Sunday, September 23, 2012

Woah! New stuff!


So this week we learned a few new things, most interestingly being FANBOYS: FOR,AND, NOR,BUT,OR,YET,SO. When I first heard Barbara say that we would be learning about FANBOYS my first thought was “fanboys? Did I hear her right?” I WAS VERY INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT IT, YET I FEEL I STILL DON’T REALLY UNDERSTAND. FOR STARTERS, I CAN’T REALLY REMEMBER IF YOU PUT THE COMMA BEFORE, OR AFTER YOU’RE FANBOYS. I’m hoping I used them correctly in that last sentence, so if I’m wrong please tell me so! 

Another thing that we learned about recently was intransitive verbs (S-Vi), transitive verbs (S-Vt-O), and linking verbs (S-LV-SC). TECHNICALLY I THINK WE STARTED LEARNING ABOUT THEM THE WEEK PRIOR TO THIS PAST WEEK, BUT THIS WEEK I BECAME REALLY EXCITED WHEN I REALIZED I MIGHT ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND THEM. When we did the newspaper exercise it didn’t really stick with me, it was almost like I was just guessing and hoping I was getting my sentence correctly labeled. However when we did the latest exercise with the magnet boards I think it finally clicked! Especially being able to talk it out with a partner seemed to help too. 

THE NEXT PATTERN OF THE WEEK THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO USE IS AAAWWUBBIS; ALTHOUGH I DON’T THINK I REALLY KNOW HOW TO USE IT. I remember that we are not supposed to put a comma after although, because even if in speech we pause after saying it, we do not really put a comma after it in a sentence. WHEN IT WAS BROUGHT UP IN CLASS THAT WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO WRITE LIKE WE TALK, I WAS A LITTLE SURPRISED BECAUSE BEFORE TAKING THIS CLASS I WAS TOLD, UP UNTIL I GRADUATED FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL, THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO PUT VOICE IN OUR WRITING, AND IT WAS EVEN SUGGESTED TO WRITE LIKE HOW WE SPEAK; SINCE AN ACTUAL UNIVERSITY GRAMMAR INSTRUCTER INFORMED US THAT IS INCORRECT HOWEVER, I WILL BE CAREFUL NOT TO DO SO IN THE FUTURE. I’M HOPING THAT THE SENTENCE I JUST WROTE WAS WHAT BARBARA MEANT BY WRITING A COMPLEX SENTENCE USING AAAWWUBBIS, IF I DIDN’T HOWEVER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! 

On a side note, I’m also wondering if I’m correctly capitalizing the patterns of the week; because that whole paragraph is practically capitalized. Am I supposed to be capitalizing the whole sentence in which I believe that I used a pattern of the week, or am I supposed to just be doing it to the specific spot within the sentence where the pattern is? 

All in all, I’m just excited with the fact that I am learning new things. BEFORE I TOOK THIS CLASS I BELIEVED I WAS PRETTY SPOT ON GRAMMATICALLY; I THOUGHT THIS CLASS WOULD BE EASY. Now I realize that there is so much more to grammar than just nouns, verbs, adjectives and punctuation, etc. I had never heard of particles or articles or FANBOYS; pretty much everything we have been learning this last week… So it’s pretty exciting, yet eye opening, to see how much more I have to learn!

2 comments:

  1. I got a little confused with the "OR" FANBOY you used. "I CAN’T REALLY REMEMBER IF YOU PUT THE COMMA BEFORE, OR AFTER YOU’RE FANBOYS". "After You're FANBOY" isn't a sentence so I think it doesn't count.
    I remember my teachers telling me that we had to write how we spoke as well, but I think it's more about what diction we used then the structure of the sentence.

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  2. Susan's right about no comma before OR AFTER YOU"RE FANBOYS. Also notice that you've used the wrong YOU'RE, right?

    Here are some more sentences with punctuation problems:

    "When we did the newspaper exercise it didn’t really stick with me, it was almost like I was just guessing and hoping I was getting my sentence correctly labeled." == comma splice ME, IT is where the two sentences break.

    ...USING AAAWWUBBIS, IF I DIDN’T HOWEVER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! ==comma splice

    I also see that you're experimenting with semicolons, which I'm happy to see. However, these aren't correctly used. Remember: you have to have complete sentences on either side of the semicolon. In these sentences, you just need a comma rather than a semicolon.

    THE NEXT PATTERN OF THE WEEK THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO USE IS AAAWWUBBIS; ALTHOUGH I DON’T THINK I REALLY KNOW HOW TO USE IT.

    On a side note, I’m also wondering if I’m correctly capitalizing the patterns of the week; because that whole paragraph is practically capitalized.

    Now I realize that there is so much more to grammar than just nouns, verbs, adjectives and punctuation, etc. I had never heard of particles or articles or FANBOYS; pretty much everything we have been learning this last week…

    In this sentence, you actually use the semicolon correctly, although I personally would have just used a period.
    WHEN IT WAS BROUGHT UP IN CLASS THAT WE ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO WRITE LIKE WE TALK, I WAS A LITTLE SURPRISED BECAUSE BEFORE TAKING THIS CLASS I WAS TOLD, UP UNTIL I GRADUATED FROM MY HIGH SCHOOL, THAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO PUT VOICE IN OUR WRITING, AND IT WAS EVEN SUGGESTED TO WRITE LIKE HOW WE SPEAK; SINCE AN ACTUAL UNIVERSITY GRAMMAR INSTRUCTER INFORMED US THAT IS INCORRECT HOWEVER, I WILL BE CAREFUL NOT TO DO SO IN THE FUTURE. I’M HOPING THAT THE SENTENCE I JUST WROTE WAS WHAT BARBARA MEANT BY WRITING A COMPLEX SENTENCE USING AAAWWUBBIS, IF I DIDN’T HOWEVER, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

    Notice your HOWEVERs in the preceding sentence. You need to put commas before and after HOWEVER, since it's interrupting the main sentence.

    As for your other question about what to capitalize: yeah, just the structure in question: the FANBOYS or the AAAWWUBBIS words.

    Again, I am so excited to see someone experiment with semicolons. So far, you're the only one! Keep it up until you master them.

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