Documentation Guidelines - Requirements Engineering and Management for Software Development Projects - page 233

3. When he came, I left.
4. Before he came, I left.
5. Because he came, I left.

When a participle is used in a phrase, there must be something for the phrase to modify,
to cling to or depend upon. Consider this sentence—''While watching TV, an argument
broke out.'' What is wrong in the above sentence? An argument cannot watch TV.
Modifiers must be located so that it is clear what they modify. Consider this
sentence ''Even though it will take six years for the machines to pay for
themselves, if conditions do not bring about a change in prices, the investment is
decidedly attractive in the long run.'' Does the italicized clause in the above
sentence refer to ''it will take six years …'' or ''to ''the investment is …''

A.3.3 Proper Usage of Pronouns

Pronouns must refer unmistakably to their antecedents, such as who, which, that,
must be placed as close to their antecedents as possible.
Consider this sentence ''We are sending you a check for the defective part, which we
hope would be satisfactory.'' To what does ''which'' refer to? To ''part'' or to ''check'' ?
Consider another sentence ''She had already informed the typist that she would
be responsible for the general form of the letters.'' Who would be responsible—
'' typist'' o r '' she:?

A.3.4 Punctuation

Use commas to set off non-restrictive clauses, introduced usually by such words as
who, which, that and where. Here are some correct examples:
1. A refrigerator, which is a necessity to American housewives, is a luxury in most
parts of the world.
2. Mr. Johnson, who has been with us many years, has earned an enviable
reputation in our department.
3. Washington, where the White House is located, is the capital of USA.

Use a semi-colon to separate two independent clauses not connected by a
coordinating conjunction. Here are some correct examples:

1. We shall send your merchandize on September 25th; this should arrive in ample
time for your Christmas sale.
2. The report was submitted on time; the resulting action corrected the difficulty.

Use of colon is not recommended where the practice of using soft copies is
prevalent as colon would not be clearly visible. Usage of hyphen/dash (-) is
recommended to introduce a formal list. Here is an example.