Please read about commas and periods in your English Handbook. Please also review the guidelines for Writing About Texts that you read about in Week 5. Afterwards, please post and reply to two questions about each issue in reply to this post. You can include all six questions in one reply. However, please try to respond to questions posed by two OR MORE of your classmates.
Here are a few resources taken from my website, www.digitalcomposition.org, that you may want to take a look at. PLEASE NOTE: These are SUPPLEMENTS to, not REPLACEMENTS for, the information contained in your English Handbook :
About Punctuation and Its History:
https://rws511.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/68788896/lupton_miller_periodstyles.pdf
http://www.arts.ucsb.edu/faculty/reese/Fall2010/3-type-essays.pdf
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/goldsmith/works/stein.pdf
Understanding Sentences
http://www.arts.uottawa.ca/writcent/hypergrammar/
http://www.sargent.nelson.com/bones.html
http://www.sargent.nelson.com/glossary.html
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/
ESOL Resources
http://college.cengage.com/english/raimes/keys_writers/3e/instructors/esl/tips.html
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/exercisecentral/QuizHome.aspx?CourseID=29
1.) What is the purpose of internal punctuation?
2.) When is it alright to use a semicolon instead of a comma or period? I’m still confused after reading the passage.
2.Use a comma after the first independent clause when you link two independent clauses with one of the following coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.
For example:
I am going home, and I intend to stay there.
Use a semicolon when you link two independent clauses with no connecting words.
For example:
I am going home; I intend to stay there.https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/04/
Interesting! I had the same question.
Thank you :)
Thanks, Matthew!!!! This is a very helpful response!!!!!
1. How would you know to use a semi colon verses a comma ?
2. Is there a former of writing that wouldn’t approve of certain punctuation? Ex: In an essay to use _ / ?
Nina lopez
Please look up the rules for semicolon usage and comma usage and post both! Thanks!!!!
Commas are used in the following situations
1. Before a coordinating conjunction that connects two independent clauses.
2. To separate a dependent clause from the independent clause, especially when the dependent comes first
Semicolon is like a period, it can be used between two independent clauses, but only if they are especially closely related ;then you can think of the semicolon as a silent conjunction
1) I think when you’re actually want to say ‘and’ but don’t want to over use it.
2) I think there is really no need to use those marks in an essay.
Okay, thanks.
HUH???? I’m confused. Could you please re-write your “answer” in 1/? Regarding 2/, I appreciate your attempt at answering this question, but I believe Nina needs to clarify her question before anyone can attempt to definitively answer it.
1. Is there a limit to the amount of commas you can put into one sentence?
2. What is the point of having a comma? Why not just end the sentence with a period and start a new sentence? What is the point of having a pause in a sentence?
1. Hypothetically, there is no limit to how many commas you can use in a sentence if you are continually listing items in a series.
2. A comma is used to combine two similar thoughts together. Using a comma instead of a period makes your paragraph more organized and easier to understand.
Michelle, Regarding #1, you are 100% correct. Regarding #2, please look up the rules for comma usage and post those in response to Matthew’s second question.
For your Q# 2, commas can also be used when you use two or more adjectives in a sentence to describe something or someone. For example: Honeymoon Beach has soft, beautiful white sand.
Another thing they can be used to seperate a series of events or dates. Ex. He ran the race for a cause in 2011, 2012,2013 and 2014.
Check out these sites if my examples weren’t too clear.
http://www.studyzone.org/mtestprep/ela8/a/commaswithadjectivel.cfm
http://englishplus.com/grammar/00000070.htm
Thanks!!! Very helpful!!!!
1) No there is not but the reader would have a hard time reading a sentence with a large amount of commas.
2) It creates a better flow to a sentence.
1. How can one know for sure when to put a period instead of a comma?
2. Why aren’t numbers(ex. 1,6,17) used in essays? Why are they instead spelled out(ex. one, two, fourteen)? Is it just to be “formal”?
1. Period is used when you are finished with your sentence. A comma is used when you want to continue to add on your sentence.
Mok, Regarding periods, you are 100% correct!!!! Regarding commas, your answer is a bit confusing. Like periods, commas have a set of specific usage rules. It is important that we all know at least the top four rules for comma usage. Please look these up.
1) In a paragraph how do you decided whether to put a comma or period?
2) How long is a sentence suppose to be max before a period is needed?
3) How do you pick between using a semicolon or an comma?
4) When is it appropriate to put a comma before an “and” and when is it not?
5) When is it appropriate to use a semi colon in a sentence?
6) How many sentences are needed to form a paragraph?
1/ Paragraphs, of course, do not get punctuated. Only sentences do. Periods and commas are very different things.
2/ A period ends a complete sentence in Standard Written English. What is the definition of a complete sentence????
3/While a semicolon can in rare occasions be used in listing items, and in such cases functions like a comma, most of the times, SEMICOLONS FUNCTION LIKE PERIODS and end a complete sentence. Semicolons are used instead of periods when a writer wants to show the connection between two sentences.
4/ Please look up the rule for this and let us all know!!!!
5/ At the end of a complete sentence.
6/ See our class discussion of paragraphs in GA__.
Where are your questions about writing about texts?
1: Can we use period instead of a comma when we emphasize something ?
2: Is it better to have no more than 4 commas in a sentence?
1.) I guess it depends on the type of writing.
2.) It depends on what your sentence is about. If you are seperating a series of events I don’t think it will be a problem.
Adia,
1/ by the type of writing, do you mean the genre of the writing or the dialect of the writing? There are very set rules for punctuation usage in Standard Written English and these do not vary much by genre.
2/ What is the technical term in relation to comma usage for “separating a series of events”??? This is NOT a trick question! And I’m sorry if it sounds like one. In response to my question, perhaps the best thing to do would be to LIST THE TOP FOUR RULES FOR COMMA USAGE. Thanks!
1. NO!!!! Particular punctuation marks have specific roles and functions. Periods function in a very particular way in Standard Written English, as do commas, question marks, en dashes, em dashes, slashes, and other marks of punctuation. For now, we are focusing only on periods and commas because there is plenty to discuss just in relation to these “very simple” punctuation marks.
2. ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!! Use commas as intentionally and as sparingly as you use periods. Punctuation is not decoration. Like words, punctuation marks have rhetorical AND grammatical functions.
Will you post the rest of your questions later today???? If you would like to post WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT periods, commas, or writing about texts, instead of questions, that is also fine with me. Thanks!
1. Why is ‘says’ absent from the list of appropriate verbs to introduce your quotations?
2. How would I know in what cases to write in the present tense?
3.When is okay to use an ‘introductory word comma’?
4. Does it matter if I use a back slash instead of a comma when listing?
1. In general, using “says” is too informal. Please try to use writes, argues, analyzes, explains, asserts, comments, etc. when introducing quotes.
2. Great question: we will talk more about this in class. If you are writing about a text, you write in the present tense. For instance, “In his essay, Carr writes…” However, if you are writing not about the text but about the act of reading, i.e., “I read Carr’s essay for the first time in October. I was surprised to find that he writes about relationships between technology and cognitive processes in ways that reflect my own concerns.”
3. What is an “‘introductory word comma'”? Is this the rule that says to use a comma after an introductory clause???
4. YES!!!!! Particular punctuation marks have specific roles and functions. Periods function in a very particular way in Standard Written English, as do commas, question marks, en dashes, em dashes, slashes, and other marks of punctuation. For now, we are focusing only on periods and commas because there is plenty to discuss just in relation to these “very simple” punctuation marks.
1) Is there a special pattern or scheme to follow when using periods?
2) What is the best thing to do when we don’t know if we are not sure if we want to end a sentence or not?
1) Where are commas mostly needed in a sentence ?
2) How would be able to tell the difference of stopping a sentence with a comma or. A period ?
I would say i comma is mostly needed in a sentence hen the writer feels the sentence is begining to drag on for a long time. When you feel like you have more than one thing to say but multiple ways to say it, use a comma or period.
2. In order to know when to stop with a period or comma, look at what youve writen, if you feel you have nothing further to say, use a period. I not use a coma. *dont quote me on this thouh im only partially assuming.
Use of a comma is to separate the elements in a series three or more things including the last two.
1.Should you place a comma before too when it’s at the end of a sentence?
2. this ” Common introductory phrases that should be followed by a comma include participial and infinitive phrases, absolute phrases, nonessential appositive phrases, and long prepositional phrases (over four words).” was posted on https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/. Can anyone reword this in simpler format , i dont understand it fully.
1.Should you place a comma before too when it’s at the end of a sentence?
2. this ” Common introductory phrases that should be followed by a comma include participial and infinitive phrases, absolute phrases, nonessential appositive phrases, and long prepositional phrases (over four words).” was posted on https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/02/. Can anyone reword this in simpler format , i dont understand it fully.
1. Is there a limit in which the length of a sentence should be in order for you to know if a comma is needed or not ?
2. Is it always necessary to use a question mark ? After the reader has read a particular sentence in the way of which the sentence is written couldn’t the reader. Are that decision of knowing if it’s a question or not ?