RE Sternglantz

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All errors in sentence grammar occur because writers don't know how to

recognize sentences. It's that simple. Fortunately, recognizing

sentences -- and recognizing when a group of words is not a sentence -- is a skill that can be

learned by learning a few rules. These rules depend on two things:

a) knowing the difference between a phrase and a clause

b) memorizing two short lists of words

Every group of words is either a phrase or a clause (or, of course, some

combination of the two).

A clause is a group of words including a verb and its subject.

A phrase is a group of words that does not include a verb and its subject.

Some clauses are sentences.

NO PHRASES ARE SENTENCES.

phrase is. If it's a phrase, it is not a sentence.

Here are some examples of phrases:

*Stopping by the woods on a snowy evening

*Ran for his life

*Very quietly so as not to disturb the neighbors

That's it for phrases.

BOTH types of clauses include a verb and its subject. But in order for a

group of words to be a sentence, it has to include (minimally) a main

clause. If the group of words does not include a main clause, it is not a

If a group of words does not include a main clause and you set it off as a sentence, you have generated a sentence fragment.

A sentence needs one main clause. In addition to this one main clause, a

sentence may include ANY NUMBER of phrases and/or subordinate clauses.

to it. I know that sounds like a cop-out, but that's the only honest

definition I can give you. Remember: a clause is a group of words

including a verb and its subject; so a main clause is a group of words

including a verb and its subject *without* a word tacked on to the

beginning that would make it conceptually dependent on other information.

Here is an example which will, I hope, clarify this. 'MC' indicates a

main clause; SC indicates a subordinate clause.

a) It rained last Tuesday. (MC)

The first thing you should notice is that *both* 'a' and 'b' are clauses.

They both include a verb ("rained") and its subject ("it"). But 'b' has a

subordinating word tacked on to the front--"because"--so it's a

subordinate clause. It would be impossible for me to give you a list of

all the subordinating conjunctions in English (but here are some common

ones: because, after, before, since, if, while, that [as in 'I think that

I like you.']). What I can do, however, is give you two lists of words

that YOU THINK subordinate but which do not. This is where the

memorization comes in.

Here's the first list. It is a list of words which seem like

subordinating words but which are not. It is a very short list, and it is

incomplete, but I think I'm including the words you (or I) might use.

LIST OF WORDS THAT DO NOT SUBORDINATE

however

therefore

subsequently

So remember: if a clause has 'however' at the front, it is still a main

clause.

You may wonder why you need to know which words *don't* subordinate.

It is very simple. While thirty subordinate clauses strung together

*still* don't make a sentence (I want to free you from the mistaken idea

CLAUSES IN A SENTENCE, YOU'VE EITHER GOT A FUSED SENTENCE OR A RUN-ON

sentence is punctuation--more on that in the third and final installment

of this tutorial.

So, in a group of words set off as a sentence...

*A phrase (or twelve) without a main clause is a sentence

fragment.

*A subordinate clause (or twelve) without a main clause is a

sentence fragment.

*Two or more main clauses are either a fused sentence or a run-on.

Of course, there is a small catch. We are, after all, talking about

English grammar. And this is the second group of words that you have to

memorize.

There are seven little words which *seem* like subordinating words but

which, in fact, DO NOT SUBORDINATE. However, unlike the words I told you

about before, these words not only don't subordinate, but they COORDINATE.

That is, these words can be used to link two main clauses in a single

sentence. You must memorize them. Indeed, in many ways these words are a

writer's best friends because they allow the writer to sort of override

all the rules of sentence grammar. Since these words do not subordinate,

you can attach one to the front of a clause AND YOU'VE STILL GOT A MAIN

CLAUSE--that is, you can set that off as a sentence by itself. And even

though these words don't subordinate, you can use them to link two main

clauses in a single sentence legally.

The best part of this whole deal is that these seven COORDINATING

CONJUNCTIONS are words you were told never to use to start a sentence. As

you can tell by now, I love to puncture grammar myths, and this is one of

in their place you'll be generating fragments and run-ons.

That's the order in which I've got them memorized, by the way.

Here are some legal sentences:

a) L.A. is a great city.

b) Some people complain about the smog, but I think the pollution

is much worse in N.Y.

c) And the cost of living is so much higher in N.Y.

d) However New Yorkers don't have to worry about earthquakes.

e) We just have to deal with rotten weather all year 'round and

sky-high rents, but many people are willing to put up with

that stuff because NY is the city that doesn't sleep.

Here are some fragments, fused sentences, and run-ons:

a) After I stopped at David's house to change the baby's diaper

because stupidly I hadn't taken a spare when I picked him up

that morning. (frag)

b) Shopping is fun however tennis is better. (run-on sentence)

c) I'll wash, you'll dry. (fused sentence)

d) To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, to bear

with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not

go. (frag)

Okay, this is enough to digest in one go. Once you've got this down, it's

all downhill. Next time, I'll give you the rules for commas and

semi-colons which all depend on this material. And then you'll be set.