Grammar Rules and Usage: A Guide by Alexander Pope - Prof. Candy Schille, Study notes of English Language

Download Grammar Rules and Usage: A Guide by Alexander Pope - Prof. Candy Schille and more Study notes English Language in PDF only on Docsity! English 2112 Dr. Schille Grammar issues 1. Comma between sentences joined with a conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor, yet) Pope acts as God’s defending attorney, and we humans are supposed to be His accusers. 2. Comma before introductory phrase In Pope’s “Essay on Man,” the source of error is what Pope calls “Reasoning Pride.” 3. Comma after introductory subordinate clause (preceded by while, when, as, though, whatever and such words While Pope sets out to correct humans’ unfair complaints against God, he paradoxically claims that humans are “perfect.” 4. Semi-colon between closely related but independent sentences Pope wrote the “Essay on Man” in verse; he claimed that he could write in verse more concisely than in prose. 5. Commas surrounding a non-essential modifier Alexander Pope, a Roman Catholic, was further disadvantaged by his dwarfism. 6. Do not surround an essential modifier with commas. The author of the “Essay on Man” is the poet Alexander Pope. 7. Quotation marks always go outside commas and periods (and other terminal punctuation when it is part of the quoted material). Exasperated with humans’ attacks on God, Pope bursts out, “Presumptuous Man!” 8. Surround conjunctive adverbs (thus, therefore, nevertheless, however and so on) with commas. Use a semicolon when the c.u. separates two independent sentences. Nevertheless, Pope says we are “alone made perfect here, immortal there”; in other words, we are just as we should be for our purpose on this earth, and we of all creatures are granted eternal life in (one hopes) heaven. Pope is, therefore, both an advocate for and an accuser of mankind. 9. Make subjects agree with verbs, even when separated by other words The solution to all our problems, Pope feels, is easily discovered. Pope argues that the use of the five senses is no more acute than it ought to be. 10. Indefinite pronounds are singular Neither of our accusations against God is valid. 11. Use fewer with things that can be counted and less with things that cannot be counted. We ask why we do not have fewer physical weaknesses; Pope asks why we do not have more. 12. Use a comma between adjectives of equal status Pope sees the “Passions” as a kinetic, animating force in human psychology. 13. Make pronouns agree with antecedents in number. Each man has his faults and virtues. Men have their own faults and virtues. 14. Make pronouns agree with antecedents. Pope contrasts humans’ dissatisfaction with their physical selves with the perfect adaption of each animal to its environmental niche. 15. Use the possessive for nouns preceding gerunds . . . Pope objects to a man’s complaining against god. 16. . . . unless the noun preceding the gerund is plural Pope objects to people complaining against god. Inanimate, Pope claims that even an earthquake destroying thousands is part of God’s plan for the world. Or abstract Pope deplores pride overruling our piety. 17.Use who for the subjective case and whom for the objective case Who, Pope asks, could design a better world than God’s? Whom, Pope asks, does God save? 18.Case in a dependent clause follows the word’s function in that clause. God saves whomever He chooses. 19. Use the appropriate form of it Each creature is perfectly formed for its function in the universe. It’s obvious that Reason combines and surpasses the gifts of all other creatures. 20. Use the objective case for objects of prepositions: