Sentences and Independent Clauses

Sentences and Independent Clauses

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Conventional punctuation is grammar based—marks are prescribed in terms of grammatical structure—but what “good writers” do, writers like Orwell, is punctuate according to their intended meaning, their intended emphasis.1 It is an approach to use of the functional punctuation marks that follows “principles” rather than “rules.”2 To understand the principles, however, one grammatical element must be recognized — the independent clause. And the reason for this requirement is clear enough: all prose, written or spoken, consists of concatenations of independent clauses, and punctuation is a matter of showing appropriate relationships between them (some get punctuated as sentences, some do not). It is a mistake to assume that the sentence is the basic element in prose; it is also confusing, for it is the wrong basis for analyzing written language.3

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To repeat: all discourse, written or spoken, consists of independent clauses or underlying independent clauses. The principle for “underlying” structures is well known: in spite of the missing element(s) in the surface structure, a clause is independent if the missing element(s) can be readily provided by a native speaker:

(7) Where are you going? Home.

(8) Mary read the book. John too.

(9) We went to the beach. Enjoyed the sun.

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Sentences, therefore, are but one way of punctuating independent clauses:

(10) First it was rain. Then it was snow.

(11) First it was rain; then it was snow.

(12) First it was rain, then it was snow.

And so on — there are a number of other options for marking this boundary between independent clauses.

Sentences like (10)–(12) suggest a hierarchy of functional punctuation marks. The complete hierarchy is shown in Table 1 with the marks and their different degrees of separation (or connection, if you prefer) within independent clauses as well as between independent clauses.

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As [Table 2] suggests, the colon and dash have functions in addition to the hierarchical (to be explained later). The differences in the marks are made still more clear by categorizing them according to basic functions, which reveals a top two, middle two, and bottom two. The functions in Table 2 are general and basic; in addition, they are used by writers—as my discussion of raising and lowering will explain—to gain separation (emphasis) by using an appropriate higher mark, a mark not limited to the next one up; and writers gain connectedness (under-emphasis) by using an appropriate lower mark, a mark not limited to the next one down.

Table 1

Hierarchy of Functional Punctuation Marks

MARK DEGREE OF SEPARATION
sentence final (. ? !) maximum
semicolon (;) medium
medium medium (anticipatory)
dash (—) medium (emphatic)
comma (,) minimum
zero (Ø) none (that is, connection)

Table 2

Basic Functions

TOP (. ;) separate independent clauses
MIDDLE (: —) separate independent clauses, or separate non-independent clause element(s) from the independent clause
BOTTOM (, Ø) separate non-independent clause elements from the independent clauses