La capa física

Phrases and clauses are groups of words within a sentence. We have already seen some of the uses of clauses in the discussion of conjunctions above. The difference between them and phrases is that they have a subject and a predicate and phrases do not. For most practical purposes, however, this difference is of purely academic interest.

There are many different kinds of phrase and clause, but they are really of interest only to grammarians. The main ones we need to be aware of in day-to-day business communica-tion are adjectival and adverbial phrases and clauses – the ones that act as adjectives or adverbs, qualifying other words. The following sentences contain examples:

G Thank you for your cheque, which arrived today.

G After two weeks without a response, I decided to call on the customer.

In the first sentence, ‘which arrived today’ is an adjectival clause: it describes the cheque. In the second, ‘after two weeks without a response’ is an adverbial phrase: it describes when I decided, just as an adverb would.

There are just three problems to beware of with phrases and clauses.

G Separating adjectival and adverbial clauses and phrases from the words they qualify.

This is perhaps the most common. Look at the following sentences:

– No one may remove anything from the stationery cupboard except the Manager’s PA.

– We have had to ask you to deliver the new machine four times.

In the first sentence, it sounds as though the only thing you can remove from the stationery cupboard is the Manager’s PA! The adjectival phrase ‘except the Manager’s PA’ should go next to the pronoun it qualifies, ‘no one’. In the second, it sounds as though we wanted you to deliver the machine four times, because the adverbial phrase ‘four times’ is closer to the verb ‘deliver’ than the one it qualifies, ‘ask’. So these sentences should read:

– No one except the Manager’s PA may remove anything from the stationery cupboard.

– We have had to ask you four times to deliver the new machine.

Now the adjectival and adverbial phrases are close to the words they qualify, and your

G Leaving hanging participles. The following sentence contains an example of this error:

‘Arriving at the conference centre, the Manager had left.’ The adjectival phrase

‘arriving at the conference centre’ has nothing to qualify, and the present participle

‘arriving’ which introduces it is therefore left hanging – hence the term ‘hanging participle’. It looks as though it qualifies ‘the Manager’, but that makes the sentence nonsensical. It needs to be rewritten so that the phrase has something to qualify. So you should say: ‘Arriving at the conference sentence, we found that the Manager had left.’ Now the phrase qualifies the pronoun ‘we’ and the sentence makes sense.

G Omitting the second subject. When two clauses are joined by a conjunction, it is quite common to leave out the subject of the second clause if it is the same as the subject of the first. So you can say: ‘I hope this clarifies the situation and look forward to hearing from you’ instead of ‘... and I look forward ...’ But some people make the mistake of leaving out the second subject when it is different from the first. They might say: ‘Your queries are being investigated and will be in touch shortly.’ This sounds as though

‘your queries’ will be in touch shortly, which is, of course, absurd. The reason for the confusion is that the subject of the second clause is not the same as the subject of the first. The person who will be in touch is the writer, so it should be: ‘Your queries are being investigated and I will be in touch shortly.’

EXERCISE 24

Correct the grammar of the following passages.

1. The Board was asked to carefully consider the Proposal. It was only given conditional approval after a lengthy discussion.

2. On Wednesday, Keith Hamilton had a meeting with Simon Kitson. He said that the following week he would be in Paris, where the company have their European office, so he could discuss the contract then.

3. We have had a good response to our advertisement for a Sales Manager, and Emma Johnson would like to discuss the applications with you and I on Tuesday.

4. I do not mind you asking for time off, but it would be nice to occasionally see you working late as well. You appear to be getting rather behind with your work. Which is affecting the efficiency of the whole department.

5. You say that you have not seen the delivery note and invoice. Your accountant and me have had a long discussion about this, and I think you will find that he has copies.

6. The Committee have decided that every member, together with his or her partner, have the right to use the facilities of the centre.

7. Having considered all the estimates, I believe either we should accept Axis’s or Mainland Distribution’s. None of the other firms were able to match their prices or delivery times.

8. Please can you see to it that every secretary and clerk, including the directors’ PAs, are made aware of the new house style. We must not only ensure that we create a good image but also a consistent one.

9. We can offer a choice of three conference rooms, either of which would suit your requirements, and we will serve lunch at 12.30 p.m. as requested.

10. I am afraid that I differ from you over the best way forward for the development. Looking at the two plans, the layout of the second is much more flexible.

Punctuation

Punctuation is a form of signalling, showing how you intend your document to be read in order to make its meaning quite clear. When you speak, you ‘punctuate’ your speech automatically: your voice rises at the end of a question, you pause at appropriate moments, or you might use forms of words such as ‘by the way’, or ‘that means’. When you are writing, punctuation takes the place of these aural signals.

You need to think carefully about how you punctuate your documents, because it does not happen naturally, as it does in speech. Most punctuation marks indicate pauses, and different marks indicate different lengths of pause: generally, the pause for a full stop is longer than that for a semicolon, while a comma has the shortest pause of all.

You need to strike a balance between too many and too few punctuation marks. If you have too many, your document is broken up too much and becomes disjointed. If you use too few it becomes difficult to follow. The following passage has no punctuation marks at all. As you can see, it is very difficult to see what the writer means.

I am afraid that owing to the fact that the Managing Director is out of the office at the moment it is not possible to agree to your request immediately not that it is likely to be turned down of course but we do need his approval for agreements of this nature however he will be back next week and I will make sure that he deals with it as soon as possible.

Here is the same passage, but over-punctuated.

I am afraid that, owing to the fact, that the Managing Director is out of the office, at the moment, it is not possible to agree to your request, immediately.

Not that it is likely to be turned down, of course; but we do need his approval for agreements of this nature. However, he will be back next week; and I will make sure that he deals with it, as soon as possible.

As you can see, it is very disjointed to read – almost jerky, in fact. Now let us see how it looks when properly punctuated.

I am afraid that, owing to the fact that the Managing Director is out of the office at the moment, it is not possible to agree to your request immediately – not that it is likely to be turned down of course, but we do need his approval for agreements of this nature. However, he will be back next week and I will make sure that he deals with it as soon as possible.

This version is easier to read, and the sense is quite clear the first time you read it.

Punctuation is to a certain extent a matter of style, but there are certain rules that must be followed if your documents are to make sense to your readers. In this chapter we will be looking at both the rules and the points of style governing punctuation marks.