A RUN-ON sentence is a sentence that joins two independent clauses without punctuation or the appropriate conjunction. For example, “James is quite intelligent he began playing chess when he was two years old.” A COMMA SPLICE is similar to a run-on sentence, but it uses a comma to join two independent clauses.For example, “James is quite […]
A DASH indicates added emphasis, an interruption, or an abrupt change of thought. There are two types of dashes, the EM DASH, and the EN DASH. If you don’t know the difference, it’s okay! An EM DASH sets apart parenthetical phrases or clauses in a sentence. In this way, “em dashes” are similar to commas […]
A COMMA SPLIT occurs when you put a comma where it doesn’t belong in a sentence. Many people put commas where they don’t belong because they think there’s some sort of natural pause in the sentence — and therefore it needs a comma. Don’t do it! A comma split is NOT a comma splice, which […]
American English and British English rules for punctuating with quotation marks are different. Here are the rules for how to incorporate punctuation and quotation marks properly.A ALWAYS ON THE INSIDE: PERIODS AND COMMASIn American English, periods and commas are ALWAYS on the inside of quotation marks. This is one major difference from British English, which […]
The “Oxford Comma” is also known as the “serial comma.” This punctuation mark is placed immediately before the coordinating conjunction (usually “and,” “or,” or “nor”) in a series of three or more terms. The necessity of the Oxford Comma is a hotly debated topic. Some dismiss it as overly pretentious or merely unnecessary. Using an […]
An ELLIPSIS is a punctuation mark with basically one function: it signals to the reader that the writer has left something out. The ellipsis indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning. For example, Longfellow wrote,“Listen, my children, and you shall hear,Of the midnight […]
You will SOMETIMES use a comma in between two or more adjectives that come before a noun. It’s that “sometimes” that makes you nervous, right? How are you supposed to know when you need a comma between two adjectives and when you don’t? That’s where the “AND TEST” comes in! The “AND TEST” works like […]
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ALWAYS ON THE INSIDE –PERIODS– “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”–COMMAS–“You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” said Brody. ALWAYS ON THE OUTSIDE –COLONS–There are three things I liked best about “The Wizard of Oz”: the singing, the costumes, and the munchkins.–SEMICOLONS–Yesterday, she wanted to binge-watch “Downton Abbey”; today, however, […]
*IN GENERAL, the way to make joint possession for compound nouns is to make only the second noun possessive by adding ‘s to the end. (Example: Bill and Ted’s excellent house is blue.) But when one of the possessors is a personal pronoun, it doesn’t make sense to follow that rule. We have to put […]