Term
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Definition
| Form the possessive singular of nouns with 's. Exception include ancient names (e.g. Jesus') and such forms as "for conscience' sake" or "for goodness' sake". |
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Term
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Definition
| In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except for the last. Business name omit the comma after the second to last item (e.g. Sawyer, Smith and Company). The abbreviation "etc.," is always preceded by a comma. |
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Term
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Definition
| Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. One could safely omit a comma when placing a parenthetic expression so long as it doesn't disrupt too much the flow of the statement. Non-restrictive clauses are always surrounded by commas, restrictive clauses however are never to be surrounded by commas. |
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Term
| Restrictive vs Non-restrictive clauses |
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Definition
| Restrictive clauses cannot stand alone and are vital to our understanding of noun they modify. For example, "only the automobiles which have no defects will be shipped to our customers." Non-restrictive clauses on the other hand merely give further definition to their noun and thus are parenthetical in nature; for this reason, they are to be surrounded by commas. |
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Term
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Definition
| Place a comma before "and" or "but" introducing an independent clause. However "and" is the weakest of sentence connectors and should be used sparingly. |
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