13 Rules For Using Commas Without Looking Like An Idiot

Major Comma Uses © 2005, 2002, 1987 Margaret L. Benner All rights reserved. COMMA RULE #1 – THE COMMA IN A SERIES:Use commas to separate items in a series. What is a ”series”? Introduction to College Composition Explain common punctuation marks and the rules for their correct usage In this short skit, comedian Victor Borge illustrates just how prevalent punctuation is (or should be) in language. As you’ve just heard, punctuation saturates our language. Punctuation guides readers through sentences, passages, and books; it lets them know which words and ideas are related (as well as how close that relationship is). The rules of punctuation can seem daunting, but just remember that punctuation is here to help.

Book Review: "Lapsing into a Comma" By Mark Nichol In 1995, when the Internet was still a relatively obscure phenomenon, a newspaper copy editor named Bill Walsh began sharing his knowledge and opinions about his craft on a website called The Slot. Five years later, Walsh transferred that lore to print with Lapsing into a Comma: A Curmudgeon’s Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print — and How to Avoid Them. Writers — not just journalists — should be grateful for the creation of both resources. Milton & Blank Verse (Iambic Pentameter) « PoemShape Revised & improved April 12, 2009. The Creation of Eve Milton’s blank verse is exceedingly conservative and easy to scan.

Guide to Punctuation Welcome to the University of Sussex. Our site uses cookies. Read our policy. 5 Sentences Repaired by Correct Use of Commas By Mark Nichol 1. “Students write a third essay regarding the impact of geography on history and culture.” The implication of this sentence is that students produce three essays on the topic in question. But if the preceding text refers to differing topics for the first two essays, the sentence suffers from insufficient differentiation. This revision specifies that the third essay’s topic differs from those of the others: “Students write a third essay, this one regarding the impact of geography on history and culture.” The Definition and Basic Rules of Punctuation Punctuation is the set of marks used to regulate texts and clarify their meanings, mainly by separating or linking words, phrases, and clauses. The word comes from the Latin word punctuare meaning "making a point." Marks of punctuation include ampersands, apostrophes, asterisks, brackets, bullets, colons, commas, dashes, diacritic marks, ellipsis, exclamation points, hyphens, paragraph breaks, parentheses, periods, question marks, quotation marks, semicolons, slashes, spacing, and strike-throughs. The use (and misuse) of punctuation affects meaning—sometimes dramatically—, as seen in this "Dear John" letter, where the change in punctuation from one to the next drastically alters the meaning.

3 Clarifications Thanks to Commas By Mark Nichol The omission of commas in a sentence can damage its comprehensibility. Employed according to the statement’s structural requirements, they clarify the syntax and therefore the meaning. Here are three sentences repaired with the assistance of one or two of these punctuation marks. 1. Practice Exercises for Punctuation - Butte College Shortcut Navigation: Practice Exercises for Punctuation [an error occurred while processing this directive] TIP Sheets > Practice Exercises for the Rules of Punctuation

A Short Comma Quiz By Mark Nichol Here are five sentences that, through poor punctuation, lead readers astray. Determine how to punctuate them correctly, and then compare your solutions with the ones in the paragraph below each example. 1. “Now there’s a formula for disaster.” As written, this statement reads like a pitch — to be followed by an exclamation point (or inflected as if there is one) — in a commercial or an advertisement for a new product: a disaster formula.