The Dash

1. Use the dash to set off words or phrases that might warrant the use of comma but in case when the writer desires to make a point clear or introduce dramatic effect.

The Colon

1. It's a mark of introduction that allows the writer to consolidate information that would normally take more than one sentence to state.
2. Use the colon at the end of a sentence to do the following: introduce a list, introduce a long quotation, or introduce an explanation.

The Semicolon

1. Use semicolon to join complete thoughts that aren't already connected by a comma or conjunction. Such sentences must be related to each other in content
2. Use the semicolon to join two complete thoughts that include transitional words such as "however," "otherwise," "moreover," "furthermore," "therefore," or "consequently"
3. A semicolon may be used to mark off items or phrases in a series when the items themselves contain many commas that may become confusing

The Comma

1. Separates 3 or more similar items in a series
2. Sets off introductory material
3. Isolates words or phrases that interrupt the flow of thought in a sentence
4. Joins two sentences together with a coordinating conjunction
5. Separates a direct quotation from the rest of the sentence
6. Is used for certain everyday material: dates and addresses, openings and closing of a letter

Punctuating Interjections and Lists

Melroes0914 has kindly contributed a paragraph that has some hard-to-punctuate lists and interjections. I have edited it a little so the class can re-solve some of the issues. Everyone should have a look at this for next week:

During the Vietnam War, some of the many men, and women faced emotional, mental, and or physical concerns. The movie, Apocalypse Now (directed by Francis Ford Coppola) portrays a sense of lunacy in certain of the scenes, and characters throughout the film. The main character, Willard, (Martin Sheen)), and the boat crew members, Chef, Chief, Lance, and Clean, help guild Willard up the river to complete his classified mission. In search of Colonel Kurtz, a former Green Beret, Willard; Chief; Chef; and Lance are always alert, as they travel through the Vietnamese jungle up the Nung River to let Willard complete his mission, execute Kurtz.

Excercise VI Mary Shelley Again

More spare parts from Frankenstein. Proceed in the interests of science!

it was on a dreary night of november that i beheld the accomplishment of my toils with an anxiety that almost amounted to agony i collected the instruments of life around me that i might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet it was already one in the morning the rain pattered dismally against the panes and my candle was nearly burnt out when by the glimmer of the half extinguished light i saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open it breathed hard and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs

how can i describe my emotions at this catastrophe or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care i had endeavoured to form his limbs were in roportion and i had selected his features as beautiful beautiful great god his yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath his hair was of a lustrous black and flowing his teeth of a pearly whiteness but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips

Excercise V. Mary Shelley's Interjections

Interjections from Frankenstein, by Mary Wollestonecraft (Godwin) Shelley

These are unpunctuated passages that involve interjections -- that is, the narrator interrupts himself. You may find some of them somewhat awkward even after punctuation.

i will not lead you on unguarded and ardent as i then was
to your destruction and infallible misery


i did not watch the blossom or the expanding leaves sights
which before always yielded me supreme delight so deeply
was i engrossed in my occupation.

there for with your leave my sister i will put some trust in preceding navigators snow and frost are banished

the cold is not excessive if you are wrapped in furs a dress which i have already adopted for there is a great difference between walking the deck and remaining seated motionless for hours when no exercise prevents the blood from actually freezing in the veins

i am practically industrious painstaking a workman to execute with perseverance and labour but besides this there is a love for the marvellous a belief in the marvellous intertwined in all my projects which hurries me out of the common pathways of men even to the wild sea and unvisited regions i am about to explore

in the majestic and wondrous scenes which surrounded our swiss home the sublime shapes of the mountains the changes of the seasons tempest and calm the silence of winter and the life and turbulence of our alpine summers she found ample scope for admiration and delight

chance or rather the evil influence the angel of destruction which asserted omnipotent sway over me from the moment i turned my reluctant steps from my fathers door led me first to m krempe professor of natural philosophy

such were the professors words rather let me say such the words
of the devil of the fate enounced to destroy me.

for a long time i was their only care my mother had much desired to have a daughter but i continued their single offspring when i was about five years old while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of italy they passed a week on the shores of the lake of como their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the poor this to my mother was more than a duty it was a necessity a passion remembering what she had suffered and how she had been relieved for her to act in her turn
the guardian angel to the afflicted during one of their walks a poor cot in the foldings of a vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate while the number of half clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in its worst shape one day when my father had gone by himself to milan my mother accompanied by me visited this abode she found a peasant and his wife hard working bent down by care and labour distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes among these there was one which attracted my mother far above all the rest she appeared of a different stock the four others were darkeyed hardy little vagrants this child was thin and very fair her hair was the brightest living gold and despite the poverty of her clothing seemed to set a crown of distinction on her head her brow was clear and ample her blue eyes cloudless and her lips and the moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold her without looking on her as of a distinct species a being heaven sent and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features


Paragraph - 137 words.

when my father returned from milan he found playing with me
in the hall of our villa a child fairer than pictured cherub
a creature who seemed to shed radiance from her looks and whose form
and motions were lighter than the chamois of the hills the apparition
was soon explained with his permission my mother prevailed
on her rustic guardians to yield their charge to her they were fond
of the sweet orphan her presence had seemed a blessing to them
but it would be unfair to her to keep her in poverty and want
when providence afforded her such powerful protection
they consulted their village priest and the result was
that elizabeth lavenza became the inmate of my parents' house
my more than sisterthe beautiful and adored companion
of all my occupations and my pleasures

Paragraph 185 words

such were the professors words rather let me say such the words of the fate enounced to destroy me as he went on i felt as if my soul were grappling with a palpable enemy one by one the various keys were touched which formed the mechanism of my being
chord after chord was sounded and soon my mind was filled with one thought one conception one purpose so much has been done exclaimed the soul of frankenstein more far more will i achieve treading in the steps already marked i will pioneer a new way
explore unknown powers and unfold to the world the deepest mysteries of creation

i closed not my eyes that night my internal being was in a state of insurrection and turmoil i felt that order would thence arise but i had no power to produce it by degrees after the mornings dawn sleep came i awoke and my yesternights thoughts were as a dream there only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to devote myself to a science for which i believed myself to possess a natural talent

Excercise III Douglass

This is a single paragraph from Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. It's an account of a man's escape from slavery and his struggle to enlighten and free others. But here it's missing punctuation.

Watch this one. It starts slow, but the end is pretty darn complex.

everything looked clean new and beautiful i saw few or no dilapidated houses with poverty-stricken inmates no half-naked children and bare-footed women such as i had been accustomed to see in hillsborough easton st michaels and baltimore the people looked more able stronger healthier and happier than those of maryland i was for once made glad by a view of extreme wealth without being saddened by seeing extreme poverty but the most astonishing as well as the most interesting thing to me was the condition of the colored people a great many of whom like myself had escaped thither as a refuge from the hunters of men i found many who had not been seven years out of their chains living in finer houses and evidently enjoying more of the comforts of life than those of the average slaveholders in maryland i will venture to assert that my friend mr nathan johnson of whom i can say with a grateful heart i was hungry and he gave me meat i was thirsty and he gave me drink i was a stranger and he took me in lived in a neater house dined at a better table read more and better understood the moral religious and political character of the nation than nine-tenths of the slaveholders in talbot county maryland

Punctuation Excercises

For those who don't feel comfortable blogging about readings, here's another option. I have started to upload punctuation excercises. They're paragraphs or sentences that are not punctuated. The way to an entry is as follows:

1) Have a look at the excercise and see if you can work out how all of it or part of it should be punctuated. Bear in mind that you're not to change the wording on these, just the punctuation.

2) Write how to resolve one or more punctuation decision in the excercise. Your explanation should include several things:
a) The punctuated passage. Go ahead and give enough of the text, with punctuation, to show what you mean.
b) Any standard rules that were involved in your decision
c) Any references you used. (Copy and paste helpful URL's!)
d) Why your decision is right. Don't just cite the correct, rule, though that's a good start. Explain why the text works better, why it's clearer with that particular piece of punctuation.

Excercise

Try punctuating these paragraphs adapted from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce.

the slide was shot back the penitent emerged from the side of the bos the farther side was drawn a woman entered quietly and deftly where the first penitent had knelt the faint murmur began again

he could still leave the chapel he could stand up put one foot before the other and walk out softly and then run run run swiftly through the dark streets he could still escape from the shame had it been any terrible crime but that one sin had it been murder little fiery flakes fell and touched him at all points shameful thoughts shameful words shameful acts shame covered him wholly like fine glowing ashes falling continually to say it in words his soul stiflin and helpless would cease to be

the slide was shot back a penitent emerged from the farther side of the box the near side was drawn a penitent entered where the other penitent had come out a soft whispering noise floated in vaporous cloudlets out of the box it was the woman soft whispering cloudlets soft whispering vapour whispering and vanishing