participle with commas , past participle with commas
the adverbial modifier must modify a certain verb or clause at a right position, not structurally closer to another verb or clause
participle modifiers
when using particples, the information present earlier in the sentence leads to or results in the information presented later in the sentence .
subordinators
subordernate clause provides additional info about the main clause. common subordinatetor markers:
although, before, unless, because, that, so that,
if, yet, after, while, since, when.
and using only one connected word per “connection” . .
which vs -ing
whenever using which, must refer to a noun, can’t modify a whole clause.
so if need to modify the whole clause, use an adverbial modifier(either -ing, or past)
quantity
countable modifiers:
many, few, fewer, fewest, number of , numerous
uncountable modifiers:
much, little, less, least, amount of , great
more, enough, all works with both countable and uncountable.
parallelism
comparable sentence parts must be structurally and logically similar
comparison
comparison are a subset of parallelism, which requires parallelism between two elements, but also require the two compared items are fundamentally the same type of thing
like, unlike, as, than, as adj as,
different from, in contrast to/with
like vs as
like is used to compare nouns, pronouns or noun phrase, never put a clause or prepositional phrase after like.
as can used to compare two clauses.