AOP - Writing Conventions - Phrases, Clauses, and Mechanics Lesson

When writing essays, remember that writers should not forget about conventions in their essays. Conventions are proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage. In order for an essay to establish credibility, writers must use proper conventions. The four conventional elements in this module are clauses, phrases, colons, capitalization, and parallel structure.

Phrases

A phrase is a group of related words that does not include a subject and verb. There are many different types of phrases including: noun, verb, adjectival, adverbial, participial, prepositional, and absolute. In writing, you should practice including various phrases. Remember that modifiers are optional elements in phrases and clauses, such as other words and phrases or clauses. The following in bold shows the different types of phrases:

Noun Phrase: composed of a noun and other modifiers

Ex: She was hit with a baseball.

Verb Phrase: composed of one or more helping verbs and a main verb

Ex: He would have helped her with her homework.

Adjectival Phrase: composed of an adjective and other modifiers—in an adjectival phrase, the main word is an adjective, and the phrase can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of the phrase.

Ex: The woman angry over the uncooked steak threw her plate on the floor.

Adverbial Phrase: a group of two or more words acting as an adverb

Ex: She is waiting around the corner.

Participial Phrase: composed of participles, compliments, and modifiers—participial phrases act as adjectives

Ex: The blender, having been used daily, was becoming dull.

Prepositional Phrase: composed of a preposition, a noun or pronoun that serves as the object of the preposition, and sometimes an adjectives that modifies the object

Ex: The rabbit hopped over the tree.

Absolute Phrase: composed of a noun or pronoun and a participle, along with other modifiers—absolute phrases modify entire sentences by adding information

Ex: She looked at her family, their faces smiling happily.

Knowing the fundamentals of grammatical conventions is very important. In writing, incorrect phrase placement can change the meaning of a sentence.

Phrases Interactivity

Use your knowledge to practice identifying types of phrases.

Clauses

Independent Clause: A clause that contains a subject and verb and expresses a complete thought—a complete sentence.

Ex: She runs to the store and trips.

Dependent Clause: A clause that contains a subject and verb but does not express a complete thought—cannot stand alone as a complete sentence.

Ex: She likes to sing wherever she goes.

Noun Clause: A clause that plays the role of a noun.

Ex: They want to know what he does for a living.

  (the group of words that describes a person, place, or thing as a whole) 

Relative Clause: A clause that functions as an adjective by giving more information about the noun. Relative clauses always begin with a relative pronoun—who, whom, whose, that, which).

Ex: The boy who wore the ripped pants found five dollars.

Adverbial Clause: A clause that plays the role of an adverb. Adverbial clauses typically begin with a subordinate conjunction.

Ex: She traded seats with Mike in order to sit by her sister.

Clauses Interactivity

Practice identifying types of clauses below.

Semicolons, Colons, and Capitalization

Semicolons: Links two independent clauses with related ideas

Ex: Some people like to drink orange juice; other people like to drink apple juice.

Colons: Colons are used to further explain or introduce a list or further explain two sentences

Ex. The workout consisted of the following: sprints, weights, and biking.

Ex. The new car reminded her of her first car: both were red with leather interior.

Capitalization: Writing a word with its first letter as an uppercase letter and the remaining letters in lowercase

Capitalize the first word of a sentence

Ex: She walked to the store.

Capitalize proper nouns

Ex: The dog ran to Sally and Ben.

Capitalize titles in certain capacities

Ex: Yesterday, Mother gave me a pie but gave cake to her father.

*Mother is used as a proper noun, but father is not

Ex: In November, Governor Brown won the election, and Charlie Davis the governor of Florida did not.

*Governor Brown is a title as a proper noun, but governor of Florida is describing Charlie Davis and is not a proper noun

Capitalize the main words in titles of books, articles, and magazines. Do not capitalize short prepositions, articles, or conjunctions unless they are the first word of the title.

Ex: I read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn last year.                  

Capitalize names of God, specific deities, and religious texts

Ex: I am going to read the Bible tonight.

Ex: Allah and the Virgin Mary are religious figures.

Capitalize directions that are names when used as sections of the country.

Ex. She moved to the North because the South was too hot.

Ex. He lives three miles south of the county line. (Not Capitalized)

Capitalize seasons when used in a title

Ex: They were married in Spring 2009.

Capitalize countries, nationalities, and specific languages

Ex: She speaks French fluently.

Capitalize periods and events

Ex: The Age of Reason was a very important time period.

Capitalize names of national, political, racial, social, or sports groups

Ex: We went to see the Atlanta Braves play on Saturday.

Ex: The House of Representatives will be meeting tomorrow.

Capitalize trademarks

Ex: I am craving a Pepsi.

Ex: I want an Apple computer.

Capitalize the first word only in salutations and closings in letters unless a proper noun is used

Ex:Yours truly,

Ex: My dear friend,

Capitalization, Semicolons and Colons Interactivity

Use your knowledge to practice mechanics.

RESOURCES IN THIS MODULE ARE OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES (OER) OR CREATED BY GAVS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. SOME IMAGES USED UNDER SUBSCRIPTION.