Punctuation, Part 1

Punctuation, Part 1

In this blog post, I am going read about punctuation in Rules for Writers to discuss what I learned about punctuation while focusing on what was new or surprising.

Unnecessary Commas

I learned to not use a comma between compound elements that are not independent clauses. I've noticed that I tend to this at times because a lot of writers do this. I am unsure if they intentionally do this or not, but I have seen commas used in this way. From now on, I know that I will not do this because now I know that this is wrong. Furthermore, I do not use commas to set off a concluding adverb clause that is essential to the meaning of the sentence. I always knew not to this because our teachers emphasized it. However, sometimes this would confuse me, and I would have the think about it in order to apply this. From now on, I am going to not do this more often because now I know that it is totally incorrect.

FreeClipartVectors. "Interrogation Onomatopoeia Punctuation Question." 10/15/14 via pixabay.
CC0 Public Domain License.

The Colon

When using a colon after an independent clause to direct attention to a list, an appositive, a quotation, or a summary or an explanation, I had always felt uncomfortable. I rarely do this because I was never positive that this was correct. However, after reading the section on this, it surprised me that it could be used in these situations. In high school, a lot of teachers steared us clear of using colons because a lot of people would use them in order to describe the text less. Now, I know that I can use colons, but I will definitely use them more often. Also, to avoid common misuses of the colon, I will follow the methods that it can be used in above. If I ever doubt the correct usage, I will refer back to the text to make sure.

Other punctuation marks: the dash, parentheses, brackets, the ellipsis mark, the slash

I knew how to use the dash in the same way that parentheses could be used. However, I rarely used this method because I never felt like it was appropriate to my text. In the same way that colons can be used, the dash can be used the set off appositives that contain commas and to introduce a list. I am still confused on how to do this because it is very similar to the colon or commas. I think that this method, however, is used to emphasize theses elements of the text greater than if a colon was used.
Likewise, paraentheses are also used when setting something off as a side not. However, I feel like this is more informal. The Slash seems to be more for separation of verses of poetry. I've noticed it used a lot in Shakespeare's writing. Therefore, I will not need to use this much.

Reflection

In Olivia Wann's draft's first paragraph toward the end, she said, "There is really no excuse for this, because you can find studies proving and disproving the safety of eating just about any food- except for things that the general public knows to be harmful (like eating swimming pool chlorine tablets). " This sentence misuses a comma because she uses the words because. It is unnecessary to put a comma before above because it connects the two independent clauses. She also attempts to use a dash here, which I think she did use correctly. I think it is important that I read up on dashes because I had always been in doubt when and where to use them, but now I think I can better recognize it. I learned that the dash is more common than I expected.

In the last sentence of Joy Kosik's draft's first paragraph, she said, "By using dramatic word choice and tone, and by providing concise details about the issue, Kessler has created an effective argument in that it makes the reader want to agree with the existence of the problem Kessler presented." I think she misused a comma here because she did not use it to separate independent clauses or for a list. From what I learned, I think she could have reworded her sentence so that she didn't need to use a comma here at all. I learned that many people are unaware and do misuse the comma.