1. PARTSOFSPEECHInthissectionthetraditionalnamesareusedforparts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb, pro-noun,conjunction,andpreposition).Twootherterms are sometimes used in describing grammar.Oneismodier,whichmeansanywordthatmodiesthemeaningofanotherword(usuallyanoun).Itisbroaderinscopethanadjectiveandincludes, for example, table in table lamp as well asbright in a bright lamp or the lamp was bright. Theotherisdeterminer,whichmeansanywordsuchasa,the,this,those,andevery whichyouputbefore a noun to show how you are using the noun(as in a re, the re, this re, those res, and everyre).NounsA noun is a word that names something: a person(woman, boy, Frances), a thing (building, tree), oran idea (birth, happiness). A common noun namesthingsgenerally,whereasapropernounnamesaparticularperson,place,orthing.Collectivenouns,suchasaudience,family,generation,gov-ernment, team, are nouns which refer to groups ofpeopleorthings.Theycanbetreatedassingularor plural: see agreement below.Proper nounsPropernounsarenormallyspelledwithacapitalinitialletterandrefertopersonsorthingsofwhich there is only one example (Asia, Ark Royal,Dickens). The term is sometimes understood morebroadly to include geographical and ethnic desig-nationssuchasAmerican andAshanti,whichbehave like common nouns, for example in allow-ing the forms an American and the Ashanti. Somegenuinely proper names can also behave like com-monnounsincertainuses,forexampleanePicasso (=apaintingbyPicasso),anotherCallas(= a singer comparable to Callas). In these uses itis usual to retain the capital initial letter.Verbal nounsA verbal noun (also called a gerund) is a form of averbendingwith-ing thatactsasanoun,forexample smoking in the phrase no smoking and inthe sentence Smoking annoys people. It should bedistinguishedfromsmoking usedasanadjective(asmokingre)andasthepresentparticipleofthe verb (The man was smoking).Because a verbal noun is a part of a verb as wellas being a noun, it keeps some of the characteris-ticsofverbsinitsgrammaticalbehaviour;forexampletheforms Theyobjectedtomeswearing(non-possessive)andTheyobjectedtomyswear-ing (possessive)arebothestablishedinordinaryusage,althoughthesecond,inwhichswearing istreatedasafullnoun,isoftenpreferredinmoreformal writing.VerbsAverbisawordthatdescribesanaction(go,sit,put) or state (be, live) and is normally an essentialelementinaclauseorsentence.Averbisclassiedastransitivewhentheactionaffectsaperson or thing called the object (We lit a re), andasintransitivewhenthereisnoobject(Shesmiled).Using the correct tenseTense is the location in time of the state or actionexpressedbyaverb.Englishverbsproperlyhaveonly two tenses, the present (I am) and the past (Iwas).Thefutureisformedwithshall orwill,other forms of the past are formed with auxiliaryverbs (I have been / I was being), and the past per-fectisformedwiththepasttenseofhave (Ihadbeen).Thetenseusedmostlycorrespondstoactualtime, apart from conventional uses such as the so-calledhistoricpresent,usedfordramaticeffectin narratives (as in George gets up and walks overtothewindow),andthefutureusedinpoliterequests (as in Will that be all for now?).However,choiceoftense(calledsequenceoftenses)becomesmorecomplexinreportedspeech.IfasimplestatementsuchasImafraidIhaventnished isputintoindirectspeechbymeansofareportingverbsuchassaid,thought,etc.,thetenseofthereportedactionchangesinaccordancewiththetimeperspectiveofthespeaker: He said he was afraid he hadnt nished.The tense of the reported verb can stay the sameifthetimerelativetothespeakeristhesameasthatrelativetothepersonreported:Shelikesbeans can be converted either to She said she likedbeans or to She said she likes beans, and I wont beheretomorrow canbeconvertedeithertoIsaidIwouldntbeheretomorrow ortoIsaidIwontbehere tomorrow.Appendix 11Guide to GoodEnglish guideto good english shall and willWithI andwe,shall shouldbeusedtoformthesimplefuturetense(expressingapredictionofafutureaction),whilewill isusedtoexpressanintention to do something:t I shall be late for work.t We will not tolerate this rudeness.Withyou,he,she,it,andthey,thesituationisreversed;simplefutureactionisexpressedwithwill,whileshall expressesanintentionorcom-mand:t He will be late for work.t You shall join us or die!Inspeech,thesedistinctionsareoftennotobserved.should and wouldThesituationissimilarwithshould andwould.Strictlyspeaking,should isusedwithI andwe,while would is used with you, he, she, it, and they:t I should be grateful if you would let me know.t You didnt say you would be late.Inpractice,however,itisnormaltousewouldinsteadofshould inreportedspeechandcondi-tional clauses, such as I said I would be late.Active and passiveVerbs can be either active, in which the subject isthepersonorthingperformingtheaction(asinFrance beat Brazil in the nal), or passive, in whichthe subject undergoes the action (Brazil were beat-en by France). In the passive voice verbs are usual-ly formed with be, and the subject is expressed asan agent introduced by the preposition by.Thepassiveisalsousedforimpersonalcon-structions with it:It is believed that no action should be taken.It is felt that your complaint arises from amisunderstanding.Otherverbsbesidesbe canbeusedtoformso-calledsemi-passives(asinHegotchanged,Theyseembothered).Herechanged andbothered arebehaving almost more like adjectives.SubjunctiveThesubjunctiveisaspecialform(ormood)ofaverbexpressingawishorpossibilityinsteadoffact. It has a limited role in English:It was suggested he wait till the next morning.Fundamentalist Islam decrees that men andwomen be strictly segregated.Inthesesentences,theverbswait (intherst)and be (in the second) are in the subjunctive; theordinaryforms(calledtheindicative)wouldbewaits and are.There are other typical uses of the subjunctive:2after if (or as if, as though, unless) in hypotheti-cal conditions:Each was required to undertake that if it werechosen it would place work here.2be or were at the beginning of a clause with thesubject following:Were I to get drunk, it would help me in theght.All books, be they ction or non-ction, shouldprovide entertainment in some form or other.2in certain xed expressions and phrases, e.g. bethatasitmay,comewhatmay, perishthethought, so be it, and others.ParticiplesTherearetwokindsofparticipleinEnglish:thepresentparticipleendingwith-ing asinWearegoing, and the past participle ending with -d or -edformanyverbsandwith-t or-en orsomeotherformforothers,asinHaveyoudecided?,Newhouses are being built, and Its not broken. Participles are often used to introduce subordi-nate clauses that are attached to other words in asentence, e.g.Her mother, opening the door quietly, came intothe room.A stylistic error occurs with so-called unattached,misrelated,ordanglingparticiples,whentheparticiple does not refer to the noun to which it isattached, normally the subject of the sentence:p Recentlyconvertedintoapartments,Ipassedby the house where I grew up.Certain participles, such as considering, assuming,excepting,given,provided,seeing,speaking(of),etc.,havevirtuallybecomeprepositionsorcon-junctionsintheirownright,andtheiruseinagrammatically free role is now standard:tSpeaking of money, do you mind my askingwhat you did with yours?Adjectives and adverbsAnadjectiveisawordusedtodescribeanoun,such as sweet, red, or technical. An adverb is typi-callyawordusedtomodifyaverb,adjective,orother adverb, such as gently, lazily, or very.PositionMostadjectivescanbeusedintwopositions:either before the noun they describe, where theyarecalledattributive,asinablackcat andagloomy outlook, or after a verb such as be, become,grow, look, or seem, where they are called predica-tive, as in the cat was black and the prospect looksgloomy.Someadjectivesarenearlyalwaysusedinthepredicativepositionandcannotstandbeforeanoun (e.g. afraid), while others are only found inthe attributive position (e.g. main). Adjectives following a nounInmanyxedstandardexpressions,adjectivesdenotingstatusareplacedimmediatelyafterthe guide togoodenglishnounstheydescribe,e.g.incourtmartial,heirapparent,poetlaureate,presidentelect,situationsvacant,andthevillageproper.Inothercases,anadjectivefollowsanounasamatterofsentencestructure rather than peculiarity of expression:The waiter picked up our dirty glasses in hisngertips, his eyes impassive.Position of adverbs Adverbsnormallycomebetweenthesubjectanditsverb,orbetweenanauxiliaryverbandamainverb:She dutifully observes all its quaint rules.Roosevelts nancial policy was roundlycriticized in 1933.Butforemphasis,orwhentheadverbbelongscloselytowhatfollowsthemainverb,itcomesaftertheverbandbeforeafollowingadverbialphrase:There is little chance that the student willfunction effectively after he returns home.Sentence adverbsSomeadverbs(suchasclearly,happily,hopefully,thankfully, unhappily) refer to a whole statement,and form a comment associated more closely withthespeakerorwriterthanwithwhatissaid.Inthisroletheyarecalledsentenceadverbs.Sentence adverbs often stand at the beginning ofthe sentence:Clearly, we will have to think again.SentenceadverbsarewellestablishedinEnglish,although the use of thankfully and (in particular)hopefully can arouse controversy:sHopefully the road should be nished.Althoughobjectiontosuchuseisarticial,beawarethatsomepeoplemaytakeexceptiontothesewords,especiallyinwrittenorformalcon-texts.Pronouns ApronounisawordsuchasI,we,they,me,you,them, etc., and other forms such as the possessivehers and theirs and the reexive myself and them-selves.Theyareusedtoreferto(andtaketheplaceof)anounornounphrasethathasalreadybeen mentioned or is known, especially in order toavoid repetition, as in the sentence When she sawher husband again, she wanted to hit him.Reexive pronounsReexive pronouns are the type formed with -self,e.g.myself,herself,andourselves,usedinsen-tencesinwhichthesubjectoftheverbandtheobjectarethesamepersonorthing,asinWeenjoyed ourselves and Make yourself at home.Conjunctions A conjunction is a word such as and, because, but,for, if, or, and when, used to connect words, phras-es,clauses,andsentences.Ontheuseofand andbut atthebeginningofasentence,seeSENTENCESbelow.Prepositions Aprepositionisawordsuchasafter,in,to,andwith,whichusuallystandsbeforeanounorpro-nounandestablishesthewayitrelatestowhathasgonebefore (Themanontheplatform,Theycame after dinner, and What did you do it for?). It is sometimes stated that a preposition shouldalways precede the word it governs and should notendasentence.However,therearecaseswhenitis either impossible or not natural to organize thesentence in a way that avoids a nal preposition:2inrelativeclausesandquestionsfeaturingverbs with linked adverbs or prepositions:What did Marion think she was up to?They must be convinced of the commitmentthey are taking on.2in passive constructions:The dress had not even been paid for.2inshortsentencesincludinganinnitivewithto or a verbal noun:It was my dancing he objected to.2. INFLECTIONInectionistheprocessbywhichwords(princi-pallynouns,verbs,adjectives,andadverbs)changetheirform,especiallytheirending,inaccordancewiththeirgrammaticalroleinasen-tence.Verbs Verbsnormallyadd-s or-es toformthird-personpresent-tense forms (changes, wants), -ed to formpast tenses and past participles (changed, wanted),and-ing toformpresentparticiples(changing,wanting).However,someverbsformtensesbychangingtheirstem(throw,threw,thrown),andothersarecompletelyirregular(have,had,had;go, went, gone).Verbsdropanalsilent-e whenthesufxbeginswithavowel(asinshave,shaving).Butanal-e isusuallyretainedtopreservethesoftsoundoftheg intwingeing andwhingeing.Itisalsoretainedwhereitisneededtoavoidconfu-sionwithsimilarwords,forexampleindyeing(from dye) as distinct from dying (from die).NounsEnglishnounsnormallyformtheirpluralsbyadding -s, or -es if the singular form ends in -s, -x, -z, -sh, or soft -ch (as in church but not loch).guideto good english Nouns ending in -y form plurals with -ies (policy,policies), unless the ending is -ey, in which case theplural form is normally -eys (valley, valleys).Nouns ending in -f and -feNouns ending in -f and -fe form plurals sometimeswith-fs (handkerchief,handkerchiefs;oaf,oafs;proof,proofs;roof,roofs),sometimes-ves (calf,calves; half, halves; knife, knives; shelf, shelves) andoccasionallyboth-fes and-ves (dwarf,dwarfs ordwarves; hoof, hoofs or hooves).Nouns ending in -oPluralsofnounsendingin-o causedifcultyinEnglishbecausetherearefewconvenientrulesfor choosing between -os (as in ratios) and -oes (asin heroes).As a guideline, the following typically form plu-rals with -os:2wordsinwhichavowel(usuallyi ore )pre-cedes the nal -o (trios, videos).2wordsthatareshorteningsofotherwords(demos, hippos).2wordsintroducedfromforeignlanguages(boleros, placebos).Namesofanimalsandplantsnormallyformplu-rals with -oes (buffaloes, tomatoes).Adjectives and adverbs:comparatives and superlativesAdjectives Anadjectivehasthreeforms:apositive(hot,splendid),acomparative(hotter,moresplendid),andasuperlative(hottest,mostsplendid).Adjectivesthatformcomparativesandsuperla-tives using -er and -est in preference to (or as wellas) more and most are:2words of one syllable (e.g. fast, hard, rich, wise).2words of two syllables ending in -y and -ly (e.g.angry, early, happy, holy, likely, lively) and corre-spondingun-formswhentheseexist(e.g.unhappy,unlikely).Wordsendingin-y changethe y to i (e.g. angrier, earliest).2wordsoftwosyllablesendingin-le (e.g.able,humble, noble, simple), -ow(e.g. mellow, narrow,shallow),andsomeendingin-er (e.g.clever,tender).2somewordsoftwosyllablespronouncedwiththestressonthesecondsyllable(e.g.polite,profound, but not antique, bizarre, and others).2other words of two syllables that do not belongtoanyclassiablegroup(e.g.common,cruel,pleasant, quiet).Wordsofonesyllableendinginasingleconso-nant double the consonant when it is preceded byasinglevowel(glad,gladder,gladdest;hot,hotter,hottest) but not when it is preceded by more thanonevowel(clean,cleaner,cleanest;loud,louder,loudest). Words of two syllables ending in -l dou-ble the l (e.g. cruel, crueller, cruellest).Adjectives of three or more syllables use formswith more and most (more beautiful, most interest-ing, etc.).Adverbs Adverbs that take -er and -est in preference to (oras well as) more and most are:2adverbsthatarenotformedwith-ly butareidenticalinformtocorrespondingadjectives(e.g. runs faster, hits hardest, hold it tighter).2someindependentadverbs(e.g.often andsoon).Adverbs ending in -ly formed from adjectives (e.g.richly, softly, wisely) generally do not have -er and-est formsbutappearasmoresoftly,mostwisely,etc.3. SENTENCESAsentenceisagroupofwordsthatmakescom-plete sense, contains a main verb, and begins withacapitalletterandendswithafullstop(ortheequivalent such as a question mark or an exclama-tion mark).There are three basic kinds of sentence: 2asimplesentence normally contains one state-ment: the train should be here soon. 2acompoundsentencecontainsmorethanonestatement,normallyjoinedbyaconjunctionsuch as and or but: I have looked at the evidenceand I have to say it is not sufcient.2a complex sentence contains a main clause andone or more subordinate clauses, such as a con-ditionalclausebeginningwithif orarelativeclauseintroducedbywhich orwho:Thestorywould make headlines if it ever became public.Relative clauses: using wordslike who and whenA relative clause is one connected to a main clausebyarelativepronounoradjectivesuchaswho orwhom,which,whose,orthat,orbyarelativeadverbsuchaswhen andwhere.(Thesewords,apart from that, are collectively called wh- words,andawh- wordmeansanyofthese.)Mostprob-lemswiththiskindofclausearetodowiththechoicebetweenthat andawh- word,principallywhich, who, or whom. For much of the time that isinterchangeable with any of these words, and it isthemoreusualchoiceineverydaywritingandconversation.Therearetwotypesofrelativeclause,calledrestrictiveandnon-restrictive.Arestrictiveclause gives essential information about a noun ornounphrasethatcomesbefore (Sheheldoutthehand that was hurt). A non-restrictive clause givesextrainformationthatcouldbeleftoutwithout guide togoodenglishaffecting the structure or meaning of the sentence(Sheheldoutherhand,whichIclaspedinbothofmine).Arestrictiveclausecanbeintroducedbythat, which, who, or whose and is not normally pre-cededbyacomma,whereasanon-restrictiveclauseisnormallyintroducedbywhich,who,orwhose (and not usually that), and is preceded by acomma.Sometimesthat ismoreidiomaticthanwhich,for example when the construction is based on animpersonalit oranindenitepronounsuchasanything:There is something that I forgot to mention.Is there anything that you want?That is also more usual when which already occursearlierinthesentenceinanotherrole,forexam-ple as an interrogative word:Which is the one that you want?Beginning sentences with andand butItisnotwrongtobeginasentencewithacon-junctionsuchasand orbut.Thepracticeiscom-moninliteratureandcanbeeffective.Itisalsousedforotherrhetoricalpurposes,especiallytodenotesurprise(Andareyoureallygoing?)andsometimesjusttointroduceanimprovisedafter-thought(Imgoingtoswim.Anddontyoudarewatch).Negatives and double negatives ArepeatednegativeofthetypeHeneverdidnoharmtonoone isincorrect.However,adoublenegative is acceptable when it is used with inten-tional cancelling effect as a gure of speech, as inIt has not gone unnoticed.Doublenegativesalsooccur,especiallyinspeech, in uses of the type You cant not go (= youcannot consider not going, i.e. you have to go), inwhich not go is effectively a single idea expressedin a verb phrase.4. AGREEMENTAgreement is the process of making words t thecontextofsentences,forexampleensuringthatthe singular form of a verb accompanies a singularsubject. For most of the time we apply the rules ofagreement instinctively, but problems can arise insentences involving certain phrases and combina-tions.Agreement within phrases Awkward phrasesSomeexpressionscancauseuncertaintybecausetheyaregrammaticallyambiguousorcombineseemingly contradictory roles, for example phras-es such as more than one and either or both:More than one dealer has shown an interest inthe painting.Themeaningisclearlyplural,butthegrammarremains singular because one is closer to the verbaswellasbeingthedominantwordinitsphrase(wecouldnotsayMorethanonedealerhaveshown an interest in the painting).s The purchaser gets a licence to use either orboth products.Here there is a problem of agreement with the fol-lowing noun, because either calls for the singularformproduct whereasboth callsforthepluralform products; both wins out because it is closer tothe noun. Usually a better solution is to rephrasethe sentence to avoid the problem altogether:t The purchaser gets a licence to use either orboth of the products.Compound subjectsTwonounsjoinedbyand arenormallytreatedasplural:Speed and accuracy are top of the list.But when the two nouns form a phrase that can beregardedasasingleunit,theyaresometimestreated as singular, even when one of them is plur-al:Fish and chips is my favourite mealWhenasingularnounformingthesubjectofasentenceisfollowedbyanadditionalelementtagged on by means of a phrase such as as well as,accompaniedby,ortogetherwith,thefollowingverbshouldbesingularandnotplural,sincethesingular noun is by itself the true subject:The little girl, together with her friend Kerry, wasbusy lling her bucket with sand.Singular and plural nounsSingular nouns treated as pluralSome nouns are singular in form but are used withaverbthatcanbeeithersingularorplural,orinsomecasesonlyplural.Thecommonestoftheseare the collective nouns which stand for a group orcollectionofpeopleorthings,suchasaudience,committee,crew,family,generation,government,group, jury, team, and many others. The general rule with words like these is to treatthemassingularwhentheemphasisisonthegroup as a whole and as plural when the emphasisis on the individuals that form the group:A group of four young men in overalls wasstanding close to him. (singular)The jury retired at the end of the day to considertheir verdict. (plural)Some collective nouns are fully plural:By and large the police do a good job.guideto good english Plural nouns treated as singularOther nouns are plural in form but are treated assingular, either always or in some meanings. Chiefamong these are the names of branches of knowl-edgeorscience,suchasacoustics andmathemat-ics, activities such as billiards and gymnastics, anddiseases such as measles:Acoustics is taught as part of the extendedcourse.The gures show that measles is on the increase.Other plural nouns, such as data, media, and agen-da,arenowcommonlytreatedassingular.Dependingontheirmeaning,theyareeithercountablenouns,whichcanbeusedwitha oranandhavepluralforms,e.g.agendas,ormassnouns,whichdonothaveapluralformbutareusedinthesingularwithwordssuchasthis andmuch:The media has lost interest in the subject.This data is in a form that can be used by otherinstitutions.Some plural words adopted unchanged from otherlanguages,suchasspaghetti andgrafti,developsingular meanings:The furniture had been damaged and graftiwas daubed on the walls.Subjects and objectsWhen the subject of the verb be is singular but thepart that follows is plural, the verb should gener-ally agree with its subject, regardless of what fol-lows:The only trafc is ox carts and bicycles.When the subject is a singular collective noun, theverb may be in the plural, following the usual pat-tern with such nouns:Its prey are other small animals.Indenite pronounsPronounssuchaseach,either,neither,andnonearecalledindenitepronouns.Whenusedontheir own like a noun, they can vary between sin-gularandplural.Theyaretreatedassingularwhen the emphasis is on the individuals:Neither the chairman nor the chief executive isplanning any dramatic gestures.None of them has had enough practical experi-ence to run the company.andaspluralwhentheemphasisisonthecollec-tion or group as a whole:Neither his mother nor his father earn muchmoney now.None of the staff were aware of the ransomdemand.Plural pronouns used in the singularThere is often uncertainty about what possessiveword (his, her, etc.) to use when referring to asubject whose gender is not specied. The safestoption is to put his or her:Every student should hand in his or her assign-ment by Tuesday.But this can be awkward, especially when the sen-tencecontinuesforsometimewithrepeatedref-erencesbacktotheoriginalsubject.Incaseslikethisitisnowacceptabletouseapluralformofpronoun:Every student should hand in their assignmentby Tuesday.Either or and neither nor Aproblemariseswhenoneofthealternativesinan either ... or ... or neither ... nor ... construction issingularandtheotherplural.Here,thenormalchoice is to make the verb agree with the one clos-er to it:t Either the twins or their mother is responsiblefor this.Butoftenabettersolutionistorecastthesen-tence to avoid the problem:t Either the twins are responsible for this ortheir mother is.Personal pronouns I,we,he,she,andthey aresubjectivepronouns,whichactasthesubjectsofverbs,whileme,us,him,her,andthem areobjective,actingastheobjects of verbs and prepositions:Its a tiny bit boring, between you and me.The boys are coming with Gavin and me.Aftertheverbbe itismorenaturalandusualtouseme,us,him,her,orthey (theobjectivepro-nouns), although what follows be is not an objectbut a complement:I said it was only me.Thats us sitting on the bench.Thesubjectiveforms(I,we,he,she,orthey)arenotwrongbutoftensoundstilted,especiallytherst-person forms I and we:s I said it was only I.Itis,however,usualtousethesubjectiveformswhen a relative clause (introduced by who or that)follows:t It was I who did it.5. PUNCTUATIONThepurposeofpunctuationistomakewritingclear,byclarifyingthestructureofcontinuouswritingandindicatinghowwordsrelatetoeachother. guide togoodenglishFull stop Theprincipaluseofthefullstopistomarktheend of a sentence that is a statement:Bernard went over to the bookcase and tookdown an atlas.This applies to sentences when they are not com-plete statements or contain ellipsis:London. Implacable November weather.Ifanabbreviationwithafullstopcomesattheend of a sentence, another full stop is not added: Bring your own pens, pencils, rulers, etc.Comma Theroleofthecommaistogivedetailtothestructure of sentences and to make their meaningclear by marking off words that either do or do notbelong together. It usually represents the naturalbreaksandpausesthatyoumakeinspeech,andoperates at phrase level and word level:At phrase levelYou should use a comma to mark off parts of a sen-tence that are separated by conjunctions (and, but,yet, etc.). This is especially important when thereisachangeorrepetitionofthesubject,orwhenthe sentence is a long one:Mokosh could foretell the future, and she couldchange herself into any form she pleased.Readings are taken at points on a grid markedout on the ground, and the results are usuallyplotted in the form of computer-drawn diagrams.Itisnotnormallycorrecttojointheclausesofacompound sentence without a conjunction:pHis was the last house, the road ended withhim.Nor is it correct to separate a subject from its verbwith a single comma:pThose with the lowest incomes and no othermeans, should get the most support.Acommaalsoseparatespartsofasentencethatbalance or complement each other, and can intro-ducedirectspeech,especiallyincontinuationofdialogue:He was getting better, but not as fast as hisdoctor wished.Then Laura said, Do you mean that?An important function of the comma is to preventambiguity or momentary misunderstanding:Mr Hogg said that he had shot, himself, as a smallboy.Commas are used in pairs to separate elements ina sentence that are asides or not part of the mainstatement:All history, of course, is the history of wars.Commas are also used to separate a relative clausethatisnon-restrictive(seerelativeclausesabove):The money, which totals more than half a million,comes from three anonymous donors.Asinglecommasometimesfollowsadverbs,phrases, and subordinate clauses that come at thebeginning of a sentence:Moreover, they had lied about where they hadbeen.When the sun began to sink, she could take theriverside walk to the hotel.Acommaisalwaysneededwithhowever whenitmeans by contrast or on the other hand:However, a good deal of discretion is left in thehands of area managers.At word levelA comma is used to separate adjectives having thesame range of reference coming before a noun:a cold, damp, badly heated roomThe comma is omitted when the adjectives have adifferent range of reference (for example, size andcolour) or when the last adjective has a closer rela-tion to the noun:his baggy green jacketa distinguished foreign politicianCommasareusedtoseparateitemsinalistorsequence:The visitors were given tea, scones, and cake.(The nal comma before and is regarded by manypeople as unnecessary and left out; this dictionaryalways includes one.)Leave out the comma between nouns that occurtogetherinthesamegrammaticalroleinasen-tence (called apposition):My friend Judge Peters was not at home.Butuseonewhenthenounisapieceofextrainformationthatcouldberemovedfromthesentencewithoutanynoticeableeffectonthemeaning:His father, Humphrey V. Roe, was not sofortunate.Semicolon The main role of the semicolon is to mark a gram-matical separation that is stronger in effect than acommabutlessstrongthanafullstop.Normallythe two parts of a sentence divided by a semicolonbalanceeachother,ratherthanleadingfromoneto the other:The sky grew bright with sunset; the earthglowed.Honey looked up and glared; the man scurriedaway.You can also use a semicolon as a stronger divisionin a sentence that already contains commas:What has crippled me? Was it my grandmother,frowning on my childish affection and turning itto formality and cold courtesy; or my timid,guideto good english fearful mother, in awe of everyone including,nally, me; or was it my wifes indelities, or myown?Colon Whereasasemicolonlinkstwobalancedstate-ments,acolonleadsfromtherststatementtothesecond.Typicallyitlinksageneralorintro-ductorystatementtoanexample,acausetoaneffect, or a premise to a conclusion.He was being made to feel more part of thefamily: the children kissed him goodnight, like athird parent.You also use a colon to introduce a list:The price includes the following: travel toLondon, ight to Venice, hotel accommodation,and excursions.Apostrophe The principal role of the apostrophe is to indicateapossessive,asinTessashouse andthetownsmayor.Singular nouns form the possessive by adding s(thedogsbark =onedog),andpluralnounsend-ingin-s addanapostropheafterthe-s (thedogsbarks =morethanonedog).Whenapluralnounendsinaletterotherthans,thepossessiveisformedbyaddings:thechildrensgames,theoxens hoofs, etc.Beware of an apostrophe wrongly applied to anordinary plural, particularly in words ending in -obutalsoinquiteharmlesswordssuchasapplesand pears (e.g. p pears 30p a pound).Bewarealsoofconfusingthepossessivewhosewithwhos,whichisacontractionofwhois (e.g.pWhos turn is it?).For names ending in -s, the best course is to addswhenyouwouldpronouncetheresultingformwith an extra s in speech (e.g. Charless, Dickenss,Thomass, The Timess); and omit s otherwise (e.g.Bridges,Connors,Herodotus).WithFrenchnamesendingin(silent)-s or-x,adds (e.g.Dumass,leRouxs)andpronouncethemodiedword with a nal -z.Anapostropheshouldnotbeusedinthepro-nouns hers, its, ours, yours, and theirs.Becarefultodistinguishits fromits.Its (noapostrophe) is a possessive meaning belonging toit,whereasits (withanapostrophe)isacontrac-tion meaning it is or it has:Give the cat its dinner.Its hard to know where to start.Anapostropheisnotnormallyusedinthepluralof abbreviated forms (e.g. several MPs were stand-ingaround),althoughitisusedinthepossessive(e.g. the BBCs decision to go ahead with the broad-cast).AnotherimportantuseoftheapostropheistomarkcontractionssuchasIll,theyve,couldnt,and shes.Hyphens In print a hyphen is half the length of a dash, butinwritingthereisoftenlittlenoticeablediffer-ence.Whilethedashhasthepurposeofseparat-ingwordsandgroupsofwords,thehyphenismeant to link words and parts of words. The use ofhyphensisveryvariableinEnglish,butthefol-lowingguidelinesreectgenerallyagreedprinci-ples. The hyphen is used to join two or more words soas to form a single word (often called a compoundword), e.g. free-for-all, multi-ethnic, right-handed,andpunch-drunk.Straightforwardnouncom-pounds are now much more often spelled either astwo words (boiling point, credit card, focus group)orasone,evenwhenthisinvolvesacollisionofconsonants, which used to be a reason for puttingin the hyphen (database, earring, breaststroke). InAmericanEnglishcompoundnounsgenerallywrittenastwowordsinBritishEnglishareoftenwritten as one word.Therearetwocasesinwhichacompoundspelledastwowordsismadeintoahyphenedform or a one-word form: 2when a verb phrase such as hold up or back up ismade into a noun (hold-up, backup);2whenanouncompoundismadeintoaverb(e.g. a date stamp but to date-stamp). Note thata normal phrasal verb should not be hyphenat-ed:write continuetobuildupyourpension notcontinue to build-up your pension.A hyphen is often used:2tojoinaprexendinginavowel(suchasco-andneo-)toanotherword(e.g.co-opt,neo-Impressionism),althoughone-wordformsarebecoming more usual (cooperate, neoclassical).2toavoidambiguitybyseparatingaprexfromthemainword,e.g.todistinguishre-cover (=provide with a new cover) from recover and re-sign (= sign again) from resign.2tojoinaprextoanameordesignation,e.g.anti-Christian, ex-husband. 2to stand for a common second element in all butthe last word of a list, e.g. two-, three-, or four-fold.2toclarifymeaningsingroupsofwordswhichmight otherwise be unclear or ambiguous (e.g.twenty-odd people came to the meeting). You should also use a hyphen to clarify the mean-ing of a compound that is normally spelled as sep-arate words, when it is used before a noun: an up-to-date record but the record is up to date.There is no need to insert a hyphen between anadverb ending in -ly and an adjective qualied byit, even when they come before the noun: a highlycompetitivemarket,recentlypublishedmaterial.Whentheadverbdoesnotendin-ly,however,ahyphen is normally required to make the meaningclearwhentheadverbprecedesthenoun:awell-known woman (but the woman is well known).