MANDATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE

Present Subjunctive is a formal expression used to express a circumstance which is desired. It is usually marked with the words: ask, demand, determine, insist, order, recommend, request, require, or suggest; followed by (that)+infinitive.

Example:

• The President demands that everyone own an ID card
• It is required that you be there before 6 pm.

Pay attention to those sentences. Infinitive verbs are used regardless of the subject pronouns.

The Present Subjunctive is used mostly in formal speech and writing, more often in American English than in British English. In British English, the insertion of “should” is used.

• The President demands that everyone should own an ID card.
• It is required that you should be there before 6 pm.

Present subjunctive also occurs after adjectives such as IMPORTANT, ESSENTIAL, VITAL etc. 

• It is vital that everybody wear a mask.
• It is desirable that the cars be parked outside.
• It is important that he be here when the officers come.
• It is essential that she send the documents today.
• It is imperative that products be packed properly.

Neither- nor

“Neither” is a singular adjective and can be paired with “nor”. When using neither-nor, you are saying that not the first object and not the second object are behaving in a certain way.

Example:

-Neither Larry nor Suze went to the beach. (Larry didn't go to the beach, Suze didn't go to the beach)

- For some people, going to the local library is neither interesting nor enjoyable. (going to the local library is not interesting and not enjoyable)

X: I don't like broccoli

Y: Neither do I (means: “I don't like broccoli too”. You may hear some people say “Me neither,” this is colloquial and not grammatically correct. You wouldn't say “Me don't like broccoli”)

Usually, either-or and neither-nor are used for mentioning two items, but sometimes they appear with three items.

- Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat can stop me.

An older form for this correlative was nor-nor:

- Nor sun nor wind will ever strive to kiss you. (Shakespeare)

You can use “nor” independently. Examples:

- She will not go to university, nor will she look for a job.

- I have never seen him since then, nor do I expect to see him again.

- I didn't murder anybody, nor will I.

Take a look to the examples above, auxiliary verbs are placed before the subjects. Therefore, you wouldn't say “I will not go to the dentist, nor I will go shopping.” Instead, say “I will not go to the dentist, nor will I go shopping.”

Sometimes instead of “neither”, a negative form may function with the first item. In such case, “or” or “nor” may appear with the last item.

- Bella owns no money (n)or jewelry.

Using “never”, “seldom”, or “rarely” in the first clause:

- He has never (or “seldom”, “rarely”) spoken a bad word to his wife (n)or to anyone else.

The use of “nor” in the sentences above reinforces the negation.

Either- or

Either means “one or the other, but not both”.

- She wanted to eat either spaghetti or steak. (She wanted to eat spaghetti or steak, but not both)

- I can't remember if either Fred or George stole a car. (One of the boys stole a car, but not both)

Whether-or is sometimes used instead of either-or.

- Whether out of avarice or out of need, he asked for a much higher price for his property than it was worth.

If two singular subjects are connected by neither-nor or either-or, match the verb with whichever subject it's closer to.

- Neither Olive nor the boys eat mushrooms.

- Neither the boys nor Olive eats mushrooms.

- Either one rat or several mice are eating everything in the cupboard.

- Either several mice or one rat is eating everything in the cupboard.

Participial phrase

Introduction

- Participle: a verbal that functions as an adjective.

- A participial phrase is a participle and its accompanying word or words.

Examples:

Interesting teacher : a teacher who is interesting

Interested student : a student who is interested

- There are two types of participles: present participles and past participles. Present participles end in -ing. Past participles of regular verbs end in –ed.

-Why using participial phrase?

The participial phrase is just another way to compound sentences. It provides a variety of sentence style to avoid producing boring paragraph.

Examples:

-The old man is my professor.

-He is carrying a brown bag.

You want to say that there is a man who is carrying a brown bag, and he is your professor. You can add “who is” to connect the sentences:

The old man who is carrying a brown bag is my professor. (you got a “complex sentence”)

Or, you can omit the “who is” and taa-daa... You created something called “participial phrase”.

The old man carrying a brown bag is my professor.

Now, take a look to these sentences:

-I walked into the room
-I found that everything was in a mess.

You wanted to say that you walked into a room, and when you got there, you found that everything was in a mess. To combine these two sentences, you may use a conjunction “and” , and you got a compound sentence:

I walked into the room and found that everything was in a mess.

Or change “walked” into “walking”, remove the first subject, and you got a participial phrase:

Walking into the room, I found that everything was in a mess.

Note:

to produce a participial phrase, use the same subject between the clauses, otherwise, you will produce a dangling construction.

Meaning:

• Cause

Bewitched by his charm, I lost my words.

Not wearing the uniform, he is not allowed to enter the class.

• Time

after: Having finished his job, he went out for coffee.

when: Opening the window, Lois was shocked by a green figure.

Placement

A participial phrase is flexible, a structure that can be placed at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence. However, don't place it too far from the word it modifies. In order to prevent confusion, a participial phrase must be placed as close to the noun it modifies as possible, and the noun must be clearly stated.

Entering her house, Susan found a dead body.

Susan, entering her house, found a dead body.

But consider what happens when the participial phrase moves to the end of the sentence:

Susan found a dead body entering her house.

Punctuation

• When a participial phrase begins a sentence, a comma should be placed after the phrase.

Arriving at the store, I found that it was closed.

- If the participial phrase is a restrictive phrase, no commas should be used:

The boy wearing the Dracula costume is my cousin.

(“the boy” may refer to any boy, so “wearing the Dracula costume” is attached without comma to point out which boy is the speaker’s cousin)

- If the participle or participial phrase comes in the middle of a sentence, it should be set off with commas only if it is non-restrictive phrase.

Sam, smelling something strange, asked Dean to call the police.

(“smelling something strange” is not used to point out which Sam is asking Dean to call the police)

• If a participial phrase comes at the end of a sentence, a comma usually precedes the phrase if it modifies the first subject in the sentence, but not if the phrase directly follows the word it modifies.

Clark nervously gazed the woman, attracted by her beauty.

(The participial phrase modifies Clark, not woman. If the comma is omitted, the participial phrase will modify the woman, not Clark)

Parallelism

In order to make your ideas in your sentences clear and understandable, words, phrases, and clauses should have parallelism –that is, the sentence structures should be grammatically balanced. A parallel construction is the repetition of grammatical patterns within a sentence or a series of sentences. By using similar grammatical form to express equal ideas, your sentences will flow smoothly, and your writing style will improve.

Use similar grammatical structures to balance your writing. If the first structure is a noun, make all of the other nouns; if it is a phrase, make all of the others phrases; if it is a clause, make all of the others clauses.

Incorrect : A student needs textbooks, notebooks, and he needs pens.

Correct : A student needs textbooks, notebooks, and pens. (Balance noun with nouns)

Incorrect : A student who does well in exams attends class, reads the textbooks, and he reviews the notes.

Correct : A student who does well in exams attends class, reads the textbooks, and reviews the notes. (Balance clause with clause)

Using parallelism

Conjunction (and, or, but)

Words, phrases, and clauses that are joined by and, or, and but are written in parallel form. Notice the parallel structures joined by conjunctions in the following sentences.

• People accused him of being a magician and that he was a fraud. (incorrect)

People accused him for being a magician and a fraud. (Correct)

Correlative conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions are placed differently before the elements they join in the sentence.

• Both … and …

Congress has provided the means for both regulating pesticides and ordering their removal if dangerous.

• Either … or …

She wanted to eat either spaghetti or steak.

• Neither … nor …

Neither Spiderman nor Tarzan went to the party.

• Not only … but also …

At the present time, air pollution is controlled through laws passed not only to reduce the pollutant at their sources, but also to set up acceptable standards of air quality.

Comparisons (than, as)

• Than

Incorrect : Sleeping is much better than to work overtime.

Correct : Sleeping is much better than working overtime

• As

Correct : The members of the US House of Representatives are elected by district as the members of the British House of Commons are.

By repeating the preposition, the articles, or the subordinating conjunctions, the parallelism becomes clearer and more effective.

• I believe that eating chocolate makes you fat and that eating apples keeps you slim.

All the words in the first parallel structure do not have to be repeated in the second. You may repeat all or some of the words, depending upon what you wish to emphasize.

Before you write a paper a paper or (before) (you) take a test, you must organize your thoughts.