D.g. Gillespie

Professor Matthew Diggerson

Ocean View College

                                                                               Grammar Jam!

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            Since I like making up funny lyrics to song, I naturally shifted into fitting grammatical advice into melodies, such as my first attempt with the Beatles’ “Let It Be”: “If you start a sentence with ‘i,’ ‘n,’ ‘g,’/ add the doer of the ‘ing,’/Fixing two main problems,/ with 2b.”  My “2b” rhyme pointed students to that number on a sentencing checklist, which also advised students to add a needed comma after the “ing” phrase, thus the “fixing two main problems.”  The main problem, a dangling modifier, often occurs when students begin a sentence with an “ing” phrase, such as these examples show:

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• Error:By using words with negative connotations it shows the writer’s attitude.

• Fixed (note how the lyrical advice above helps):By using words with negative connotations, the writer shows his attitude.

 

• Error:Adding sobering statistics about the problem the writer’s point about severity is established.

• Fixed (see/hear why?):Adding sobering statistics about the problem, the writer established the severity point.

 

A dangling modifier is not the worst error, because most readers understand the basic point and simply continue reading, and even the missing comma does not interrupt communication too much.  However, a writer can easily fix both errors with a few lyrical lines and a well-known melody.  That’s Grammar Jam.

 

            Some errors really do disrupt the flow of information, such as awkward phrasing, fragments, and run-ons, all of which stop the reader and make him or her re-read a sentence.  Run-ons (also known as comma splices or fused sentences) commonly occur, too, so most students need help with them.  Let Freddy Mercury and Queen help.  Just let “We Are the Champions” drift through your mind and then read this:

 

                    I read my sentence, but it didn’t sound tight.

                    I heard two thoughts   that were not connected right.

                    I needed an “and” or maybe “because”

                    Or a period or semicolon to fill the strong pause… strong pause… strong pause…

                    I made a run-on, my bad.

                    My reader had to re-read, how sad.

                    Comma “therefore,” comma “however,” comma and “this” and comma and “it” … Could signal run-ons.

 

In class, students love hearing me warble that song because who can possibly hit Freddy Mercury’s notes?  More than fun, though, look at the specific tips within that song:  first, if you read a sentence aloud, you can hear where the statements are not “connected right”—at the spot of the “strong pause.”  To fix it, you could add nice words like “because” or even just a period.  And the chorus adds more specifics: look for a comma followed by words like “however” or “this.” 

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          You don’t need full stanza’s like the Queen one to remember grammar tips, though, and any “jingle” will work, such as this:  “Wordiness, wordiness, because of “is” and “are./Who does what? and what does what? Your sentence is a star.”  You just thought of Christmas, didn’t you?