Definition and Examples of Interrupting Phrases

Definition and Examples of Interrupting Phrases Its a playful device favored by bloggers, diarists, and (woo hoo!) the staff writers at Entertainment Weekly. But nowget ready for itthe interrupting phrase is popping up in more formal kinds of writing as well. Unlike appositives and conventional modifiers, which rename or qualify other words in a sentence, the contemporary interrupter is a (nerd alert) metadiscursive trick. The writer pauses to address the reader directly and signal her feelings about the news shes reporting. Consider these examples from a recent issue of EW: Not only does Amanda have anxiety attacks tonight, but Ella tries to beyucksweet.Travesty: Wilhelmina has a perforated ulcer. Bigger travesty: At the hospital she has abrace yourselfroommate.Tara barely had time to register that Franklin would still be alivehooray!before Sookie had her and Alcide helping to wrap Bill in a tarp so they could move him.The press release (its real!): Peter Yarrow of Peter Paul and Mary teams up with CBS to release The Colonoscopy Song. The interrupter can be the verbal equivalent of a wink, a smirk, or a smack to the forehead. It may be a single word (usually an interjection), a lengthy clause, oryou guessed itsomething in between. You can slip one in parenthetically (like this), or use dashes to call attention to it cowabunga!like that. But this intrusive maneuver isnt limited to the pop-culture press. One sign of the convergence of journalism and blogging is the growing presence of interrupters in upscale newspapers: Cash funds offered by the Pru (named Cash Haven Trust, would you believe?) and Clerical Medical also lost money because they were exposed to mortgage debt.(Paul Farrow, Good Fund Investors Must Look Beyond the Name. The Daily Telegraph [UK], August 16, 2010)So lets beat back this unnecessary, unfair andlets not mince wordscruel attack on working Americans. Big cuts in Social Security should not be on the table.(Paul Krugman, Attacking Social Security. The New York Times, August 15, 2010)No such problemhooray!at the Tories forthcoming party conference, which promises a Pride dinner in Birmingham followed by a disco at Nightingales, Brums premier gay nightclub.(Stephen Bates, Diary. The Guardian [UK], August 11, 2010)Ironically, Odgen Jr. was the only one of the five children who got to live the life he wanted. (He was also the only one to marryhappily, go figureto a wealthy railroad widow who left him a huge fortune when she died six years after the wedding in 1910.)(Yvonne Abraham, A House Full of Tales. The Boston Globe, August 1, 2010) Along with the crafty use of fragments, contractions, and the pronouns I and you, interrupters can add a more conversational, down-home flavor to our prose. But as with any potentially distracting device (teacher is talking), lets not overwork them.

Definition and Examples of Conditional Clauses

Definition and Examples of Conditional Clauses In English grammar, a conditional clause is a type of adverbial clause that states a hypothesis or condition, real (factual) or imagined (counterfactual). A sentence containing one or more conditional clauses and a main clause (which expresses the result of the condition) is called a conditional sentence  (also known as a conditional construction). A conditional clause is most often introduced by the subordinating conjunction if. Other conditional subordinators include unless, even if, provided that,  on condition that, as long as, and  in the case of. (Note that unless functions as a negative subordinator.) Conditional clauses tend to come at the beginning of complex sentences, but (like other adverbial clauses) they may also come at the end.   Examples and Observations If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. (Anne Bradstreet, Meditations Divine and Moral)Romans park their cars the way I would park if I had just spilled a beaker of hydrochloric acid on my lap. (Bill Bryson,  Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe. William Morrow, 1992)Even if it snows, even if there is a tornado, nothing will put off this expedition. (J.F. Powers, Death of a Favorite, 1951)After that first taste of the sandal in the dining room, I foolishly believed I would be safe as long as I stayed away from the table. (Adrienne Kress,  Alex  . Weinstein Books, 2007)and  the Ironic GentlemanIf you can keep your head when all about youAre losing theirs and blaming it on you,If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,Or being lied about, dont deal in lies,Or being hated, dont give wa y to hating,And yet dont look too good, nor talk too wise...(The first stanza of Rudyard Kiplings If- , 1895) What Are 'Conditions'? Conditions deal with imagined situations: some are possible, some are unlikely, some are impossible. The speaker/writer imagines that something can or cannot happen or have happened, and then compares that situation with possible consequences or outcomes, or offers further logical conclusions about the situation. (R. Carter,  Cambridge Grammar of English. Cambridge University Press, 2006) Stylistic Advice: Positioning Conditional Clauses Conditional clauses have traditionally been placed at the beginning of a sentence, but you should feel free to place a conditional clause elsewhere if doing so would make the provision easier to read. The longer the conditional clause, the more likely it is that the provision would be more readable with the matrix clause rather than the conditional clause at the front of the sentence. If both the conditional clause and the matrix clause contain more than one element, you would likely be better off expressing them as two sentences. (Kenneth A. Adams,  A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting. American Bar Association, 2004) Types of Conditional Clauses There are six main types of conditional sentence: For example, the equilibrium between liquid and vapor is upset if the temperature is increased.(General rule, or law of nature: it always happens.)If you start thinking about this game, it will drive you crazy.(Open future condition: it may or may not happen.)But if you really wanted to be on Malibu Beach, youd be there.(Unlikely future condition: it probably wont happen.)If I were you, I would go to the conference center itself and ask to see someone in security.(Impossible future condition: it could never happen.)I would have resigned if they had made the decision themselves, she said.(Impossible past condition: it didnt happen.)If he had been working for three days and three nights then it was in the suit he was wearing now.(Unknown past condition: we dont know the facts.) (John Seely,  Grammar for Teachers. Oxpecker, 2007)