Thursday, March 19, 2020

Understanding Parenthetical Elements

Understanding Parenthetical Elements A parenthetical element is a word or group of words that interrupts the flow of a sentence and adds additional (but nonessential) information to that sentence. This element can be long or short, and it can appear at the beginning, the middle, or the end of a clause or sentence. John, the second batter in the lineup, is a fast runner.Mildred is an excellent cook, as a matter of fact.Just this once, you should try mustard on your peanut butter sandwiches.The dog, after guarding the chewed-up toy for more than an hour, finally got tired of waiting for me to play with him. Types of Words or Word Groups that Can Be Parenthetical Elements: Appositives Example: The book, a 758 page monster, was required for my history class. Relative clauses Example: My professor, who eats lunch every day promptly at noon, was not available for discussion. Prepositional phrases Example: The turkey, after moments of deliberation, ate the bug. Phrases as examples Example:  Foods that are hot or spicy, e.g. jalapenos or hot wings, make my eyes water. You might think of the parenthetical element as a sudden thought that pops into your head as you are making a statement. Because it provides additional or supporting information to a complete sentence, the main part of the sentence should be able to stand alone without the words stated in the parenthetical element. The name parenthetical might cause confusion because it resembles the word parentheses. In fact, some parenthetical elements are so strong (they can be quite jolting) that they require parenthesis. The previous sentence provides an example! Here are a few more: My sister (the one standing on the chair) is trying to get your attention. The strawberry tart (the one with the bite taken out of it) belongs to me. Yesterday (the longest day of my life) I got my first speeding ticket. Punctuation for Parenthetical Elements The examples above show that parenthetical elements are usually set off by some form of punctuation in order to avoid confusion. The type of punctuation used actually depends on the degree of interruption caused by the interrupter. Commas are used when the interruption is least emphatic. If the sentence containing the parenthetical element flows pretty smoothly, then commas are a good choice: My friend, who doesn’t like to wear socks, is trying to give me his tennis shoes. Parentheses are used (as stated above) when the interrupting thought represents a bigger diversion from the original message or thought. Pizza is my favorite food (the brick oven kind is best).I think Ill go home now (the walk will do me good)  before I fall asleep on the job. But there is one more form of punctuation that you may use if you use an interrupting parenthetical element that really jolts the reader from the main thought. Dashes  are used for the most emphatic interruptions. Use dashes to set off a parenthetical element for a more dramatic effect.   My birthday party- what a surprise!- was a lot of fun. The frog- the one who jumped on the window and made me jump a mile- is now under my chair. I bit my lip- ouch!- to keep from speaking my mind.

Monday, March 2, 2020

How to Make LinkedIn Work for You

How to Make LinkedIn Work for You On July 30th, I was interviewed by the charismatic Pete Mockaitis of Awesome at Your Job on â€Å"Making LinkedIn Work for You.† We covered lots of ground, including Two keys to crafting an eye-grabbing LinkedIn profile Who needs a LinkedIn profile and who maybe doesn’t What to do to be both searchable and likable on LinkedIn How to make an impact with your LinkedIn Summary How to grow your LinkedIn network past 500 people quickly and responsibly The case for making recommendations I won’t spend a lot of time talking about this interview, because you can both listen to it and get a full transcript at this link: Making LinkedIn Work for You with Brenda Bernstein To view the transcript, scroll down to this section of the article and click on the + sign: Or listen here: document.createElement('audio'); https://theessayexpert.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/326_-_Making_LinkedIn_Work_for_You_with_Brenda_Bernstein.mp3 What I will say, because I want you to get all the goodies you can get from this podcast, is that I talk about everything from Big Bird and my Sesame Street failures to the lessons we can learn from bamboo trees. Oh and I talk about blenders. That’s a lot of Bs from Brenda Bernstein! I also threw a little neuroscience in there about how to create an impression before you even meet someone in person. And there’s more! I highly recommend listening to or reading this interview, even if you’ve listened to my podcasts before. The tidbits on my favorite things and life lessons are especially charming, if I do say so myself, plus you get to learn about how to make LinkedIn work for you! 🙂 Hit the â€Å"Connect† too soon 🙠 Really liked what you had to say! Working on updating my LinkedIn profile to focus on my day job while mentioning my joy being a professional musician on the side. Thank you for the tips you offered on this podcast interview with Pete! Log in to Reply Brenda Bernstein says: August 29, 2018 at 9:49 pm Thanks for your comment and for connecting with me on LinkedIn, Sten. That balance between two careers can be tricky. Let me know if you are interested in my LinkedIn Profile Review service! Log in to Reply