Nursing Preparation Study Guide

Nursing Preparation Study Guide of 173 Semicolons can also be used in lists if one or more element in the list is itself made up of a smaller list. If you want to write a list of things you plan to bring to a picnic, and those things only include a Frisbee, a chair and some pasta salad, you would not need to use a semicolon. However, if you also wanted to bring plastic knives, forks and spoons, you would need to write your sentence like this: “For our picnic I am bringing a Frisbee; a chair; plastic knives, forks and spoons; and some pasta salad.” This example of semicolon use preserves the smaller list that you have in your larger list. Comma Commas are probably the most commonly used punctuation mark in English. Commas can break the flow of writing to give it a more natural sounding style, and they are the main punctuation mark used to separate ideas. Commas also separate lists, introductory adverbs, introductory prepositional phrases, dates and addresses. The most rigid way that commas are used is when separating clauses. There are two primary types of clauses in a sentence, independent and subordinate (sometimes called dependent). Independent clauses are clauses that express a complete thought, such as, “Tim went to the store.” Subordinate clauses, on the other hand, only express partial thoughts which expand on an independent clause, such as, “after the game ended,” which you can see is clearly not a complete sentence. (You will learn more about clauses in different lessons.) The rule for commas with clauses is that a comma must separate the clauses when a subordinate clause comes first in a sentence: “After the game ended, Tim went to the store.” But there should not be a comma when a subordinate clause follows an independent clause: “Tim went to the store after the game ended.” If you leave the comma out of the first example, you have a run-on sentence. If you add one into the second example, you have a com-ma-splice error. Also, when you have two independent clauses joined with a coordinating conjunction, you need to separate them with a comma. “Tim went to the store, and Beth went home.” There are some artistic exceptions to these rules, such as adding a pause for literary effect, but for the most part, they are set in stone. Commas are also used to separate items in a list. This area of English is unfortunately less clear than it should be, with two separate rules depending on what standard you are following. To understand the two different rules, let’s pretend you are having a party at your house, and you are making a list of refreshments your friends will want. You may decide to serve three things: 1) pizza 2) chips 3) drinks. There are two different rules governing how you should punctuate this. According to many grammar books, you would write this as, “At the store I will buy pizza, chips, and drinks.” This variation puts a comma after each item in the list. It is the version that the style books used in most college English and history courses will prefer, so it is probably the one you should follow. However, the Associated Press style guide, used in college journalism classes and at newspapers andmagazines, says the sentence should be written like this: “At the store I will buy pizza, chips and drinks.” Here you only use a comma between the first two words, letting the word “and” act as the separator between the last two. ©2018 Achieve Test Prep Page 33