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    Easy English!
    Easy English!
    Easy English!
    Ebook219 pages1 hour

    Easy English!

    By Alex Shepard

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    About this ebook

    Easy English by Alex Shepard is your key to writing with style and confidence.

    Whether you need a slight refresher on getting your commas and colons right, or a step-by-step guide to help you tackle tricky hyphens in compound adjectives, Easy English has got you covered.

    Written as a concise guide and reference book, Easy English breaks down all the important rules you need to know. With abundant examples along the way, it explains each aspect of punctuation in simple English, making it perfect for easy study. And at the end, a quiz with over 200 questions will help make sure you know how to craft a perfect sentence every time.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlex Shepard
    Release dateApr 28, 2019
    ISBN9780463687932
    Easy English!
    Author

    Alex Shepard

    Alex Shepard has been a language researcher for the better part of his life. He has postgraduate degrees in English literature and linguistics, and he has worked for over a decade with English second-language learners from around the world.For more help with your grammar, visit Rockwallerbooks.com!

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      Book preview

      Easy English! - Alex Shepard

      Easy English!

      by

      Alex Shepard

      First published 2018

      Publication © Rockwaller Books 2018

      Text © Alex Shepard 2018

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      Publisher: Rockwaller Books

      Editor: Dane Wallace

      Proofreader: Adam Watson

      Cover Design: Emma Grey

      Rockwallerbooks.com

      @RockwallerBooks

      Distributed by Smashwords

      License notes

      This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Acknowledgments

      To my parents,

      for teaching me the joys of reading.

      And to you, the reader:

      If you find you this guide useful, please consider leaving a short comment or review. Your feedback is a massive help in creating more books for you and other learners.

      Contents

      Part I: Punctuation

      What Is Punctuation?

      1. Periods

      1.1 Full Sentences

      1.2 Abbreviations

      1.3 Parentheses

      1.4 Quotation Marks

      2. Commas

      2.1 Commas and Conjunctions

      2.2 Comma Splices

      2.3 Serial Commas

      2.4 Bracketing Commas

      2.5 Words in Apposition

      2.6 Commas with Adjectives

      2.7 Introductory Phrases

      2.8 Showing Omission

      3. Apostrophes

      3.1 Possession

      3.2 Contractions

      3.3 The Greengrocer’s Apostrophe

      4. Quotation Marks

      4.1 Double vs. Single

      4.2 Direct vs. Indirect Speech

      4.3 Quotes

      4.4 Block Quotes

      4.5 Scare Quotes

      5. Colons

      5.1 Listing and Elaborating

      5.2 Introducing Quotes

      6. Semicolons

      6.1 Joining Sentences

      6.2 Adverbial Conjunctions

      6.3 Semicolons in Lists

      7. Hyphens

      7.1 Compound Adjectives

      7.2 Suspended Hyphens

      7.3 Phrasal Verbs

      7.4 Numbers

      8. Dashes and Slashes

      8.1 Parenthetical Dashes

      8.2 Linking Dashes

      8.3 Interrupted Speech

      8.4 Bibliographies

      8.5 Slashes

      9. Parentheses and Brackets

      9.1 Parentheses

      9.1.1 Punctuating parentheses

      9.2 Square Brackets

      10. Ellipses

      10.1 Speech: Trailing Off

      10.2 Quotes: Omissions

      11. Questions and Exclamations

      11.1 Question Marks

      11.1.1 Direct questions

      11.1.2 Indirect questions

      11.1.3 Editorial uncertainty

      11.2 Exclamation Marks

      Part II: Adjectives and Adverbs

      Enrich Your Writing

      12. What Are Adjectives?

      12.1 General Adjectives

      12.2 Possessive Adjectives

      12.3 Demonstrative Adjectives

      12.4 Indefinite Adjectives

      12.5 Numbers

      12.6 Definite and Indefinite Articles

      13. What Are Adverbs?

      13.1 Modifying Verbs

      13.2 Modifying Adjectives

      13.3 Modifying Other Adverbs

      14. Types of Adverbs

      14.1 Adverbs of Time

      14.2 Adverbs of Place

      14.3 Adverbs of Manner

      14.4 Adverbs of Degree

      14.5 Adverbs of Frequency

      15. Adjectives and Commas

      15.1 The Comma Question

      16. Compound Adjectives

      16.1 Hyphenation

      17. Degrees of Comparison

      17.1 Positive Degree

      17.2 Comparative Degree

      17.3 Superlative Degree

      17.4 Irregular Forms

      17.5 Adverbs

      18. Predicative Adjectives

      18.1 Attributive vs. Predicative Adjectives

      18.2 Multiple Predicative Adjectives

      19. Misplaced Modifiers

      19.1 Misplaced Adjectives

      19.2 Misplaced Adverbs

      19.3 Misplaced Modifiers

      19.4 Dangling Participles

      20. Conjunctive Adverbs

      20.1 Joining Sentences

      20.2 Within a Clause

      21. Common Errors

      21.1 Mixing Adjectives and Adverbs

      21.2 Adjectives vs. Possessives

      21.3 Popular Phrases

      22. Punctuation Quiz

      22.1 Questions

      22.2 Answers

      23. Adjective and Adverb Quiz

      23.1 Questions

      23.2 Answers

      More books in the Easy English series

      Part I

      Punctuation

      What Is Punctuation?

      Learning to speak a language can be very intimidating. But so can learning to write a language. Students and professionals can both become equally flustered when facing the challenge of writing something for others to read.

      Fortunately, the solution is easier than you might think.

      With even just an hour or two of carefully studying punctuation, the quality of your writing will vastly improve. And so will your confidence as a writer.

      But what exactly is punctuation?

      Well, when we write a sentence, we use a system of marks to organize and structure the words in a certain way. This might be to give the sentence a particular rhythm or to convey a very specific meaning. In all cases, punctuation is there to help make sure that what you write is clear for readers to understand. Without it, having to decipher the meaning of every sentence in a book or magazine article would only lead to a maddening amount of confusion.

      Take a look at the following example:

      A lot of the time travelers spend more money than they plan to when visiting a new place.

      Okay, hang on. Are we really discussing the spending habits of time travelers? Well, according to that sentence, yes. But I highly doubt that’s what the writer had in mind.

      Let’s try adding a simple comma to see what happens:

      A lot of the time, travelers spend more money than they plan to when visiting a new place.

      Just that little curly dot has given the sentence a whole new meaning. Now you could find a sentence like that in any serious travel book.

      That is the power of punctuation.

      With one tiny adjustment, your writing can shift from being strange and nonsensical to being mature and crystal clear.

      By familiarizing yourself with a small handful of rules, you can take complete control of your writing. Colons and semicolons, hyphens and en dashes: these are tools to help you best express yourself. So learn them well, treat them with care, and use them to make your writing shine.

      1

      Periods

      Periods (also known as full stops in British English) are perhaps the most common type of punctuation. Although they serve a few different purposes, their main job is very simple: to let readers know exactly where a sentence ends.

      These days, periods should be followed by a single space. The old convention of adding two spaces before starting your next sentence is from the age of typewriters. Make sure to avoid this in your writing.

      1.1 Full Sentences

      When you have a complete sentence, you use a period to mark where it ends.

      That ship is headed for India. The captain, an experienced sailor from England, is known to sail there twice a year.

      Be careful to ensure that what you have written is a full sentence. This means that you need to have at least one main clause, consisting of a subject and a verb. And together, these should express a complete thought:

      John kicked the football.

      Lauren drove her car.

      The man tripped on his shoelaces.

      1.2 Abbreviations

      Although styles vary from region to region, not to mention from one publication to another, it is more common in American English to use periods with abbreviations than it is in British English.

      When the initial letters of a phrase are being used to form an abbreviation, such as HIV for human immunodeficiency virus, it is becoming increasingly preferred not to separate the letters with a period (e.g., H.I.V.). However, doing so is not incorrect. In fact, in American English, it is still conventional to use periods with the abbreviation of United States, spelling it U.S. In comparison, US is the more common style in British English.

      Of course, certain abbreviations always take a period between their letters. Here are the most common ones you’ll come across: e.g., i.e., a.m., p.m., etc., and (mainly used in academic writing) et al.

      There is one important difference between American and British English that you need to be aware of in regard to abbreviations. In American English, the rule is simple: when a word is shortened, you always use a period to show this. For example, the shortened form of Professor would be Prof. and the shortened form of Mister

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