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It's back to the Comma Rules with #4: When Multiple Adjectives Describe the Same Noun. Adjectives are like chocolate candy: it's hard to stop at one! But when your sentence contains multiple adjectives, how do you separate them? To find out, let's look at a few examples. 

Consider the following sentence, with adjectives bolded:

The fat and lazy ​cat didn't budge from the sofa all day. 

That's technically correct, but AND deserves a break now and then. If we let AND walk away from this sentence, we can put a COMMA in her place. With that change, the sentence now looks like this: 

The fat, lazy cat didn't budge from the sofa all day. (Much better!)

To reinforce this rule, let's look at one more sentence both ways:

The fast and sleek race car blew past us. 
The fast, sleek race car whizzed past us. 

Notice how we can switch the adjectives in both of these sentences without changing the meaning? That's how we know to add AND or a COMMA. 

When adjectives can't be switched, no AND or COMMA is needed. Here are two examples:

The sprightly old man is still running 5Ks at 90.
You should wear comfortable dress ​shoes to the party. 

Thank you for reading A Spoonful of Grammar! In the spirit of keeping my grammar advice short, sweet, and easily digestible, spoonfuls will be now be posted once a week on Sundays. 

Sincerely,
​Laura Fineberg Cooper

QUIZ: Read the following excerpt from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:
"that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The underlined portions exhibit which of the following:
1) INTERROGATION
2) PARALLELISM
3) DOGMATISM

If you chose 2) PARALLELISM, congratulations! You are correct! Each of those underlined phrases are three words in length, end with "the people," and begin with prepositions. You can't get much more parallel than that! And that's just one example of PARALLELISM that Lincoln used in the world's most famous persuasive speech. I reckon that's a large part of the reason the Gettsyburg Address is still popular today.

You should aim to achieve PARALLELISM when your sentence contains a series of items - like we discussed with AND in Spoonful #11. The goal is to make sure all items in a series are listed in the same form. With AND's permission, let's go ahead and explain why her sentences are great PARALLELISM examples. 

1) Mary's favorite colors are purple, yellow, and blue.
WHY? Because all the items in this series are NOUNS.

2) Jeremy enjoyed skiing, skating, and swimming. 
​WHY? Because all the items in this series are GERUNDS (these are VERBS that masquerade as NOUNS. The "ing" in each one is a hint.) 
​
SAT TIP: In the SAT Writing Section, one of the common errors is a series that mixes GERUNDS with VERBS in the INFINITIVE (TO) form. 
Here's an example: Jeremy enjoyed skiing, skating, and to swim. 
Don't be fooled by this violation of the PARALLELISM rule!

3) I looked under the bed, inside my closet, and on my dresser, but my book is still missing.
WHY? Because all the items in this series are PREPOSITIONAL PHRASES with three words each. Those are phrases that start with PREPOSITIONS (under, inside, on.)

4) Honor Society requirements include ​earning stellar grades, displaying good conduct, and performing community service. 
WHY? Because all the items in this series are GERUND PHRASES with three words each. Those are phrases that start with GERUNDS(earning, displaying, performing.)

Repetition in picture books is another type of PARALLELISM, and one that I'm especially fond of. And trust me on this last point: the SAT loves PARALLELISM! 

​I hope you enjoyed this spoonful. In #13, I will return to comma rules.

Sincerely,
Laura Fineberg Cooper 

I'm tickled pink to introduce Comma Rule #3: Using Commas to Separate Items in a Series. I am the star, after all!! BUT tried to talk, but the poor dear lost his nerve.

Thanks for taking charge, AND! Will you please explain what a series is?

Why, certainly! A series is three or more items. These items can be single words, phrases, and more. Make sure you separate these items by commas and insert yours truly before the last item. Occasionally, I'll allow OR to be used as well.

Can you show us some examples?

Gladly! Because I'm so generous, I'll actually show you four. 
1) Mary's favorite colors are purple, yellow, and blue.
2) Jeremy enjoyed skiing, skating, and swimming. 
3) I looked under the bed, inside my closet, and on my dresser, but my book is still missing.
4) Honor Society requirements include earning stellar grades, displaying good conduct, and performing community service. 

I see BUT found the courage to sneak in after all. Will you allow OR to be featured in a sentence?

I suppose I could go powder my nose. OR! You're up!
5) Stan wasn't sure if he wanted pizza, sushi, or pasta for dinner. 

Thanks! I couldn't help but notice that in each sentence, a comma was placed before AND and OR. That's called a SERIAL or OXFORD COMMA, and some people consider it optional. I vote for using it, as it lends clarity to every sentence.

I agree! But I will make one concession. It seems that newspapers and magazines prefer to leave out the final comma. I wish to stress, however, that I deserve to be introduced by the SERIAL COMMA in EVERY OTHER CASE. 

Bravo, AND! You truly are a star. I also notice that all your examples exhibit excellent PARALLELISM -​ one of the most useful grammar rules of all. It's so useful (for writing, speeches, and for the SAT), that I'll take a brief break from comma rules and discuss PARALLELISM in the next spoonful. Thanks again!

Sincerely,
Laura Fineberg Cooper

I wish my subscribers and readers a wonderful Passover/Easter holiday weekend!!

To usher in this spoonful, here is a delightful poem by Douglas Florian called "COMMAS"!
Do commas have mommas
Who teach them to pause,
Who comfort and calm them,
And clean their sharp claws?
Who tell them short stories
Of uncommon commas
And send them to bed
In their comma pajamas?

​Rules about commas are so important, reviewing them one at a time is the best way to make sure they stick. Without further ado, here is Comma Rule #2!

WHEN A FANBOY JOINS A COMPLETE SENTENCE TO A SENTENCE FRAGMENT, NO COMMA IS REQUIRED BEFORE THE FANBOY. 

STEP #1: What is a SENTENCE FRAGMENT? 
* It can't stand on its own: it is not a complete sentence. 
* Some lack a subject, verb, or both: you'll be left wondering who, what, when, where, which, how, and/or why. 
* (Other fragments have a subject and verb, but are incomplete without leaning on complete sentences. Known as DEPENDENT CLAUSES, these do not require FANBOYS as connectors. As such, we will save them for a different spoonful.)

STEP #2: Five SENTENCE FRAGMENTS with questions in parentheses
1) my book collection (What about it? Anyone want to swap books?)
2) visit one or two of the beaches (Who? When? Which?)
3) earned ten minutes of extra recess on Friday (How? Who?)
4) dreamed of riding it (Who? What?)
5) go out for a fancy dinner (Who? Ooh! Please invite me!)

STEP #3: Five COMPLETE SENTENCES (AKA INDEPENDENT CLAUSES)
1) I need a personal library.
2) John wanted to go on a studio tour in Los Angeles.
3) Miss Martin's class behaved nicely all week. 
4) Rachel stared at the beautiful bike.
5) Do you want to catch a movie tonight?

STEP #4: Connect with FANBOYS (COMPLETE SENTENCES go first) 
1) I need a personal library for my book collection.
2) John wanted to go on a studio tour in Los Angeles and visit one or two of the beaches.
3) Miss Martin's class behaved nicely all week and earned ten minutes of extra recess on Friday. 
4) Raven stared at the beautiful bike and dreamed of riding it. 
5) Do you want to catch a movie tonight or go out for a fancy dinner?
 
There's no question that AND is the most popular of the FANBOYS, hence three of the sentences above used it. Did you notice that BUT, SO, and YET weren't in any of the sample sentences? That's because they act differently. More on that in the next spoonful...

Thank you for reading A Spoonful of Grammar! The FANBOYS and I truly appreciate it. 

Sincerely,
Laura Fineberg Cooper

laurafcooper.com/my-grammar-blog
[email protected]

Say a big hello to the FANBOYS of grammar: FOR, AND, NOR, BUT, OR, YET, and SO.

Their official names are coordinating conjunctions. It's no wonder they prefer to be called FANBOYS! 



The FANBOYS may look harmless, but don't be fooled: they have the tendency to muscle into unsuspecting sentences. Unfortunately, they delight in causing comma confusion wherever they land. To clear some of that confusion, I'll review the comma rules one at a time. 

COMMA RULE #1: Always put a comma before a FANBOY if it's joining two complete sentences together.

Let's start with two simple sentences, both standing alone nicely.

Sentence #1: It's raining cats and dogs.
Sentence #2: I can't find my umbrella. 

Now let's use AND to combine them into one. Do we need a comma before AND? YES! YES! YES!

Sentence #3: 
It's raining cats and dogs, and I can't find my umbrella. 

In grammar, Sentence #3 gets a fancy name all it's own: a COMPOUND sentence. If you write or see a sentence with a FANBOY, ask yourself this question: could I break this into two separate sentences? If the answer is YES, put a comma before the FANBOY! If NO...stay tuned for the next spoonful, which will also feature a funny poem by Doug Florian. 

That's it for this spoonful. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. You can comment right here or email me at [email protected].

Sincerely,
Laura Fineberg Cooper

​www.laurafcooper.com/my-grammar-blog