Grammar is taught from elementary school all the way through graduate school. Still, many well-educated adults must brush up on the way they use punctuation, the way they organize their sentences and the way they speak. Keeping some basic grammar tips in mind will help you keep your sentences grammatically correct.

Connecting Two Independent Clauses

There are three simple ways to connect two independent clauses. The first is using a comma followed by a conjunction such as and, but, or, for or yet. For example: "We went to the game, but she forgot her jacket." Another way to connect these two clauses is with a semicolon. For example: "We went to the game; she forgot her jacket." The third way is to connect the two clauses with a semicolon followed by a sentence modifier, which is anything that is not the subject or verb in a sentence but adds to the meaning of the sentence.

Using Commas

Use commas to enclose nonrestrictive clauses that are not essential to the meaning of a sentence but add relevant detail. So rather than writing a sentence that reads, "Randy and Sally his wife were married in 1982," you would enclose the clause "his wife" with commas. Do not use commas, however, to bracket essential phrases in a sentence. A sentence that reads, "Randy, and his wife Sally, were married in 1982," should have no commas because the clause "and his wife Sally" is essential to the sentence. Finally, if a sentence begins with an introductory clause, end that clause with a comma. The sentence, "Married in 1982 Randy and Sally have two children," should have a comma after the introductory clause, "Married in 1982."

Apostrophes

Apostrophes are used for two purposes. One purpose is to show possession. If a boy named Tommy has a basketball, that basketball should be referred to with an apostrophe after the boy's name, followed by the letter s: Tommy's basketball. The other purpose of apostrophes is to shorten words or groups of words in the form of a contraction. "Do not" can be shortened using an apostrophe as "don't." "I am" can be shortened to "I'm," "you are" can be shortened to "you're," and dozens of others.

Subject-Verb Agreement

The subject and the verb in a sentence must agree with each other. In the sentence, "The boy has a hat," "boy" is the subject and "has" is the verb, and they agree with one another in this case. However, if a clause is introduced in the middle such as, "along with his friends," the tendency is to match the verb with the plural "friends," in a sentence that reads, "The boy, along with his friends, have a hat." This is incorrect. The sentence should read, "The boy, along with his friends, has a hat," so that "boy" and "has" remain in agreement.