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Sentence basics

Using the correct verb with a subject

Pronouns - singular or plural two

Compounded and non-compounded subjects

Pairs of things

Quantity describing expressions

Expletive constructions

Abbreviations

I.e. versus e.g

Mr and Mrs Smith

Date and time abbreviations

Name initials

Abbreviations of units

Avoiding sentence fragments

When its OK to use sentence fragments

Capitalisation

Proper nouns

The first word of any sentence

Capitalisation of titles

I gets capitalised

Using italics

To make something stand out

Onomatopoeia

Titles

When you are talking about the word itself not using it for what it represents

Names of vehicles

Short sentences

Joining parallel sentence subjects or objects

Compounding parallel objects

Compounding parallel subjects

Linking two sentences together more closely

The simple linking relationship

The contrast relationship

Intentionally subordinating a clause to another

Connecting using an absolute phrase

Connecting using appositive phrases

Connecting using a participial phrase

Using the correct sequence of tenses

Writing numbers correctly

Numbers of units

Decimal and fractional numbers

The number zero

Approximate numbers

Common phrases

Starts of sentences

Multiple numbers one after the other

Writing lists

Lists

Bullet point lists

Numbered lists

To make something stand out

When you want to make something stand out in a sentence, you can use italics to emphasise it more than the other words in the sentence. Sometimes this can be used to give the reader some idea of the tone of the sentence - whether it’s sarcastic, or genuine, or worried. Compare these two sentences that a school student might say when they find out that one of their friends has stayed at home sick:

The first sentence is a simple statement, indicating that the person is wondering what his sick friend is doing at home.

The second sentence though is different - the verb is in italics, indicating that there is extra emphasis on it. It’s still up to the reader to interpret what this means, but if I was reading it, I might think one of these two things:

• The italics mean that the person really, really wants to know what their friend is doing at home; they aren’t just idly wondering.

• The other way I might take it is that the person doesn’t really believe their friend is at home or sick. The italics in this case make the sentence sarcastic.

Italics are a great way to convey sarcasm in writing. When you’re talking, it’s easy to change the tone of your voice to get the message across if you’re being sarcastic. On paper, it’s harder, but italics can help. Following on from the last set of example sentences:

Jeremy:	Bob’s sick at home is he?
Simon:	Yeah, that’s what his mum said.
Jeremy:	Oh really?
Simon:	Yeah.

If you read the above conversation, then you’d probably interpret it as Jeremy just double checking that what he heard Simon say was correct. However, if you put italics in the right place, you get a different meaning:

Jeremy:	Bob’s sick at home is he?
Simon:	Yeah that’s what his mum said.
Jeremy:	Oh really?
Simon:	Yeah.

The extra emphasis on the word ‘really’ adds a certain tone to the conversation. I’d now interpret this as Jeremy not really believing that Bob is actually sick, hence the sarcastic ‘Oh really’ statement.

Click here to move on to the next topic: Onomatopoeia