COMMA CLUE #4: Comma Following a Subordinate Clause Opener Part I of III

Today's Comma Clue can be confusing--but it is one of the most needful for comprehension as well as for sentence fluidity when reading aloud. 



When you start a sentence with a subordinate clause,
Put the comma in when you hear the pause!


That is a cute rhyme (don't you think?)....but unless you know what a subordinate clause is (and prior to that, what a subordinator is), it will not do you much good to recite it. So this post will go back to what subordinators are first. 

Maybe you were taught that subordinators (words that make the part of the sentence that they are in be "subordinate" to the rest of the sentence) are called other things, like conjunctives or subordinate conjunctions. Some grammar handbooks do not even classify subordinators at all but call them whatever other class they fall under (i.e. the preposition before might always be called a preposition, even though it is a subordinator when it has a subject and verb following it).

Regardless of what you were taught about subordinators, they are extremely important to good writing. Why? 

1. A subordinator is a word that falls at the beginning of a subordinate clause.
2. A subordinate clause is a group of words that begins with a subordinator and has a subject and verb following it.
3. A subordinate clause is subordinate to the rest of the sentence--that is, it is "less than" the real sentence.
4. A subordinate clause may not stand alone as it is not a real sentence.
5. A subordinate clause sounds as though something is missing when it is read--because something is (the real sentence!).
6. A subordinate clause may be joined with a complete sentence to create a complex sentence, but the subordinate clause may never stand alone.

So....what are subordinators?

Let's start with the first six that we teach our youngest language arts students in our books:

Since, when, though
Because, if, although.

Yeah, it's a rhyme! Cute, huh? (I love teaching!)

Anyway, for you older folks, we have a Subordinator-Check Sentence that most subordinators fit into. In a nutshell, if a word fits in the check sentence and the word is not an adverb, it likely a subordinator:

________________________ the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


Since the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


When the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


Though the submarine went down, we could STILL  see it.


Because the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


If the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


Although the submarine went down, we could STILL see it.

Okay, that is the first six. Here is a lengthy, but not exhaustive list of subordinators:

-after (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-although
-as (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-as if
-as long as
-as soon as
-as though
-because
-because of (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-before (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-even
-even if
-even though
-if
-inasmuch as
-in order that
-lest
-now (more commonly used as an adverb)
-now since
-now that
-now when
-once
-provided
-rather than
-since
-than (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-that
-though
-til (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-unless
-until (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-when
-whenever
-where
-where ever
-where as
-whether
-which
-which ever
-while
-who
-whoever
-why


In as much as the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.

Until the submarine went down, we could STILL see it.

While the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.



 We will stop here and give you time to memorize these before we go on in a day or two working on punctuating sentences that begin with subordinate clauses. Just looking at the Subordinator-Check Sentence, though, you can probably deduce that the first rhyme in this post is accurate: a subordinate clause opener is followed by a comma. More later!


Picture from http://staff.jccc.net/mfitzpat/style/bd04892_.gif

day 99: lie and lay

Sit and rise have I's--and lie does too.
"Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do.
Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose
When each one has an object after it to use.

Here we are at the end of our Wacky Word pair—lie and lay.

Remember these lie and lay tips:

1. Lie has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
1. I lie in bed at midnight wide awake.
2. Yesterday I lay awake half the night.
3. Before that I had lain down when the cat jumped on me.

2. Lie means to stretch out in a flat position—anybody or anything can lie, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT laid)
1. She lies down with a headache every day.
2. The sun is lying low.
3. She has lain down for a nap.

3. Lay must have an object following it—something that it is being laid down.
1. Lay your book on the table.
2. He laid his money down.
3. She has laid the towels in the sun.

Okay…the tenses for the three:

1. Lie

            a. Base form: lie—Tomorrow I will lie down early. (Remember—no object; down is an adverb; early is an adverb here, not an object.

            b. Past simple: lay—Yesterday I lay in the sun. (Tricky part: past tense of lie is lay; lay is also the present tense of lay—to lay something down!)

            b. Past participle: lain—They have lain low ever since then.

            d. Third person singular: lies—The dog just lies under the tree all day long.

            e. Present participle/gerund: lying—The sun was lying on the horizon for so long today.

2. Lay

1. Base form: lay—I lay the kids’ clothes out every day. (Tricky: lay is the base form of lay (to put something down; it is also the past tense of lie—to stretch out by yourself or itself.)
2. Past simple: laid—Yesterday I laid the pink pants out for Jon.
3. Past participle: laid—Before the dog came in, I had already laid his bones out.
4. Third person singular: lays—He lays the book down every night at ten.
5. Present participle/gerund: laying—I am laying the swim suits out to dry.

Tricky Tricks to Help It Stick

1. Again, do sit/set first (all same base word for tenses of set!) or rise/raise (since many people get this pair correct even if they do not know sit/set and lie/lay very well).
2. Do rise/raise after sit/set or sit/set after rise/raise (saving lie/lay for last).
3. Memorize acronym/rhyme to cement the fact that all three with I’s are the ones that are done by someone or something (not to something).
4. When you get to lie and lay, to lie first all by itself until it is memorized. Then do lay. (I am starting to wait a week between the two with lots of practice on lie during that week before moving on to lay.)

I’m officially done with sit/set; rise/raise; and lie/lay! Time to move on. I feel that I have risen to the occasion and am glad that I did not sit idly by and lay these tricky ones aside. Glad I did not let people lie in agony over these Wacky Words. I would like for all of us to set our grammar burdens aside and raise a toast in honor of sit/set; rise/raise; and lie/lay! J (Last time for a while, honest!)

day 99: rise and raise

Sit and rise have I's--and lie does too.
"Coz these are things that I, all by myself, can do.
Set, raise, and lay are words that you choose
When each one has an object after it to use.

I like to start with the simplest Wacky Word pair—sit and set. Then I like to move onto rise and raise. (And leave the “wackiest” pair, lie/lay, for the end.)

Remember these rise and raise tips:

1. Rise has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
1. I rise around seven a.m.
2. Yesterday I rose at dawn yesterday. (Not really!)
3. Before that I had risen when the cat jumped on me.

2. Rise means to come up to a higher position—anybody or anything can rise, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT raised)
1. She rose to greet us.
2. The sun is rising late.
3. Our grades have risen lately. (Technically, grades are raised by someone (“I raised my GPA”)—but if you do not state who raised them, they would be rising by themselves—which we know doesn’t really happen!)

3. Raise does have an i—but not only an I like rise—raise is done to something.
4. Raise must have an object following it—something that it is being raised.
1. Raise your glass for a toast.
2. He raised his children well.
3. The children are raising their hands in class now.

Okay…the tenses for the two:

1. Rise

            a. Base form: rise—Tomorrow I will rise early. (Remember—no object; early is an adverb here, not an object.

            b. Past simple: rose—Yesterday I rose late.

            b. Past participle: risen—They have risen to the task.

            d. Third person singular: rises—The sun rises early now.

            e. Present participle/gerund: rising—The sun was rising later in the day before.

2. Raise

1. Base form: raise—Today I raise my voice in song. (Object—voice)
2. Past simple: raised—Yesterday I raised the log and found a mole.
3. Past participle: raised—Before I put the binoculars down, I raised them up and looked through them in the distance.
4. Third person singular: raises—She always raises her voice when she is angry.
5. Present participle/gerund: raising—I am raising the bar in that class!

Tomorrow is quiz day…so be ready! J

day 58: Be a Helper, Link Verb Song

To help you remember the Be, a Helper, Link verbs, there is a little rhyme
that you can sing to the tune of ABC’s (or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”):

            ABCDEFG

            Be, a Helper, Link verbs,
            HIJKLMNOP

            Is, Are, Am, Was, & Were.

            QRSTUV

            Be, & Being, Been, Become,
            WXYZ

            Has, & Had, & Have are ones.
            Now I said my ABC's

            Can, Could, Shall, Should—they are fun.

            Next time won't you sing with me?

            Will, Would, Do, Did, Does, & Done.
            ABCDEFG

            May, Might, Must—they are some as well,

            HIJKLMNOP

            Appear, Look, Seem, Remain, Taste, Feel, & Smell.

 

day 44: examining caves more closely--subject

If you learn that a sentence contains five things—and you learn to recognize these things easily, you will learn to evaluate whether every sentence you write is a “real” sentence or not more easily.

Remember, CAVES is the acronym we will use to examine a sentence.

C apital

A ll makes sense

V erb

E nd mark

S ubject

The last letter of CAVES—subject—is what we will examine today. Each “simple sentence”—that is, each “real” sentence must contain a subject. We will call this the sentence’s main subject—because a sentence may contain other subjects in other parts, but a sentence must only contain one subject (the main subject) to be a real sentence.

Tomorrow we will learn the details of a sentence’s main subject—the S of CAVES—subject--each sentence must have a subject.

day 39: more on caves—five parts of a sentence

When you write, it is vital that you know what is and what is not a
sentence.

A sentence must have five things in order to be complete:

            1. Capital at the beginning

            a. The first letter of the first word in a sentence must be
capitalized.

            b. It does not matter what the first word is; it is always
capitalized.

For example: A kindergarten child is so cute.

            2. All makes sense

            a. A sentence must make sense.

            b. If a phrase has four of the other things a sentence must
have, but it leaves you hanging and does not make sense, then it is not a
sentence.

Examples:

                        1) When the boy ran. This is not a complete sentence
because it leaves you hanging.

                        2) The boy ran though the woods. This is a complete
sentence because it has all five things a sentence must have.

            3. Verb

            a. A sentence must have a verb (action or BHL—being verb, helping verb, linking verb).

            b. This tells what the subject does or is.

For example: The boys played football in the snow.

            4. End mark

            a. A sentence must have ending punctuation: 

                        1) a period (.)

                        2) an exclamation point (!)

                        3) question mark (?)

            b. Examples:

                        1) The boys are playing football.

2) Watch out for the football!

3) Are they playing football?

            5. Subject

            a. A sentence must have a subject.

            b. This is what or whom the sentence is about.

 The following acronym will help you to remember these five things:

Capital at the beginning

All makes sense

Verb

End mark

Subject

day 37: wrapping up prepositions

You are probably starting to notice that even a rudimentary knowledge of prepositions can unlock many more prepositions for you. I hope, that in the various studies we will do on LL 365, that you do not lose sight of the purpose of each one. Follow the links below to review prepositions—and join us tomorrow as we start our “sentence month”—and focus on fragments, sentences, clauses, and more!

Preposition list: http://languagelady365.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-24-prepositions-list.html

Preposition-Check Sentence: http://languagelady365.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-29-prepositionsthe-angel-flew.html

Why learn prepositions: http://languagelady365.blogspot.com/2011/01/day-22-homework-help-why-learn.html

day 36: prepositions that are synonyms

We have already learned prepositions that are antonyms (opposite). Now for our last day of preposition work, we will learn prepositions that are synonyms (meaning the same or almost the same).

First a little mnemonic for antonyms and opposites!

Antonyms—Opposite (both begin with vowel sounds—ant—opp)

Synonyms—Same (both begin with S—syn—same)

When you consider that prepositions show position, it makes sense that if you know one preposition that means a certain direction (i.e. over), then other words that mean the same thing may also be prepositions (above, on top of, etc.).

Consider these prepositions that might be considered synonyms—if you know one from each list, you are likely to be able to think of the others:

1. aboard

            a. on

            b. atop

            c. atop of

            d. astride

2. about

1. amid
2. amidst
3. among
4. amongst
5. around
6. by
7. near
8. next to
9. round
1. above
1. atop
2. atop of
3. on
4. on top of
5. over
6. up
7. upon

3. Against
1. anti
2. barring
3. despite
4. in spite of
5. opposite of
4. Ahead
1. ahead of
2. before
3. in front
4. in front of
5. Along
1. about
2. alongside
3. alongside of
4. Along with
5. Amid
6. Amidst
7. Among
8. Amongst
9. At
10. Beside
11. Besides
12. Round
13. Close
14. Close to
15. By means of
16. Near to
17. Next to
6. amid/amidst
1. about
2. against
3. among
4. amongst
5. around
6. at
7. beside
8. beside of
9. by
10. next to
11. round
12. through
13. throughout
7. anti
1. across from
2. against
3. barring
4. opposite
5. opposite of
6. versus
8. around
1. about
2. amid
3. amidst
4. among
5. amongst
6. aside
7. aside of
8. circa
9. aside
1. along
2. alongside
3. alongside
4. aside of
5. beside
6. beside of
7. by
8. next
9. next to
10. close to
11. near to
10. astride
1. a. atop
2. atop of
3. on
4. on top of
5. over
6. up
7. upon
11. at
1. beside
2. beside of
3.  by
4. toward
5. close to
12. barring
1. anti
2. opposite
3. opposite of
4. outside
5. outside of
6. due to
7. except for
8. save
13. before
1. ahead
2. ahead of
3. in front of
14. behind
1. beyond
2. following
3. in back
4. in back of

The purpose behind the “synonym prepositions” is two-fold: (1) help students realize that if a word is a preposition (and they know that one), then more than likely other words that mean the same thing and fit in the same space are probably prepositions as well; (2) to help students think of even more prepositions—that they might not realize they know. Again, if a student learns to recognize prepositions well, he will recognize prepositional phrases well and will be able to isolate them (mentally, at least) in his sentences to achieve correct subject-verb agreement. (Also, it will help in using prepositional phrase openers in sentences  and punctuating them correctly.)

day 34: two or more word prepositions

You have probably already noticed that many prepositions are made up of other words. That is, they have one preposition at the beginning and are followed by another preposition. Or they are compound words (like within).

This is another way to learn prepositions—by learning prepositions that are made up of two or more words.

For example, read the prepositions below—the first one of each set is a common preposition that you probably already know. The one(s) beneath that one is a preposition (or more) that is made from the top one.

  1. across

      *across from

  2. ahead

      *ahead of

  3. away

      *away from

  4. in

      a. into

      b. inside

      c. inside of

  5. on

      a. onto

      b. on top of

  6. out

      a. out of

      b. outside

      c. outside of

  7. to

      a. toward

      b. towards

  8. through

      *throughout

  9. under

       *underneath

10. up

      a. upon

      b. up to

11. with

      a. within

      b. without

Now put all that together, and you have learned many, many prepositions!

day 33: prepositions that are opposites

Our “homework help” is going beyond one week! Just a couple more categories of prepositions to give you, and you will be ready for any preposition quiz you ever have! Smile…

A person becomes a good student and an effective learner when he or she learns how he or she learns! For example, some people study for a test by making note cards; others like to recite facts aloud while studying; others learn best just by reading the textbook over and over.

Language Lady 365 will help you become a better learner by teaching you different learning strategies--and you can use the one(s) that work best for you.

For example, in learning prepositions, you may use your “Preposition Practice Pal” (PPP) from earlier. Or you could memorize them in alphabetical order. Or you could learn them in categories, like beginning letters or opposites.

Besides learning prepositions that fit into the “Birdie flew” sentence and learning prepositions that begin with certain letters, you can also learn prepositions that are opposites!

After all, prepositions show position, so it makes sense that opposite words are prepositions since many of them show position too.

Birdie flew ___________________ the tube.

Fill in the blank for any opposite word that might fit.

Note: Many words have more than one opposite of them—under has over and possibly above. You may list any one you think of for each one.

  1. Birdie flew above the tube.

  2. Birdie flew ___________________ the tube.

  3. Birdie flew beneath the tube.

  4. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.

  5. Birdie flew atop the tube.

  6. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.

  7. Birdie flew below the tube.

  8. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.

  9. Birdie flew inside of the tube.

10. Birdie flew__________________ the tube.

11. Birdie flew off the tube.

12. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.

13. Birdie flew over the tube.

14. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.

15. Birdie flew on the tube.

16. Birdie flew__________________ the tube.

17. Birdie flew inside the tube.

18. Birdie flew __________________ the tube.

19. Birdie flew to the tube.

20. Birdie flew__________________ the tube.

 Some of the prepositions that you may have listed include (but are not limited to):

  1. below, beneath, under, underneath

  2. out

  3. above, over, atop

  4. on

  5. below, beneath, under, underneath

  6. below, beneath, under, underneath

  7. outside

  8. down

  9. from

10. above, over, atop

11. above, over, atop

12. out, out of

13. to, toward, towards

14. outside of