The Comma Splice

Beware, citizen, for this is not a real comma!   

This imposter is The Comma Splice, and as a sinister member of The Grammar Villains (a.k.a. mistakes), this counterfeit comma is out to fool you into making a classic grammar mistake: splicing together complete sentences.

Real commas are useful and powerful pieces of punctuation.  But even as useful and powerful as commas can be, true commas don’t have the power to join together two complete sentences.  That’s why honest and true commas would never try to do such a thing.  But The Comma Splice is neither honest nor true, and that’s why she’s on a malicious mission to trick you into thinking that she has the power to join complete sentences.

For example:

They need help, I must fly to the rescue.

This sentence is not correct.  It’s a comma splice: a fake comma that is incorrectly splicing (or patching) together two complete sentences. 

Complete sentences cannot be correctly joined together by a single comma.  In order to be joined correctly, complete sentences must either be: 1) ended with proper sentence-ending punctuation, 2) joined together by using the combination of a comma with a coordinating conjunction, or 3) joined together using a semicolon.  To fix this sentence, we’ll use a semicolon, like this:

They need help; I must fly to the rescue.

There’s a correct way to join two complete sentences together, and there’s a wrong way; using a comma splice will never be a correct way.

So, citizen, now that you know about this counterfeit comma, The Comma Splice, don’t let her fool you into splicing your sentences together; because in the end, no matter how you splice it—it’s still a mistake!

EVIL POWER: 

The Comma Splice has the power to fool you into thinking that she can join together two complete sentences.

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1) 

I can’t believe it, he’s breaking loose.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

I can’t believe it.  He’s breaking loose.

Fix by: separating them out into two sentences, and  ended both with proper sentence-ending punctuation.

2) 

It’s true, I’m a mutant.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

It’s true; I’m a mutant.

Fix by:  adding a semicolon to properly join them into one sentence.

3)

You grab the cash, I’ll snatch the jewels.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

You grab the cash, and I’ll snatch the jewels.

Fixed by: adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction to join them into one sentence.

4)

Your muscles are strong, your mind is weak.

comma splice: two complete sentences spliced together with a comma.

Your muscles are strong, but your mind is weak.

Fixed by: adding a comma and a coordinating conjunction to join them into one sentence.

Super Teachers!

Unbelievable! The heroes and villains of Super Grammar have been brought to life! 

On October 28, (just before Halloween) this picture was posted onto our Super Grammar facebook page.  When we first saw it, we were knocked out.  “These are Super Grammar characters,” we thought, “and these costumes are amazing!”  But how did this happen?  Where did these heroes come from?  Our curiosity was too great, and we knew that we had no choice; we had to learn the truth.  So, using the awesome (and nearly unlimited) power of our hypertext transfer protocol device, we made contact with these mysterious beings, and then we asked them to tell us—their origins story.

We soon learned that this photo was sent to us by a courageous group of 3^rd grade teachers from King-Chavez Arts and Athletics Academies in San Diego, and they told us that they made these super costumes for their school’s fall carnival.  But why did they do it?  Well, here’s what they said:

This year we started using Super Grammar as part of our lessons. As we introduce our weekly grammar standard, we accompany it with a Super Grammar hero or villain. Our kids have been so into it and are always begging for more, so we thought they would LOVE it if their very own teachers turned into super heroes for a day... and oh boy! We all had a blast!

And so, these valiant teachers dressed up as: The Subject (Ms Lima), The Predicate (Ms. Hernandez), The Noun (Mrs. Woodhead), and The Fragment (Mr. Hobson).   We couldn’t help but notice what a great job they did on their costumes, too.  We were really impressed with the level of detail and craftsmanship that they had put into each character.  It’s obvious that they had fun making the costumes, but wait; their fun was just getting started.  As part of their super powered mission, they came up with a way to share the fun of their super identities with their students!  Here’s how they did it: 

During the day of the carnival, we each printed out mini cards with our character on them. We challenged our kids to collect all of the cards by the end of the day to earn a prize. As they came up to each of us we asked them to: tell us who we were, what our super hero's power was or to give an example (of a noun, subject, predicate, fragment). We were amazed at how many prizes we had to give away. Now our only problem is: how on Earth will we be able to top this next year!?

Truly, only the mightiest of teachers could have pulled off such a bold and daring feat of super powered creativity.  Ms. Lima, Ms. Hernandez, Mrs. Woodhead, and Mr. Hobson; you’re super awesome, and Super Grammar salutes you.  Well done, heroes.  Well done!

As a small “Thank you,” for doing proper justice to the Super Grammar characters, we’ve sent each of you a Super Grammar Bookmark and a set of promo cards.  We hope you enjoy them, and thank you again for making this year's Halloween so special for us!

Sincerely,

The Super Grammar Team

P.S.  If—You—have a Super Grammar story that you’d like to share, please email us (here) or post it onto our facebook page.  We’d love to hear about it! 

The Adjective

The Adjective is a hero with an incredible eye for detail, and as a member of The Amazing Eight (A.K.A. parts of speech), this hero puts his keen powers of observation to work for the good of all our sentences.

The Adjective is a modifier, and with the help of his super handy modifying tool, he delivers a fist full of descriptive power to nouns and pronouns.  The details supplied by The Adjective serve our sentences by adding richness and interest to the people, places, and objects within them.  For instance, “the hero” can become “the fearless hero,” and “the villain” can become “the twisted villain.”  Also, adjectives can be very useful additions to our sentences because they add clarity and understanding by answering the questions: which one, how many, and what kind?

So, the next time you want to add some distinct and dynamic description to your sentences, remember our detail oriented hero—The Adjective. 

SUPER POWERS:

The Adjective has the ability to modify nouns and pronouns in a sentence with the addition of descriptive detail.  By modifying these words with description, he helps answer these questions: which one, how many, and what kind?

 

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1)

The slimy thief got away.

slimy: adjective answering the question which one?

2)

Three heroes are on patrol.

Three: adjective answering the question how many?

3)

Circuit Breaker is a powerful villain.

powerful: adjective answering the question what kind?

THE POWER OF PHRASING:

The Adjective has The Power of Phrasing.  Sometimes an adjective needs to be more than a single word to properly do its job.  This is when The Adjective uses The Power of Phrasing.  This power allows the adjective to stretch out into being several words that act as a single unit within a sentence.  This group of words is called: a phrase.

SUPER EXAMPLES:

1)

The man with the enormous brain is controlling us.

with the enormous brain: adjective phrase answering the question which one?

2)

His more than two arms gave him the advantage.

more than two: adjective phrase answering the question how many?

3)

He is a hero of tremendous virtue.

of tremendous virtue: adjective phrase answering the question what kind?

The Complete Sentence Super-Team

There are only two members that belong to The Complete Sentence Super-Team (A.K.A. parts of a sentence), and they are The Subject and The Predicate. 

With only two members, The Complete Sentence Super-Team is the smallest of all the super-teams, but just because they don’t have as many team members as the other bigger groups, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a big and important part to play in keeping your sentences strong and correct.  In fact, these two wholesome heroes may very well have one of the most important grammar jobs of all: making complete sentences.

Why are complete sentences so important?  It’s because complete sentences are the very first line of defense against three (3) major sentence supervillains: The Fragment, The Run-on, and The Comma splice.  Any one of these villains can spell big trouble for your sentences, and each of them is always ready to exploit a weak sentence, but teaming up with the Complete Sentence Super-Team can help protect you against their attacks because—a complete sentence—is a strong sentence.  Also, being able to recognize and create complete sentences gives you the power to correctly form, structure, and punctuate your sentences.  And if you can do that, you’ll always have these three villains beat.

Just remember this: The Subject and The Predicate's powers are linked.  These two heroes get all of their sentence-forming powers from working together as a complete team.  If these two heroes are ever separated from each other, they will be incomplete, and that will make them weak and vulnerable.

So, always make sure that The Complete Sentence Super-Team is kept together, and they’ll make sure that your first line of defense is always strong and secure.

SUPER POWERS:

The Subject and The Predicate are members of the Complete Sentence Super-Team (A.K.A. parts of a sentence), and they have the power to form strong and complete sentences.

THE COMPLETE SENTENCE SUPER-TEAM MEMBERS:

• The Subject: the someone or something the sentence is about.
• The Predicate: tells (verbalizes) something about the subject.

SUPER EXAMPLE:

The hero rescued the crowd.

Is this a complete sentence?  Let's check.

First, find the subject (ask: who or what is the sentence about?).

 

Next, find the predicate (ask: what is the sentence telling about the subject?).

Now, put the subject and the predicate together, and ...

                 The Subject                                  The Predicate

Yes, this is a complete sentence.

Super Grammar's Public Debut

Super Grammar has just wrapped its first year at the San Diego Comic-Con! 

Here’s a shot (above) of our display.  It featured our double-sided bookmarks and five different promo cards.  We made these bookmarks and promo cards as give-away items to help spread the word about Super Grammar.

 

Here’s a picture (above) of the full table display at the Comic-Con booth.  Super Grammar proudly shared table space with Rhode Montijo’s other children's books: The Halloween Kid, Cloud Boy, Skeletown, and T-t-tartamudo. 

Now, you might be thinking that our Super Grammar display looks a little small, but this small display represents a very big step for us.  You see, this is the first time that we’ve ever presented Super Grammar outside of this blog, so that makes this event—our official public debut!  And, we’re happy to report that our debut went over pretty well. 

The bookmarks, especially, were a big hit!  We printed a thousand of them, and they were all gone by mid Saturday.  If we had any idea that we were going to run out, we would have printed more; but honestly, it was a surprise to us that so many people were interested in having one.  Bookmarks—who knew?

Our promo cards did pretty well, too.  On that front, it was our supervillain card featuring The Fragment that was the highest in demand, but that’s only when someone was interested in taking a single card.  For the most part, I was noticing that people were grabbing one of each so that they had the whole set. 

Here’s a shot (above) of convention goers checking out the goods.

All in all, it was a super fun time, and it felt really great to finally have Super Grammar out in the light of day.  Getting to watch the reactions of people who were seeing Super Grammar for the first time was also a big treat for us.  We’d here things like, “Super Grammar, Yeah!” and, I remember one guy saying, “I love superheroes, and I love grammar, so this is perfect.”  Getting the chance to meet and talk with all these fun people (many of them in costume) was absolutely the best part.  In fact, getting to physically talk to people about Super Grammar has made all of the hard work that we’ve been putting into creating it feel hugely satisfying.  It’s a great feeling to have, so we’d like to pass along our gratitude to all of you who stopped by and shared your excitement and support for Super Grammar with us.  Thank you!

Before we wrap up this post, we’ve got one more picture for you. 

Here are the creators of Super Grammar in their mild mannered disguises: Rhode Montijo (left) and Tony Preciado (right).

Thanks for all the fun, Comic-Con.  And, to all of you who have just found out about Super Grammar, be it by Comic-Con or not, welcome.  We’ve got more Super Grammar heroes and villains on the way!

Sincerely,

The Super Grammar Team

p.s. We’d like to give super special thanks to our talented friend who is Rhode’s Booth partner, Jamie Baker, for all of his support through Comic-Con. 

Thanks, Jamie!

The Sentence Ending Team

One of the specialized jobs entrusted to the punctuation team, The Super Symbols, is telling the reader when a sentence has ended.  There are three Super Symbols Team members that have this power, and they are: The Period, The Question Mark, and The Exclamation Point.

These three sentence terminators all possess the power to signal the end of a sentence, but keep in mind that they are not simply here to end sentences—they’re also here to make a point!  Each of these super symbols is empowered with the ability to influence the character, voice, and mood of a sentence.  Are you calm, confused, angry, or determined?  Whichever it may be, the sentence ending team is ready to help you communicate it loud and clear. 

So, never forget to end your sentences with proper punctuation, and always remember that The Sentence Ending team is on your side—to the bitter end.

SENTENCE ENDING TEAM MEMBERS:

• The Period.
• The Question Mark?
• The Exclamation Point!

Super Grammar Promo Cards

The San Diego Comic-Con is happening this week (July 21st-24th), and even though we already have our Super Grammar bookmarks to give out, we just couldn’t help ourselves, so we made these promo cards, too!

Super Grammar will be at BOOTH 1329.

We hope to see you there!