Grammar Exercise 1-5

Grammar Exercises #1:

Simple sentences have a subject and a verb.

Some simple sentences have two of each.

Rudolph and his friends laughed and played.

Simple sentences don’t have to be boring.

She smiled icily.

Write three simple sentences.

Grammar Exercise #2: Compound Sentences

Write a simple sentence first, and follow it with a conjunction and another simple sentence.

You should put a comma before the conjunction, but you need to have a complete sentence afterwards.

Many other words are conjunctions; however, some require special punctuation rules.

Conjunctions: FANBOYS (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)

Write 3 compound sentences.

Grammar Exercise #3: Semi-colons

Semi-colons link two complete sentences; the subjects of the sentences must be closely related.

I’m not winking; I’m punctuating.

Write 3 sentences that include a semi-colon.

Grammar Exercise #4: Dashes

Dashes – no doubt about it – can be used to add thoughts for emphasis or to show a break in thought.

Dashes can by used like an appositive – a fancy way of saying “renamer.”

If you remove the phrase inside the dashes, you will be left with – oh, what are those things called? – a complete sentence.

Write three sentences that use a correctly punctuated dash.

Grammar Exercise #5: Parentheses

Parentheses (those things you use to make smilies on the computer) are a punctuation mark (like commas, periods, and semi-colons) that can be used for lists – when they break the flow – long winded digressions (like this whole sentence), appositives, and editorial comments (extraordinary, really!).

Write 3 sentences with properly punctuated parentheses.