Conventions of Punctuation16-19

Add missing commas:

• Steve bought sunglasses sunscreen and aloe vera gel.

• The clear cool ocean water rose with the tide.

• “Marathon Key is much more quiet than Key West” said Sue.

• Groundhog’s Day was first celebrated on Feb. 2 1886.

p7

Add missing commas:• Steve bought sunglasses, sunscreen, and

aloe vera gel. (separating elements in a series)

• The clear, cool ocean water rose with the tide. (between equal and reversible adjectives)

• “Marathon Key is much more quiet than Key West,” said Sue. (with quoted words)

• Groundhog’s Day was first celebrated on Feb. 2, 1886. (in a date)

p1

Add commas:

• Cathy asked for a $60000 salary at the interview.

• Jack Reilly M.D. opened a new office in Chicago.• Groundhog’s Day was first celebrated in

Punxsutauwney PA.• Street performers in Boulder Colorado

populate Pearl Street. p7

Add commas:• Cathy asked for a $60,000 salary at the

interview. (in a number)

• Jack Reilly, M.D., opened a new office in Chicago. (in a personal title)

• Groundhog’s Day was first celebrated in Punxsutauwney, PA. (to separate city and state)

• Street performers in Boulder, Colorado, populate Pearl Street. (to separate city and state)

p7

Do I need a comma before the and??

• There is a common understanding that the last comma (before the “and”) is not necessary.

• While this is true in many cases, both MLA and ACT require the last comma to be included.

• BUT WHY??

How are these sentences different?

• The Veterinarian’s waiting room was filled with meowing cats, talking people and dogs.

•The Veterinarian’s waiting room was filled with meowing cats, talking people, and dogs.

Parenthesis Basics• Emphasizes content• Provides more emphasis than commas• Use to set off nonessential material– like dates– clarifying information– Sources– --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• The most common error in using parenthesis (besides using them too much) is to forget to enclose the parenthetical material with a final, closing parenthesis mark.

Dash Basics• Emphasizes content more than parenthesis OR

commas• Use to set off phrases that already have commas--------------------------------------------------------------------Bertha packed her favorite things- a banjo, a

toothpick, and a shotgun- and left for vacation.

Bertha packed her favorite things- a banjo, a toothpick, and a shotgun.

Quotation Marks: Two Uses!

• Use to enclose direct quotations• Use around the titles of poems, song

titles, short stories, magazine or newspaper articles, essays, speeches, chapter titles, short films, and episodes of television or radio shows.

“Punctuation always goes INSIDE the quotation marks!” shrieked Mrs. Ruckoldt.

“Never forget that,” warned Mrs. Kopeny.

Why is the corrected version better?

• The car accident damaged the headlights, the bumper and the hood. (incorrect)

• The car accident damaged the headlights, the bumper, and the hood. (correct)

p2

Why is the corrected version better?

• The car accident damaged the headlights, the bumper and the hood. (incorrect) This one makes it seem like the bumper and the hood are connected in some way.

• The car accident damaged the headlights, the bumper, and the hood. (correct) This one shows that each item is a separate part of a series.

p2

Why is the corrected version better?

• “I had to be in the city by 5 a.m. in order to see the filming of Transformers”, said Peter. (incorrect)

• “I had to be in the city by 5 a.m. in order to see the filming of Transformers,” said Peter. (correct)

p2

Why is the corrected version better?

• “I had to be in the city by 5 a.m. in order to see the filming of Transformers”, said Peter. (incorrect) In this one the comma is off by itself and not following a word.

• “I had to be in the city by 5 a.m. in order to see the filming of Transformers,” said Peter. (correct) In this one the comma is placed correctly inside the quotation marks.

p2

Why is the corrected version better?

• Connie invited three friends-(Kim, Maggie, Jeff)-to the movie premiere.(incorrect)

• Connie invited three friends-Kim, Maggie, Jeff-to the movie premiere. (correct)

p2

Thinking Exercise Model

A.The pool and the cat cemetery seem connected in some way. (incorrect)

B.This one shows that each item is a separate part of a series. (correct)

C.A semicolon should only be used to separate clauses, not items in a series. (incorrect)

D.This one emphasizes the pool. (incorrect)p4

One of the many medical careers that

has high demand is nursing. However,

nursing school is very competitive.

Nursing schools look for high-

achieving, hard-working, students.

1

1. A. NO CHANGE B. high-achieving, hard-working students.

C. high-achieving hard-working students.

D. high-achieving, hard-working; students.

THINKING EXERCISE:A.You should never place a comma between the adj and the word it modifies. (Inc)B.Coordinate adjectives need to be separated with a comma. (Correct)C.Missing the comma (Inc) D.Wrong use of semicolon (Inc) p7

The attractive, young vampires in 2modern movies seem to go against the tradition of scary vampires of the past. This has caused much debate between the old vampire fans and the new vampire fans.

2. A. NO CHANGEB. The attractive young vampiresC. The attractive, young, vampiresD. The attractive – young vampires

THINKING EXERCISE:A.Coordinate adjectives need to be separated with a comma. (Correct)B.Missing the comma (Inc) C.Never place a comma between adj and word it modifies (Inc)D.Incorrectly emphasizes “young vampires.” (Inc)

p7

This generation is living in a digital world that keeps

on growing. Technology is making it much easier for

people to communicate as well. E-mail is now a necessity.

It is how everyone communicates when it comes to

business, school and family “Neuborne.” Cell phones are

widely used as well.

Generation Y has become very familiar with all of the applications

of cell phones whether it be texting, IMing, e-mailing,

downloading, music. ("Generation Y: the Millennials") Another

huge trend among Generation Yers is social networking. Millions

of users log onto Facebook or MySpace every day to update a

status, upload pictures, or chat with friends (Yan).

BONUS QUESTION!!What kind of sentence structure is this?

Because Generation Y has been able to grow up

around all of these new gadgets, they have been

able to become familiar with them and use them

to their advantage.

Did you guess D,I?