Punctuation
Now I must go and get on my lover.
What is punctuation?
• Stitching that holds fabric of language together.
• Principles: Directs you how to read, in the way musical
notation directs a musician how to play.
• Rules:Traffic signals of language: tells us to slow down, stop,
detour…
• Respect: Courtesy designed to help readers understand a
story without stumbling.
– Good manners are invisible: they ease the way for others, without
drawing attention to themselves.
Punctuation is to writing as religion is to morality:
it can change everything.
Isaiah 40: 3
The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness:
Prepare ye the way of the
Lord.
The voice of him that
crieth: In the wilderness
prepare ye the way of the
Lord.
Casualties in casualness
A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
Luke, xxiii, 43
“Verily I say unto thee this
day, Thou shalt be with me
in Paradise.”
“Verily, I say unto thee, This
day thou shalt be with me
in Paradise.”
Catholic interpretation promises
Paradise at some later date and
leaves Purgatory in the picture for
Catholics, who believe in it.
Protestant interpretation skips over
unpleasant business of Purgatory and
takes the crucified thief straight to
heaven with Our Lord.
Casualties in casualness
In the romantic age
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what
love is all about. You are
generous, kind, thoughtful.
People who are not like you admit
to being useless and inferior. You
have ruined me for other men. I
yearn for you. I have no feelings
whatsoever when we are apart. I
can be forever happy – will you let
me be yours?
Denise
Dear John,
I want a man who knows what
love is. All about you are
generous, kind, thoughtful
people, who are not like you.
Admit to being useless and
inferior. You have ruined me. For
other men I yearn! For you I have
no feelings whatsoever. When we
are apart I can be forever happy.
Will you let me be?
Yours,
Denise
An important period
(.) in history
Jameson Raid on the Transvaal
(1896)
It is under these circumstances
that we feel constrained to call
upon you to come to our aid
should a disturbance arise here
the circumstances are so extreme
that we cannot but believe that
you and the men under you will
not fail to come to the rescue of
people who are so situated.
• to our aid. = Come at once!
• …disturbances arise here. = We
might need you at some later
date depending on what happens
here, but in the mean time –
don’t call us, Jameson, old boy;
we’ll call you.
• Newspaper put period in the
wrong place and Jameson
charged in unneeded,
unannounced and unwanted.
Principles vs. Rules
• Rules: In some matters of punctuation there are
simple rights and wrongs.
• Principles: In others, one must apply a good ear to
good sense.
Apostrophe
Am I looking at my dinner or the dog’s?
Am I looking at my dinner or the dogs?
Indicates a…
possessive noun:
– Student’s term paper
– Students’ term paper
– The women’s movement
time or quantity:
– In one week’s time
– Two weeks’ notice
– Four meters’ worth
It’s = it is or it has
Wrong: Good writing at it’s best.
Right: Good writing at its best.
Who’s = who is or who has
Wrong: Who’s hat is this?
Right: Whose hat is this?
Plural of words:
What are the do’s and don’t’s?
There are too many but’s and and’s in
your sentences.
Comma
What’s this thing love?
What’s this thing, love?
•
•
•
To illuminate the grammar of a sentence.
To point up – rather in the manner of musical notation – such literary qualities as
rhythm, direction, pitch, tone and flow.
If only we hadn’t started reading quietly to ourselves.
– A comma meant “a piece cut off” for actors – Aristophanes (200 BC)
– 500 years later it was a breathing pause for the Bible – St. Jerome 4th C.
“Comfort ye my people”
(please go out and comfort my people)
“Comfort ye, my people”
(just cheer up, you lot; it might never happen)
There was NO punctuation in those ancient languages (Hebrew and Aramaic)
For considerable period in Latin transcriptions there were no gaps between words.
“Go, get him surgeons.”
“Go get him, surgeons.”
William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act I
• Typeface invented – 15th C
• Today, books are for reading not intoning
• Commas are fewer
Jones flung himself at his benefactor’s feet, and taking eagerly hold
of his hand, assured him, his goodness to him, both now, and at all other
times, had so infinitely exceeded not only his merit, but his hopes, that no
words could express his sense of it.
Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, 1749
• Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang won the 2001
Booker Prize, and it didn’t have one comma.
• Editors vary, nevertheless…
Six Comma Rules
1.
2.
3.
For a list of three or more words: The comma is correct if it can be
replaced by the word and or or.
For joining an independent clause, using such conjunctions as and, or,
but, while, which and yet (but not however and nevertheless).
Abbreviations etc., i.e., and e.g., are parenthetical and should be
punctuated accordingly.
The assignment, i.e., revising your second draft, is due today.
4.
Before direct speech
Warner (1982) said, “Any job not worth doing is not worth doing well.”
5.
To bracket additional information
I forgot, of course, the page number in citation.
When to Use a Comma After
Introductions
Introductory elements often require a comma, but not always. Use a comma
in the following cases:
• After an introductory clause. (Does the introductory element have a
subject and verb of its own?)
• After a long introductory prepositional phrase or more than one
introductory prepositional phrase. (Are there more than five words before
the main clause?)
• If there is a distinct pause. (When you read the sentence aloud, do you
find your voice pausing a moment after the introductory element?) to
avoid confusion. (Might a reader have to read the sentence more than
once to make sense of it?)
When NOT to Use a Comma After
Introductions
• After a brief prepositional phrase. (Is it a single phrase of less
than five words?)
• To separate the subject from the predicate, e.g.:
Preparing and submitting his report to the committee for evaluation and
possible publication[x] was one of the most difficult tasks Bill had ever
attempted.
To start a new business without doing market research and long-term
planning in advance[x] would be foolish.
Extracting the most profit for the least expenditure on labor and
materials[x] is the primary goal of a capitalist.
Appositives?
•
•
•
•
An appositive is a noun or pronoun beside another noun or pronoun to explain or identify it.
Place commas if the sentence would be clear and complete without the appositive.
John Kennedy, the popular US president, was known for his inspirational speeches.
The appositive is not essential information. Without it the sentence would be, "John Kennedy
was known for his inspirational speeches." We still know who the subject of the sentence is
without the appositive.
Do not place commas when the appositive is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
The popular US president John Kennedy was known for his inspirational speeches.
Here we do not put commas around the appositive, because it is essential information.
Without the appositive, the sentence would be, "The popular US president was known for his
inspirational speeches." We wouldn't know which president was being referred to.
Think context
My son, Peter, is 26 years old.
My son Peter is 26 years old.
Rule 6
Don’t use commas like a stupid person.
No dogs please
An indefensible generalization, since many dogs do please.
The professor walked on his head, a little higher than usual.
Comma should be after “on”.
The driver managed to escape from the truck before it sank
and swam to the river-bank.
Comma after “sank”; otherwise, the vehicle swam to the river-bank.
Don’t guess, use a timer or a watch.
Conveys the opposite of its intended meaning. What it appears to say is, “Don’t’ guess, or use a
timer or a watch,” but it only tells you not to guess. It therefore requires a semicolon or even
a period after “guess”, rather than a comma.
The student said the professor is stupid.
Makes sense – unless what’s intended is: The student, said the professor, is stupid.
Colons and Semicolons
• Non-writers are wary of both the colon (:) and semicolon (;).
• “Using colons in your writing is the equivalent of playing the piano with
crossed hands.” You Have a Point There, E. Partridge (1953).
• So why use them?
They are optional.
They are old-fashioned.
They are dangerously addictive.
They are mysteriously connected to pausing.
The difference between them is too negligible to understand.
Semicolon ; Principles
• Clause = noun and verb
• Phrase = two or more words used without a verb
• If you join two or more clauses without a conjunction...
– It is 12:10; I cannot reach class in time.
You could write
– It is 12:10. I cannot reach class in time.
– It is 12:10, and I cannot reach class in time.
But you miss the emphasis on relationship.
• If second clause is preceded by an adverb, such as accordingly,
consequently, besides, then, therefore, or thus, and not by a conjunction,
then use a semicolon.
– I had never written a term paper before; besides, I did not have enough time.
– You do not have an outline; consequently, your paper lacks coherent structure.
Colon : Principles
• For joining two independent clauses:
– A colon is nearly always preceded by a complete sentence.
– The second independent clause interprets or amplifies the first.
There was a directness about the burial: there was no stopover at the funeral
home, no wreath, no spray.
• Serves as a fulcrum between oppositional statements:
Man proposes: God disposes.
• To introduce long quotations, e.g., three lines of text.
• To start a list or pull up the reader for a nice surprise:
I find fault with only three things in your paper: the beginning, the middle and
the end.
• They set off book and film sub-titles from the main titles:
Gandhi II: The Mahatma Strikes Back.
Do not do the following:
• Separate a verb from its
complement:
Wrong
A serious writer requires: paper, pen,
and a dictionary.
Right
A serious writer requires three props:
paper, pen, and a dictionary.
• Separate a preposition from its
object:
Wrong
Good writing results from: theory,
practice, discipline and considerable time.
Right
Good writing results from theory, practice,
discipline and considerable time.
Sense the change with punctuation
1.
2.
3.
Per locked himself in the shed.
Norway lost to Sweden.
Per locked himself in the shed;
Norway lost to Sweden.
Per locked himself in the shed:
Norway lost to Sweden.
1.
2.
3.
These two statements, as they
stand, could be unrelated. They
merely tell you two things that have
happened, in the past.
We can infer from the semicolon
that these events occurred at the
same time, but we don’t know why.
All is now clear. Per locked himself in
the shed because Norway lost to
Sweden. Or does the colon
introduce surprise? That is, Norway
lost to Sweden because Per locked
himself in the shed.
Texting vs. Writing
Emotion + icon = Emoticon
:-)
=
:-(
=
:-c
= very unhappy
: ~/
= mixed up
<:-)
= dunce (stupid)
:-[
= pout
:-o
= surprise
:-r
= doubt
:-D
= laughing
:-I
= bored
:-/
= skeptical
Precision + punctuation = Style
( ) = to clarify
Warner (1997) notes…
= for authorial asides
Obama was blamed for the oil spill (isn’t that
interesting?).
[ ] = sic (Latin sicut = just as)
“ The Time’s [sic] reports…”
… = words missing
After the review… the paper was graded.
= trail off
He swept her into his arms. She was powerless to resist.
All she knew, she loved him…
Dash – vs. Hyphen Dash – from dasshen = to knock, to
hurl, to break
More distinct than ()
•
•
He was (I still can’t believe this) trying
to climb in the window.
Suppresses the interjection .
He was – I still can’t believe this! –
trying to climb in the window.
Interjection stands on its own.
Stronger than a comma
The axel began to make a noise – a
grinding, chattering, teeth-gritting
rasp.
Hyphen means join-together
1. To avoid ambiguity
A re-formed rock band
A reformed rock band
A small-woodlot owner
A small woodlot-owner
2. Spell out numbers
thirty-two, ninety-five
3. Link nouns with nouns
Oslo-Bergen train
4. Certain prefixes
Un-American, anti-Apartheid
5. Avoid letter confusion
Deice – de-ice
Shelllike – shell-like
Numbers
• One-digit numbers should be spelled out: nine percent
• Two or more digit numbers should be numerals: 13 percent
• If both are in a sentence, use only numerals: 9 and 13 percent
• Use numerals with abbreviated units of measure: 3%
• Use a full stop for decimal points, not a comma: 21.9, not 21,9
• Do not start a sentence with a numeral. Either reword the
sentence or spell out the number and unit of measurement:
• The economic growth (3%) was significant.
• Three percent economic growth was significant.