Tallinna Pedagoogikaülikool
Inglise keele õppetool
Irina Ladusseva
A Guide to Punctuation
Tallinn 2002
PREFACE
The present study-aid is intended as a guide to English punctuation. Observing
punctuation rules should be part of our writing, and appreciating punctuation marks in a
text should be part of our reading.
English punctuation, especially the use of the comma and the semicolon, is
somewhat different from Estonian or Russian punctuation. Mastering it is essential to
achieve better writing.
Some instructors may have said about the use of this or that punctuation mark:
“When in doubt, leave it out.” This seems to be a common superstition, which, however, is
of little help, for there are certain rules that need to be observed. Surprisingly, though,
things are different in fiction. A writer or poet may violate some rules for the sake of
greater expressiveness. That is why all the passages found in Part II of the present studyaid are taken from a more neutral kind of writing, that is, from essays.
Part I discusses the use of the comma, the semi-colon, the colon, the dash, the full
stop, the question mark, and the exclamation mark, paying special attention to points of
difficulty or points of difference. The major rules are supplemented by exercises.
Part II contains passages from original sources to afford further practice on the
basis of connected texts. The first set of extracts is meant for commenting on the correct
usage of different punctuation marks, the second—for correcting some slips occurring in
the original punctuation, and the third—for supplying the punctuation marks that have
been removed from within the sentences.
The study-aid is designed for students majoring in English at the Tallinn University
of Educational Sciences as well as for teachers of English.
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CONTENTS
Preface…………………………………………………………………………… 2
Part I. Basic Punctuation Rules………………………………………………….. 5
I. The Comma………………………………………………………………….. 6
1.1 Use commas in a series…………………………………………………. 6
1.2 Use commas in compound sentences…………………………………… 6
1.3 Use commas to set off introductory elements…………………………... 8
1.4 Use commas to set off parenthetical expressions……………………… 11
1.5 Use commas to set off nonessential elements………………………….. 12
1.5.1 Adjectival clauses…………………………………………… .. 13
1.5.2 Appositives……………………………………………………. 15
1.5.3 Attributive phrases…………………………………………… . 16
1.5.4 Adverbial clauses……………………………………………….16
1.5.5 Participial phrases used as adverbial modifiers……………….. 17
1.6 Use commas between coordinate modifiers (adjectives)………………..20
1.7 Use commas in dates…………………………………………………….22
1.8 Use commas with inclusive place names………………………………..22
1.9 Use commas in an address………………………………………………22
1.10 Use commas with a title………………………………………………..22
1.11 Use commas with long numbers……………………………………….22
1.12 Use commas to set off yes and no, tag questions, words of direct
address, and mild interjections…………………………………………23
1.13 Use commas to set off absolute phrases………………………………..24
1.14 Use commas to set off a person’s age…………………………………. 24
1.15 Use a comma to introduce direct questions…………………………… 24
1.16 Use commas to set off contrasting elements………………………….. 24
1.17 Use a comma after the connective that is…………………………….. 24
1.18 Use commas with the Latin abbreviations etc. and i.e. ……………… 25
1.19 Use a comma with certain constructions……………………………… 25
1.20 Use commas with quotations…………………………………………...26
1.21 Use a comma to prevent misreading……………………………………27
1.22 Use commas to indicate omission..…………………………………….27
1.23 Avoid unnecessary commas……………………………………………27
II. The Semicolon………………………………………………………………32
2.1 Use a semicolon between independent clauses NOT joined by a coordinating conjunction……………………………………………………….32
2.2 Use a semicolon before a conjunction to separate two independent clauses
that contain several commas…………………………………………….. 32
2.3 Use semicolons to separate items in a series if they are complex or contain
commas…………………………………………………………………. 33
III. The Colon…………………………………………………………………. 35
3.1. Use a colon to introduce a series following a noun that establishes
the series…………………………………………………………………35
3.2 Use a colon to introduce an appositive…………………………………. .35
3.3 Use a colon to introduce an explanation or example……………………. 35
3.4 Use a colon to introduce a quotation……………………………………. 35
3.5 Use a colon after a salutation in a formal letter………………………… 35
3.6 Use a colon to separate elements…………………………………………35
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3.7 Avoid a colon at the end of an incomplete statement………………………36
IV. The Dash…………………………………………………………………….. 38
4.1 Use a dash to set off parenthetical expressions that are emphatic or that
already contain commas…………………………………………………... 38
4.2 Use a dash to set off unfinished thoughts…………………………………. 38
4.3 Use a dash to indicate hesitation in dialogue……………………………… 38
4.4 Use a dash to introduce a summary or explanation……………………….. 38
4.5 Use a dash to set off concluding series……………………………………. 38
4.6 Use a dash to set off an appositive………………………………………… 38
V. The Full Stop………………………………………………………………….. 41
5.1 Use a full stop after an indirect question…………………………………... 41
5.2 Use a full stop after a polite request or mild command……………………. 41
5.3 Use a full stop before a decimal…………………………………………… 41
5.4 Use a full stop with the majority of abbreviations………………………… 41
5.5 Avoid a full stop after certain specialized abbreviations and most acronyms 41
5.6 Avoid a full stop after the title of your paper/essay or the title of any book,
story, etc. …………………………………………………………………… 42
VI. The Question Mark…………………………………………………………… 42
6.1 Use a question mark at the end of a direct question……………………….. 42
6.2 Use a question mark in parentheses to indicate doubt……………………... 42
6.3 Avoid a question mark at the end of an indirect question…………………. 42
6.4 Avoid a question mark with a polite request………………………………. 43
VII. The Exclamation Mark………………………………………………………. 43
7.1 Use an exclamation mark after an emphatic statement, interjection, or
command…………………………………………………………………… 43
7.2 Avoid exclamation marks after mild interjections and commands………… 43
Part II. Further Practice…………………………………………………………….. 47
Task I……………………………………………………………………………... 47
Task II……………………………………………………………………………. 52
Task III…………………………………………………………………………… 56
Recommended Reading…………………………………………………………….. 62
Useful Internet Sites………………………………………………………………… 63
Works Cited………………………………………………………………………… 64
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P a r t I. BASIC PUNCTUATION RULES
Punctuation helps to clarify how a sentence should be read; thus, it aids the sense,
promotes understanding, and guides correct reading.
Try this series of sentences. You will discover a good reason for giving attention to
punctuation. Read the following sentences quickly. Just read them—nothing more.
1. If you wish to shoot the attendant will load the gun for you.
2. For some time after Philip was broken-hearted.
3. While we were eating the dog began to bark.
4. To write a history of the past ten years of research is a minimum requirement.
5. On the path leading to the cellar steps were heard.
6. Without the warm affection Bert felt in Uncle William’s family life in Oregon
was hard.
Did you understand the intent of these sentences at first sight? Or did you have to
read some of them a second or third time to be sure of their meaning? Obviously,
something is missing in each sentence—some signal to warn the reader to slow down. Go
back now and put in the slow-down commas which make the sentences instantly clear!
Now you ought to answer the question: who needs punctuation? The answer is
obvious. The reader does.
As we have seen, punctuation helps readers to organize information. Without it,
sentence parts can collide into one another and cause confusion.
English punctuation differs to some extent from punctuation in our mother tongue.
To make matters worse, there are punctuation differences among writers and genres in
English (fiction and technical writing, for example), which means that English punctuation
has not been completely standardized. It should be added that some fifty years ago writers
used punctuation somewhat differently from present-day practice. Also, there are slight
differences between British and American punctuation. However, there is a strong
tendency nowadays towards uniform punctuation, and we, too, need to follow the
established rules.
Punctuation in English is governed by grammatical as well as logical principles.
Broadly speaking, it reflects the grammatical division of the sentence into smaller units as
well as suggests the ‘stops’ required by logic.
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I. THE COMMA
The comma is primarily a separating device. It prevents sentence parts from running
together.
1.1 Use commas in a series
In a series, or enumeration, the comma is used to separate three or more items:
He knows French, German, and Italian.
She smiled, nodded, and left the premises.
They will bring apples, plums, or cherries.
Pete is industrious, intelligent, kind, and understanding.
Neither his parents, friends, relatives, nor neighbours understood him.
Note. The comma before the coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor) is called the
Oxford comma in Britain and the Harvard comma in the US. It is also known as the serial
comma . The pattern A, B and C (the comma missing) is preferred in Britain, while the
pattern A, B, and C (the comma used) is preferred in America. Also, it is omitted in
American newspapers to save space. To be on the safe side, however, we should use the
comma to avoid any possible ambiguity or misinterpretation:
She bought lettuce, yellow apples, and oranges at the market.
Without the comma before and, the reader may get the idea that yellow applies to oranges
as well.
If coordinating conjunctions are used to link the items in a series, commas are
omitted:
She is lazy and dishonest and dirty-looking and nasty.
Two items joined by a conjunction do not need a comma:
They brought milk and butter.
The book was strange but exciting.
She protested yet stayed.
1.2 Use commas in compound sentences
Use a comma between independent clauses joined by a coordinating conjunction.
The coordinating conjunctions are for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so (conjunctive adverb).
The acronym FANBOYS will help you to remember them. Examples:
I need a rest, but I must keep studying for the exam.
He is prepared for the worst, yet he is ready to face any hardship.
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Come in, and shut the door behind you.
Some sources suggest that a comma is optional when the independent clauses are
short. In your own writing, however, you need to use a comma to avoid thinking of
whether your clauses are sufficiently short. After all, how short does a ‘short’ clause need
to be?
Note. An independent clause is a grammatically complete sentence—it has a
subject and a predicate and makes a complete statement. If the subject in the second part is
missing, no comma is used because in this case you are dealing with a simple sentence (see
1.21):
I need a rest but must keep studying for the exam.
He is prepared for the worst yet is ready to face any hardship.
If independent clauses are joined without a conjunction, you should use a semicolon
between them (see 2.1):
Susan was hesitating; she was too tired to speak.
We did not pay attention to his remark; we had no time to waste.
Exercise 1
Explaining comma usage in series and compound sentences
Discuss the rules governing the use or non-use of commas in the following
sentences. (The sentences contain correct punctuation.)
1. The woman was nervous, slightly pale, and beautiful.
2. Nobody smiled or moved.
3. You must take the box, open it, and show us the contents.
4. Fred pushed me aside and dashed towards the door.
5. There were tourists and pedestrians and onlookers and stray cats.
6. The town looked like a village; it was small indeed.
7. The town looked like a village, and it resembled the place we visited last week.
8. The houses are small yet lovely.
9. The houses are small, yet they look lovely.
10. The houses are small, for the people living there are quite poor.
11. The houses are small; the people living there are quite poor.
12. The speaker was shy, hesitant, slow, and dull.
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Exercise 2
Punctuating series and compound sentences
State whether the sentences are punctuated correctly. If they are not, supply the
proper punctuation.
1. I laughed, told him to relax, and hung up the phone.
2. There were no empty chairs, so I walked to the back of the room and squatted in
a corner.
3. I took a cab up to school but I was still late.
4. The author dedicated this book to his parents, Mary and God.
5. And all of these sounds are adult sounds, for childish laughter has no place in
these establishments.
6. I did not know the answer so I stood up, collected my things and left.
7. We Americans yearn to get in touch with our feelings yet we’ve never felt so
dead at the center.
8. The line between the races must never be crossed, for familiarity caused slaves to
forget their lowly station and to become “impudent.”
9. The books were old, they were also expensive.
10. She was uneducated but intelligent.
11. The balloons were huge and bright and grotesque.
12. The laughing crowd watched him intently, and followed every word he uttered.
13. Stop shouting and give me a kiss.
14. The streets were empty, dusty and very hot.
1.3 Use commas to set off introductory elements
The elements opening the sentence and thus preceding the subject are called
introductory. They are followed by a comma. Some reference books suggest that the
comma may be omitted after a short introductory item (containing no more than four
words) if the omission does not create confusion:
In two years he will graduate. [clear]
In winter drug addicts face a different set of problems. [confusing]
In winter, drug addicts face a different set of problems. [clear]
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To avoid confusion, the present study-aid recommends the use of the comma after any
introductory element coming before the subject—the comma here is always correct.
These introductory elements include the following:
adverbs
Reluctantly, she left the room. (BUT: She left the room reluctantly)
Slowly, James returned to his car. (BUT: James returned slowly to his car)
conjunctive adverbs
also
anyway
besides
certainly
finally
furthermore
however
incidentally
indeed
instead
likewise
meanwhile
moreover
namely
nevertheless
next
now
otherwise
similarly
still
then
therefore
thus
undoubtedly
Similarly, his behaviour is outrageous.
Nevertheless, we need to start now.
adverbial phrases
In this novel, a sad story of an impoverished aristocrat is recounted.
After a short break, the lecture was resumed.
Between the tall buildings, he saw a number of smashed cars.
Note. If the adverbial phrase is followed by inversion, no comma is used:
After the long winter came the awakening. [inversion, no comma]
After the long winter, the awakening came. [usual word-order, a comma]
participles and participial phrases
Frustrated, she did not know what to do next. [participle]
Trembling, I unfolded the newspaper. [participle]
Opening the door, he wondered she was still there. [participial phrase]
Wounded in the leg, the policeman was unable to walk. [participial phrase]
infinitives and infinitive phrases
To win, you need utmost concentration. [infinitive]
To complete the task, he was forced to consult Nick. [infinitive phrase]
subordinate clauses
Because the idea is absurd, I cannot do it.
When we came, the performance was over.
Where he put the parcel, I do not know.
Note. When the subordinate clause follows the main clause, no comma is usually
needed since the information it contains is essential for the meaning of the sentence:
I cannot do it because the idea is absurd.
The performance was over when we came.
I do not know where he put the parcel.
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For essential and nonessential elements see 1.5.
Verbals and subordinate clauses used as modifiers (see above) should be
distinguished from those used as subjects. The former always take a comma; the latter
never do.
Opening the door proved to be difficult. [subject]
When he came is unimportant. [subject]
To arrive late was a fascinating idea. [subject]
Exercise 3
Punctuating introductory elements
Insert commas where needed. If a sentence is punctuated correctly, circle the
number preceding it.
1. When my mother asked me why I watched TV, I sighed some more.
2. In the twelfth round he was hit hard in the head several times, went down, was
counted out, and never came out of the coma.
3. After all, what is supposed to characterize middle-class behavior is the ability to
defer pleasure.
4. In my country many women consider motherhood a time-consuming obstacle to
the great joy of working outside the home.
5. If you’ve ever worked or lived in a building where you had to use an elevator
you know that it becomes part of your life.
6. Painfully the story was told.
7. Behind the department store door I saw the person I needed to talk to at once.
8. Behind the department store, stood my precious car.
9. Whenever we join them they feel uneasy.
10. Going to the theatre, he lost his keys.
11. Disillusioned she would not speak to anyone.
12. In the article the author discusses uses of punctuation.
13. Finally, she became a star and never regtretted it.
14.Where all this will lead us, we do not know nor wish to know.
15. Quickly we passed the entrance gate.
16. Why cross-country skiing and snowmobiling reflect class lines so perfectly, is
not easy to figure out.
10
17. Where you sat the first day was where you settled forever.
18. To be dependent on an agent is like entrusting your most precious future to your
mother-in-law or your bookmaker (J. Osborne).
1.4 Use commas to set off parenthetical expressions
Parenthetical words and expressions are interrupters. They interrupt the flow of the
sentence, adding additional information about the writer’s intention or attitude. Because
they are commenting remarks, they may be removed without damage to the sense. When
parenthesis is used in the middle of the sentence, it is set off with commas on both sides.
Interrupters are words, expressions, and sentences. Here are some that you use often:
after all
in fact
on the contrary
by and large
alas
in short
in other words
in my opinion
first(ly), second(ly)
in addition
for example/instance
of course
fortunately
generally
nonetheless
according to
otherwise stated
what is more
as a result
all in all
indeed
on the one/other hand
luckily
consequently
however
so to speak
to my mind
to begin with
on the whole
in particular
In short, the event was tragic.
The event, in short, was tragic.
The event was tragic, in short.
This, generally, is a good idea.
In my opinion, the results are poor.
The solution, on the other hand, is time-consuming.
Note how the pitch of the voice changes when interrupters are uttered.
The sentences used in this function are, for example, I think, I admit, I fear, and a
variety of others:
His uncle, I think, needs a long rest.
My observations, I admit, are superficial.
On the other hand, his manners, I fear, ought to be improved.
His stories, it turns out, were inspired by his sister.
In such cases, the interrupting element is easy to perceive as it disrupts the structure
of the whole sentence. Caution: If placed at the beginning of the sentence, it is no longer
an interrupter but the main clause, and no comma is used after it:
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This, I fear, is out of the question. [interrupter]
I fear (that) this is out of the question. [non-interrupter]
Exercise 4
Punctuating parenthetical expressions
Supply commas in the following sentences to set off interrupting elements.
1. Charles Dickens is no doubt a brilliant writer.
2. Unfortunately his books are read less and less.
3. This I am sure has several reasons.
4. First his language alas is fairly outdated.
5. Second his novels are too long for contemporary readers.
6. Third though I doubt it his novels have too many characters.
7. Films based on his novels are on the contrary extremely popular.
8. Take for example ‘Oliver Twist.’
9. It is it seems the best movie for the young.
10. ‘Pickwick Papers’ on the other hand was not a success with the public.
11. In my opinion humorous novels are the hardest to screen.
12. According to some literary critics linguistic humour is impossible to reproduce
on the screen.
1.5 Use commas to set off nonessential elements
This seems to be the trickiest point in English comma usage. Also, it involves logical
reasoning. We shall, therefore, start by discussing some examples.
People who live in Italy are called Italians.
Here the adjective clause who live in Italy is essential (important). It serves to clearly
identify the noun people. We may ask a question, who are called Italians? The answer to it
is ‘People who live in Italy’ and not just ‘People.’ If we now remove the adjective clause,
we are left with a strange statement: ‘People are called Italians’. Because this adjective
clause is important, or essential, using commas round it is wrong. Commas are required for
nonessential elements, which can be removed without damage to the sense.
People, who are mortals, inevitably think of death.
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The adjective clause who are mortals is nonessential; it describes something that all
people share. And since being mortal is a universal feature, it does not identify the noun—
the noun people is already clearly identified. To check this, let us ask a question, who
thinks of death? The only logical answer is simply ‘People’, which shows that the adjective
clause in this sentence can be removed without harming the meaning: ‘People inevitably
think of death’. Who are mortals merely gives additional, unimportant information; it is a
kind of commenting remark. This information is nonessential. The nonessential element
needs commas round it.
If we omit the commas in this sentence, which is not impossible, the sentence
changes its meaning:
People who are mortals inevitably think of death.
Without commas, this statement implies that there are those who are mortal and those who
are immortal, and it is the former group of people who think of death. A highly improbable
statement. If we ask a question—who thinks of death?—the answer is ‘People who are
mortals.’ (And those who are not do not think of it.) Although possible theoretically,
omitting commas here is wrong.
Thus, there is this criterion to be guided by: if we remove the element and the
fundamental meaning of the sentence does not change, the element is nonessential and
should be set off with commas. If the meaning changes, becomes too general or even
absurd, the element is essential and should not be set off with commas:
Pablo who emigrated from Spain lives in Denver.
Pablo lives in Denver. [element removed, the meaning unchanged]
Those who emigrated with him live elswhere.
Those live elsewhere. [element removed, the meaning strange: who are Those?]
Thus, the correct punctuation is the following:
Pablo, who emigrated from Spain, lives in Denver. [nonessential information]
Those who emigrated with him live elsewhere. [essential information]
After this lengthy introduction, we shall proceed considering various kinds of
constructions that may be essential and nonessential.
1.5.1. Adjective clauses
These are clauses introduced by who, whom, whose, which, and that (called relative
pronouns). Adjective clauses are usually nonessential when they modify a proper noun,
for the name identifies itself:
Fred, who failed last spring, gave a brilliant answer.
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Tom, whom we met yesterday, is going to Europe.
Silvia, whose parents are lawyers, dreams of showbiz.
The Jägala Falls, which we visit every spring, attract a number of tourists.
The italicized adjective clauses give additional, nonessential information about nouns
identified by name and must be set off by commas.
Sometimes common nouns modified by adjective clauses are also fully identified:
The winner, who has spent all his energy, is close to fainting. [there is one winner]
The Prime Minister, who had been touring Europe, arrived yesterday. [a very
concrete person]
The noun may become fully identified by the preceding context:
The thick book on the shelf is a present from my parents. The book, which is
very expensive, is a rare first edition. [the book is fully identified by the previous
information; which is very expensive is nonessential, additional information; we
already know which book is described]
More often, however, common nouns need the adjective clause to identify them;
then the clause is essential, and commas should be omitted.
A person who steals is a thief. [cannot be removed without damage to the sense,
the clause is essential]
Foreigners who know Estonian are very few. [cannot be removed; the clause is
essential]
Books that give the reader real pleasure are rare nowadays. [cannot be removed;
the clause is essential]
One animal that I am terribly fond of is the cat. [cannot be removed; the clause is
essential]
A good tip to remember is that an adjective clause introduced by that is always
essential and thus is never set off by commas.
Another useful tip is that an adjective clause introduced by which is nonessential
and must be set off by commas.
The lectures that I like best are delivered by Mr. Jones. [essential]
The lectures at our university, which are too long for my taste, should last for thirty
minutes and not a second longer. [nonessential]
Sometimes adjective clauses starting with which refer to a whole idea expressed in
the sentence or large part of it. Such clauses are always nonessential and need commas.
She eats nothing but apples, which is strange. [a kind of side-remark]
Note. In grammar, essential adjective clauses are also called defining or restrictive,
and nonessential ones nondefining or nonrestrictive.
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1.5.2 Appositives
Appositives are repeaters that rename a noun in a different way. Usually they
rename a noun already fully identified. In this case, they are nonessential and must be set
off by commas.
Astronomy, the study of celestial bodies, is a young science.
Morphemes, the smallest linguistic units that possess meaning, fall into several
classes.
Astronomy and morphemes are nouns identified by name. The italicized appositives give
additional, nonessential information; that is why the commas are needed.
Sometimes appositives are verbal phrases. Traditionally, they are set off by dashes
although the commas would not be very wrong:
Jack’s fondest wish—to become an actor—was ridiculed by his parents.
Their favourite hobby—sailing in the Mediterranian—had to be reconsidered for
lack of money.
Wish and hobby are fully identified; thus, the following appositives are nonessential.
Appositives may be essential. The essential appositives are those that mention a
title after a word such as novel, film, poem and the like or a person’s name after a word
such as writer, novelist, poet, politician and so on. Such appositives are essential because
removing them makes a sentence vague. They are needed to fully identify the noun:
The novel Ulysses has intrigued generations of readers and literary critics.
The poem ‘Tyger, Tyger’ is my favourite.
The playwright Tennessee Williams is known worldwide.
However, if the preceding sentence makes an identification of a noun such as novel,
then in the next sentence the title may be a nonessential appositive:
There is one novel by James Joyce that has intrigued generations of readers and
literary critics. The novel, Ulysses, has a very simple plot.
Appositives that are names of people, for example, my friend John, or my sister
Mary need to be treated with care. They may be both essential and nonessential. The name
is essential if the person named is one of several or many people belonging to this
category:
My friend John advised me to take it easy. [you have several friends; you need a
name to state precisely whom you mean; essential; no commas]
The name is nonessential if the person named is the only one belonging to this
category.
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My friend, John, advised me to take it easy. [you have only one friend; his name,
after all, is nonessential because there are no more friends; commas needed]
Let us consider other examples.
My sister Mary is a fast runner. [you have several sisters; essential]
My sister, Mary, is a fast runner. [you have one sister—Mary; nonessential]
His mother Jane is a housewife. [he has—an exceptional case—several mothers;
essential]
His mother, Jane, is a housewife. [he has one mother—Jane; nonessential]
Of course, when the name comes first, we need commas round the following
appositive noun phrase:
Jane, his mother, is a housewife.
1.5.3 Attributive phrases
These are phrases of any form that modify nouns, and they follow the rules
discussed above. When such a phrase is essential to identify the noun it modifies, it is not
set off by commas:
The professor was addressed by a student wearing a long skirt. [essential]
The man smiling to himself appeared to be John Powell. [essential]
A person eager to make a good impression may become annoying. [essential]
My lecturer of American literature, wearing a long skirt, greeted me with a broad
smile. [nonessential; you have only one lecturer who teaches American literature]
John Powell, smiling to himself, sat in the corner. [nonessential; the name fully
identifies the person]
The new secretary, eager to make a good impression, very soon became annoying.
[nonessential; obviously, there is just one new secretary]
1.5.4 Adverbial clauses
Most adverbial subordinate clauses are essential because they describe conditions
necessary to the main clause and do not need commas.
This happened when she was still a student. [essential; without the clause, the
sentence is too general and vague]
He went where his instinct told him. [essential; without the clause, the sentence
becomes vague]
They left because it was late. [essential; without the clause, the sentence becomes
too general]
I will marry you if you change your habits. [essential; without the clause, the sense
suffers]
Nonessential adverbial clauses are those that add incidental information.
Nonessential adverbial clauses of time and place usually come after the date or place name:
She moved to Greece in 1976, when she was twenty.
And so he fled to Rome, where nobody knew him.
Nonessential adverbial clauses of cause may also supply incidental, unimportant
information:
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I know that he was appointed chairman, because my sister works in this company.
[nonessential; he was not appointed chairman just because my sister works there]
BUT: He was appointed chairman because he had excellent expertise. [essential]
Another kind of nonessential adverbial clauses comprises those introduced by
although, even though, though, whereas and expressing a contrast (see 1.16).
He said nothing, even though he was a talkative kind.
Note. Adverbial clauses preceding the main clause always need a comma to set
them off from the main clause (see 1.3).
1.5.5. Participial phrases used as adverbial modifiers
As a rule, these phrases are set off with a comma, because usually they are
nonessential.
“What a pity,” said Smith, smiling nervously.
They went on and on, never stopping for a rest.
Exercise 5
Punctuating nonessential adjectival clauses
Decide whether the italicized elements are essential or nonessential and suggest
proper punctuation.
1. John Lennon who remains equally famous after his death is a striking person.
2. The songs that he wrote and sang can be heard nearly every day.
3. He married a Japanese lady which surprised the public.
4. She was a person who became his soulmate.
5. People who saw her noted her oriental beauty.
6. This was the kind of beauty that you do not notice at once.
7. Yoko Ono who sang too was also known for her painting.
8. The paintings that she sold are a treasured item in any collection.
9. There are some scandalous incidents that the couple is notorious for.
10. People whose moral standard is high criticize their behaviour.
11. One of these incidents is the famous bed-in that lasted for several days.
12. The couple whose behaviour was different from that of many stayed in bed
naked and even invited reporters to record this happening.
13. Their nude photos appeared in the press which amused or shocked the readers.
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14. This bed-in which was just an episode in the couple’s life is still remembered by
many people.
Exercise 6
Punctuating appositives
Supply the missing punctuation. Some sentences are correct. In some sentences
several options are possible. Suggest your interpretations.
1. The song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is my favourite.
2. The newspaper reporter Jack Norris is known for his witty comments.
3. Petrology or the study of rocks is a science that involves travelling.
4. My neighbour Pauline is an extravagant woman.
5. Her roommate, Barbara, is a nuisance.
6. The news was spread by the secretary Ivonne.
7. Phonetics the study of sounds and intonation may require sophisticated
equipment.
8. The president of the company George Pratt has retired today.
9. His uncle, Fred, left him a fortune.
10. My husband, Ralph, drives a bus.
11. Mary my deskmate refused to speak to me.
Exercise 7
Punctuating adjectival phrases
Supply proper punctuation.
1. A man anxious to please the world is the worst kind of friend.
2. My deskmate anxious to please me supplied the correct answer.
3. People wearing scarves in summer are a rare sight.
4. Leslie wearing a woollen scarf said he had a sore throat.
5. A criminal unwilling to obey the prison regulations has a tough time.
6. Criminals unwilling to obey the prison regulations have a tough time.
7. Tom Duns unwilling to admit the truth stuck to his previous version.
8. People annoyed by neighbours need to take action.
9. Fred annoyed by neighbours needs to take action.
10. A penny saved is a penny gained.
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Exercise 8
Punctuating adverbial clauses
Insert commas where needed. Explain your choice.
1. She was lying on the floor when he arrived.
2. I will do it if I have time.
3. The event took place in October 1998 before James was born.
4. The wedding was off because the bride did not turn up.
5. You cannot keep silent when you are asked a question.
6. This is where I found the puppy.
7. It was a long time since I had written to her.
8. She purchased the ring at Harrods where you and I met.
9. He studies at the Tallinn Technical University where my cousin works.
10. They visited places where they had been ten years before.
11. I feel so frustrated whenever I see his sad face.
12. The conference was held in the National Library where I went last week.
13. I enjoyed that day though it was cold and rainy.
14. He lost everything because he had trusted them.
Exercise 9
Revising essential and nonessential elements
The following are literary quotations. Decide in which of them the comma is used
correctly. (The mistakes were deliberately introduced by the author of this studyaid.)
1. I am the only critic in London who is too small for his boots (A. Dent).
2. A critic is a man, who knows the way but can’t drive the car (K. Tynan).
3. The demand that I make of my reader is that he should devote his whole LIFE to
reading my works (J. Joyce).
4. I always wanted to write a book, that ended with the word mayonnaise (R.
Brautigan).
5. You don’t expect me to know what to say about a play, when I don’t know who
the author is, do you? (G. B. Shaw)
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6. You know who the critics are? The men who have failed in literature and art (B.
Disraeli).
7. Man is a history-making creature who can neither repeat his past nor leave it
behind (W. H. Auden).
8. Comedy is tragedy, that happens to other people (A. Carter).
9. An intellectual is someone whose mind watches itself (A. Camus).
10. You don’t know a woman, until you have had a letter from her (A. Leverson).
1.6 Use commas between coordinate modifiers (adjectives)
Modifiers are coordinate when they modify the same noun; they serve the same
function. Coordinate modifiers are separated from each other by commas:
He is a strong, healthy man.
Here strong and healthy are coordinate, for they both modify the same noun, man. To
check whether this is so, we may apply two tests. First, we may reverse the order of the
adjectives. Truly coordinate adjectives can be reversed without a change of meaning:
He is a healthy, strong man.
Second, we may apply the and test. Thus, if the conjunction and can replace the comma
without damaging the sense, the adjectives are coordinate:
He is a strong and healthy man.
Adjectives are not coordinate when the one nearer the noun is more closely related
to the noun in meaning. No commas should be used then:
It was a typical American movie.
Here American modifies movie, but typical does not; it modifies American movie. We
cannot change the order of these adjectives (American typical movie), nor can we introduce
and between them (typical and American movie).
Let us look at some other examples:
Jane appeared to be a hospitable, nice, charming person. [coordinate]
We stayed at an expensive summer resort. [noncoordinate]
They were received by a young, pretty secretary. [coordinate]
She does various odd jobs. [noncoordinate]
It is a brown plastic pen. [noncoordinate]
Remember that numerals are noncoordinate:
It was his first important decision.
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Note. If adjectives are placed after the noun they modify, they take commas:
Jane, young and inexperienced, needs guidance.
If one modifier serves to qualify or comment on the modifier preceding it, this
function can be signalled by enclosing it in commas:
It was a strange, perhaps even untrue, story.
The sentence would be acceptable if the second comma were omitted, but here it shows
that perhaps even untrue is a ‘second thought’ about the first modifier strange.
Exercise 10
Punctuating coordinate adjectives
Insert commas wherever necessary.
1. Suddenly a thin tall brown-haired young man began to gasp.
2. I remember that it was a cloudy stuffy morning at the beginning of the rains.
3. There was a definite sarcastic grin on his face.
4. Remember that he is just an average German schoolboy.
5. He describes a ragged sensitive-faced Arab child.
6. The little girl mentioned the old familiar word.
7. She is a famous Norwegian skater.
8. This popular national song is often heard on the radio.
9. The company was facing tragic financial consequences.
10. This is a bad unpardonable lexical mistake.
11. The proposed change involves important far-reaching democratic improvement.
12. We appreciated her subtle unnoticeable northern beaty.
13. The polite well-mannered refined man spoke with a slight Irish accent.
14. Her numerous secretarial duties seemed never to end.
15. Living in an advanced industrial country does not mean every citizen is rich.
16. She was in one of her frivolous playful moods.
17. The third international conference will start tomorrow.
18. The woman tired and breathless glanced at us.
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1.7 Use commas in dates
In a month-first date, we use commas round the year:
August 7, 1998, was the most hilarious day of my life.
In a day-first date, we do not need commas round the year:
They were married on 7 August 1998.
Neither do we need commas with dates consisting only of a month or season and a
year:
This happened in November 2000 in Warsaw.
Spring 1987 promised much but gave little.
But the commas are obligatory when a date is preceded by a day of the week:
The seminar will take place on Wednesday, January 5, in the conference hall.
1.8 Use commas with inclusive place names
When we add the name of a state, province, or country after a place name, we
should set off the second name with commas on both sides:
She travelled to San Antonio, Texas.
Sarasota, Florida, is where I met her.
1.9 Use commas in an address
In addresses, a comma is used after each part, including the state if no ZIP cope is
given. In addresses that include the ZIP code, no comma appears either before or after it:
My current address is 3454 Park Lane, Memphis, Tennessee.
Forward my mail to Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 until further
notice.
1.10 Use commas with a title
Use commas to set off a title such as Jr., B.A., M.A., Ph.D, Esq., and so on from the
preceding name and from the rest of the sentence:
James Brown, Ph.D., started his speech with a joke.
Martin Luther King, Jr., was a great orator.
1.11 Use commas with long numbers
In numbers of five digits or more, use a comma between each group of three digits,
starting from the right:
The population increased by 15,750 within a decade.
Do not use a comma within street numbers or ZIP codes:
My friend lives at 12412 Wimberly Drive, Richmond, Virginia 23233.
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The comma is optional within numbers of four digits, except for years, where it is
never used:
The intake of students was 1,230 (or 1230) last year.
Exercise 11
Punctuating dates, place names, addresses, titles, and long numbers
Insert commas as needed in the following sentences.
1. The house cost $150000 fifteen years ago.
2. You are invited to attend the festival on August 15 2003 in Hogarth Virginia.
3. There were 2360 participants from different countries.
4. He arrived on Friday April 13 1998.
5. On his tour, he visited Milan Italy and Kyoto Japan.
6. You will find him at 25 Narva Road Tallinn Estonia.
7. The research paper was reviewed by Nora Dahl M.A.
8. Peter Howarth Jr. has been more successful than his father.
9. The date 7 October 1990 will always be remembered in our family.
10. People were cultivating crops before 10000 B.C.
11. MLA headquarters are at 10 Astor Place New York New York 10003.
1.12 Use commas to set off yes and no, tag questions, words of direct
address, and mild interjections
Yes and no
Yes, the publication did have a point.
No, that was not true.
Tag questions
She didn’t commit the crime, did she?
He is a devoted husband, isn’t he?
Direct address
I hope, gentlemen, that you will work with dedication.
Sam, stop bothering the cat.
Mild interjections
Well, this cannot be helped.
Oh, you will never guess who did it.
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1.13 Use commas to set off absolute phrases
Absolute phrases are groups of words that have no grammatical relation to any
other word in a sentence, hence their name absolute (from a Latin word meaning “free”).
In fact, they modify the entire rest of the sentence, adding information or clarifying
meaning. Absolute phrases are always set off by commas:
Prices having risen, the government debated a price freeze.
We shall carry on, the circumstances being favourable.
Mother, her condition improving, urged me to stay in business.
The party over, we left at eleven.
Rain or shine, he is always busy in his garden.
1.14 Use commas to set off a person’s age
Sometimes, a person’s age is mentioned in a sentence parenthetically, in which case
commas are needed:
My neighbour Michael, 22, is a real nightmare.
According to James Read, 41, the issue is not closed.
1.15 Use a comma to introduce direct questions
A comma is required to introduce direct questions, but not indirect questions:
The problem is, how is it done? [direct question; note the use of the question mark]
The problem is how to do it. [indirect question; note the absence of the question
mark]
1.16 Use commas to set off contrasting elements
It was his mother, not his father, who survived the shock.
Going there is dangerous, not safe.
The essay needs less wit, more pith.
The story is narrated objectively at first, subjectively toward the end.
1.17 Use a comma after the connective that is
A comma is placed after the connective that is:
Johnny is yellow—that is, he is a coward.
He is not guilty; that is, he was insane when he committed the crime.
I will be there, that is, if I am invited.
The punctuation preceding that is varies. If the construction following that is is a
sentence or independent clause, then a semicolon or dash should come before it. If the
construction following that is is not a full sentence, then a comma before that is is
appropriate.
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1.18 Use commas with the Latin abbreviations etc. and i.e.
Although these abbreviations should be avoided in writing, they may appear in
scholarly texts. This way or other, etc. and i.e. require commas before and after them:
The suffix –nik has given rise to several derivatives, for example, peacenik,
Vietnik, etc., and means ‘one who is engaged in some activity.’
The productive suffixes are -er, -ist, -ette, etc.
These events led to chaos, i.e., anarchy, rebellion, disorder.
Exercise 12
Using commas 1.12-1.18
Insert commas where needed.
1. Symbolism, postmodernism, expressionism etc. are just empty words for me.
2. No this cannot be done.
3. This is a morpheme i.e. the smallest indivisible unit.
4. The story was told by Pauline 35 a housewife.
5. I need to ask you where is he then?
6. Money and power not wit and manners are appreciated nowadays.
7. She is ill that is she had a heart attack.
8. Who sent you here Jack?
9. He did not write the letter did he?
10. The weather improving we ventured outdoors.
11. I will come that is if you want me to.
12. Why this is my only source of income.
13. Well we shall see about it Peter.
14. She started to collect her things John playing the violin in the next room.
1.19 Use a comma with certain constructions
A comma is used to separate the two parts of the construction the more…, the
more… .
The more he tried, the more they criticized him.
The smaller the expenses, the better for us.
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Another expression that may require a comma is such as. If it occurs after a
complete sentence, the comma is usually needed.
The gave me many presents, such as a TV set, a boat, a puppy, and a guitar.
If the part coming before such as is not a complete sentence, the comma is omitted.
Mistakes such as the absence of the article or the wrong use of tenses are annoying.
1.20 Use commas with quotations
The words she said, he wrote, and so on identify the source of a quotation. These
identifying words may come before, after, or in the middle of the quotation and must be
separated from the latter by punctuation, usually a comma or commas.
“To be occasionally quoted is the only fame I care for,” wrote Alexander Smith.
Mark Twain said, “There are several kinds of stories, but only one difficult kind—
the humorous.”
“I would never read a book,” said Woodrow Wilson, “if it were possible to talk for
half an hour with the man who wrote it.”
Note. A comma following a quotation goes inside the closing quotation mark.
Do not use a comma when a quotation is introduced by that or when a short
quotation is merely one element in the sentence, not the substance of the sentence.
The writer of Ecclesiastes concludes that “all is vanity.”
People who say “Have a nice day” annoy me.
Exercise 13
Punctuating quotations
Insert commas where necessary.
1. The shoplifter declared “I didn’t steal anything.”
2. Somebody said that “youth is wasted on the young.”
3. “I am not sure” she whispered “that I understand you at all.”
4. “No one is perfect” he admitted.
5. People who declare “It is fun to be young” know nothing of being young.
1.21 Use commas to prevent misreading
In some sentences, words may run together in unintended and confusing ways
unless a comma separates them:
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Soon after the business closed its doors. [confusing]
Soon after, the business closed its doors. [clear]
Yet those who have described sufferings as well as joys. [confusing]
Yet those who have, described sufferings as well as joys. [clear]
The members of the dance troupe strutted in in matching tuxedos and top hats.
[confusing]
The members of the dance troupe strutted in, in matching tuxedos and top hats.
[clear]
1.22 Use a comma to indicate omission
Sometimes words may be omitted to avoid repetition. The omission is signalled by
a comma.
Peter got an exquisite present; Michael, nothing. [got omitted]
A week ago he was in London; yesterday, in Paris. [he was omitted]
1.23 Avoid unnecessary commas
Often, commas are misused because we tend to follow the rules of punctuation of
our mother tongue. Here are some major cases when no comma is required in English.
Don’t use a comma to separate the subject from the predicate:
People with elaborate taste seem pompous.
To do this means to destroy your career. [no comma; infinitive phrase as subject]
Studying hard will improve his reputation. [no comma; gerund phrase as subject]
That I will ever forget you seems doubtful. [no comma; noun clause as subject]
Note. The phrases italicised above are the subject of the sentence. When they
function as introductory elements, they are followed by a comma (see 1.3):
To do this, one needs a lot of strength. [introductory infinitive phrase]
Studying hard, she forgot to call me. [introductory participial phrase]
Don’t use a comma to separate a verb from its complement (object):
He said that he would never forgive her.
I do not know whether to trust them.
They asked how many people would arrive.
He wondered if you were alive.
Don’t use a comma to separate the compound predicate of a simple sentence:
He disliked the terms of the contract and instructed his lawyers not to go ahead
with the deal.
Mark Twain trained as a printer and worked as a steamboat pilot.
Note. In a compound sentence, however, a comma before a coordinating
conjunction is a must (see 1.2):
Mark Twain trained as a printer, and he worked as a steamboat pilot.
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Don’t use a comma to separate a pair of subordinate clauses joined by and, or ,
or nor:
I like this book because the plot is intriguing and because the characters are my
peers.
He does not know when the event will take place nor when it will be over.
Exercise 14
Avoiding unnecessary commas
Some of the following sentences show a faulty handling of commas. Suggest where
punctuation should be changed.
1. Did you know, that John writes poetry?
2. Travelling abroad, is a fantastic experience.
3. I know who did it and who else ought to be arrested.
4. People spoke of nothing but his success, and tried to imitate him.
5. To spend so much money on trifles, is extravagant.
6.
Opening the door was difficult.
7. I cannot say, who will win the game.
8. Nobody imagined that he would become a banker.
9. She disliked the idea immensely and chose her own line of action.
10. Overcoming difficulties, seems to be a hobby with her.
11. Our supper that evening, consisted of stale sandwiches.
12. Driving a car, and talking on the phone at the same time demand care.
13. That these characters were representing our culture never entered my mind.
14. Do you know, if they will pay promptly?
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Exercise 15
Reviewing different cases of comma usage (1.1-1.23)
Insert commas as appropriate.
1. Blessed are the children who always eat the same flavor of ice cream or always
know beforehand what kind they will want.
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2. Barbie’s influence upon the minds of the children who share their play hours
with her and her expensive wardrobe and recreation equipment is potentially a
very strong one.
3. People who are not prepared for failure are not prepared for success.
4. I believe for example that the arms race is suicidal and that it is almost certainly
bound to end in such destruction as the world has never seen.
5. In September 1983 Bouvia admitted herself to the psychiatric ward of Riverside
General Hospital with one goal in mind to starve to death under their roof.
6. But because cities are collections of strangers they are inevitably bad places for
the poor.
7. If the highly honored Duke Ellington who had appeared on the bandstand some
10000 times over 30 years had anxiety attacks who was I to think I could avoid
them?
8. The great Danish philisopher Kierkegaard believed that anxiety always arises
when we confront the possibility of our own development.
9. Jacob said he still thought one should say what one meant and talk to the people
one liked.
10. The most irritating of all ice cream eaters are the elegant creatures who manage
to devour a whole cone with delicate little nibbles and no dribble.
11. If you’re a woman he checks your makeup. If it’s too heavy he won’t like it.
12. The professional writer is forever being bearded by strangers who say that
they’d like to “try a little writing sometime” when they retire from their real
profession.
13. At the same time women who choose not to have children are not treated as
oddities.
14. I am a student because I want to make sense of the world and of myself.
15. I tried desperately to explain to my students that the image they had of me as
an ardent devotee of books and homework during my adolescence was a bit out
of focus.
16. My grades edged upwards and my father no longer tried to avoid me when I
brought home my record card.
17. On Wednesday morning at a quarter past five came the earthquake.
18. To the right was a wooden table with an unfinished game of checkers and a
stool made from an apple-tree stump.
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19. Watts went to the back and returned with a fat spiral notebook that he set on the
table.
20. He opened it but said nothing.
21. These incidents amused the members of our family and gave me a brief and
dangerous sense of superiority.
22. One wet and icy February the roof above our living room began to leak.
23. We were on a beach that was full of driftwood.
24. The noses of people have about five million cells that sense smell.
25. Not every President is a leader but every time we elect a President we hope for
one especially in times of doubt and crisis.
26. Among the things that I did not have was electricity in the little frame house
that my father had built for $400 with his World War I bonus.
27. In spring the first sun rays attract swimmers to the beach and the season lasts
far into September.
28. Abraham Lincoln’s mother Nancy Hanks Lincoln was an illegitimate child.
29. Dramatist George Bernard Shaw believed that the perfect love affair is “one
conducted entirely by post.”
30. My friend Nancy taught me how to make good tea.
31. My favourite poem is the one that starts ‘Thirty days hath September’ because
it actually tells you something (G. Marx).
32. A publisher who writes is like a cow in a milk bar (A. Koestler).
33. They’re the ones who are aggressive not us.
34. Myth says for example that people with yachts are upper-class and people with
motor-boats aren’t.
35. He wrote very long poems; she very short stories.
36. I was about seven years old when I got my first big lesson.
37. The longer his absence the poorer she feels.
38. The husband looked thoughtfully at the bookstore where the killer first grabbed
Miss Genovese.
39. The proposal was rejected because it was undemocratic.
40. I can’t believe that anyone who has heard this story will ever forget it.
41. A letter is only a report to someone who already likes you for reasons other
than your brilliance.
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42. Let us dedicate a monument to all who have failed for their country and engrave
on it this simple motto: “They also serve who only stand and lose.”
43. Socrates who took hemlock to carry out his own death sentence did more good
for the world with his outlawed ideas than a million ancient winners.
44. The price of my parents’ house purchased in 1940 was $5000.
45. Members of the Moslem faith founded by the prophet Mohammad worship in
mosques which are buildings displaying certain essential designs.
46. Columbus failed to find the East Indies but discovered America instead.
47. My son Matthew has just turned 15 and arrived at that time when children like
to hang out where people are cheerful. As you may know that is not home.
48. Fifteen is the time when kids are too young to drive and yet they want to go
certain places.
49. The British believed that they could still win the war after the defeats of 1940
and Churchill told them they were right.
50. Losers are therefore a vital force in our capitalist system.
51. Everyone talks about women’s lib which is ridiculous.
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II. THE SEMICOLON
The semicolon separates elements of equal importance, mainly independent
clauses.
2.1 Use a semicolon between independent clauses NOT joined by a
coordinating conjunction
In a compound sentence, that is, a sentence that contains two independent clauses,
the latter may be joined without a conjunction. In this case, the only proper punctuation
mark between them is a semicolon:
Michael did not speak; he looked vastly disappointed.
Note. If the same compound sentence had a coordinating conjunction between the
two main clauses, the correct use would be a comma (see 1.2):
Michael did not speak, and he looked vastly disappointed.
Writers sometimes use a comma instead of a semicolon between short clauses that
have parallel structure:
The poor live, the rich just exist.
But a semicolon is safer (how short is short, after all?), and it is always correct.
Some compound sentences contain conjunctive adverbs that relate two main
clauses. These are however, consequently, hence, thus, indeed, instead, nonetheless,
otherwise, still, then, therefore, and thus. In this case, too, the clauses should be separated
by a semicolon:
Michael was silent; therefore, we could not begin the discussion.
He was never absent; however, he was frequently late.
The conjunctive adverb may move around within a clause (while a coordinating
conjunction cannot):
He was never absent; he was, however, frequently late.
He was never absent; he was frequently late, however.
The conjunctive adverb, as we see, is set off by commas. Commas are optional with onesyllable conjunctive adverbs like thus, then and some others:
He was late again; thus we were forced to begin without him. [correct]
He was late again; thus, we were forced to begin without him. [correct]
2.2 Use a semicolon before a conjunction to separate two independent
clauses that contain several commas
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If the main clauses already contain commas and there is a coordinating conjunction
between these clauses, we need a semicolon to indicate the basic division of the sentence:
Having had enough of the party, I decided to leave and to pay a visit to my aunt;
but, strangely enough, I got lost on the way to her house.
This way, the sentence is easier to read. If the clauses had no commas, there would
be no need for the semicolon—a comma between the clauses would be enough (see 1.2):
I decided to leave and pay a visit to my aunt, but I got lost on the way to her house.
2.3 Use semicolons to separate items in a series if they are complex or
contain commas
We normally use commas to separate items in a series (see 1.1). But we should use
semicolons instead when commas are being used within the items or when the items have a
complex structure. The semicolons help the reader to identify the items:
The small group consisted of Paul, an accountant; Fred, a dealer; and Penny, a
secretary.
Among abbreviations not often seen are C.J. (Chief Justice); C.M. (Master in
Surgery, from the Latin Chirurgiae Magister); and C.S.D. (Doctor of Christian
Science).
Exercise 16
Using semicolons
Explain the rules governing the use of the semicolons in the following sentences.
1. Not one person telephoned during the assault; one witness called after the
woman was dead.
2. Extraordinary can sometimes be a changeling and can make its appearance in
the cradle of the Ordinary; and then it is not until long afterward that we
become aware of how the visitation was not, after all, an ordinary one.
3. I saw Mark, young and strong; Claire, smiling and beautiful; and Susan, tired
and unhappy.
4. The situation was now reversed; however, John felt as unhappy as before.
5. I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a
little better.
6. The killing was seen by millions; it was on television.
7. The party was a success; Jane, however was dissatisfied.
8. Pragmatists decorate only what shows; artists decorate what is hidden as well.
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9. I used to want everybody to like me; now I am satisfied if nobody hates me.
10. The public scools, in those days, required morning prayer; and Mr. Hawkins,
being the only grown-up in the room, was condemned to deliver blessings on
our undeserving heads.
11. There was nothing spectacular in Mr. Jacobs’ manner or appearance; but when
he spoke about prize fights, he was no longer a bland little man but a colossus
who sounded the way Napoleon must have sounded when he reviewed a battle.
12. There are three categories under which drinkers can be classified: moderate
drinkers, who take two cocktails before dinner; heavy drinkers, who take two or
three cocktails before lunch, two more cocktails before going home, and
another two at home before dinner; and alcoholics, whose intake may begin
with a shot or two of bourbon in their morning coffee and continue through the
morning, lunch, the afternoon, and evening until they fall into bed with no
recollection whatever the next morning as to where they have been.
Exercise 17
Improving the use of the semicolon
Correct punctuation in the following sentences. Some are punctuated properly.
1. My friends did not believe my story, they just laughed.
2. The library was full; therefore, I was forced to leave soon.
3. The books we were recommended were interesting; humorous; and witty.
4. In fact, the whole affair was a hoax, which was sad; and we felt terrible
disappointment, to put it mildly.
5. Speaking a foreign language is an asset; writing in a foreign language is a
double asset.
6. We were well prepared, nevertheless the hardships were greater than we had
expected.
7. Paris, which is a place for artists and intellectuals generally, seemed stuffy, and
our intellectual company, believe it or not, broke up quite soon.
8. She invited Tom, her first love, Jack, her ex-boyfriend, and Steve, her current
one.
9. The weather was rainy; so we stayed indoors for several hours.
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III. THE COLON
The colon is mainly a mark of introduction. It shows that the words following will
explain or amplify. From the point of view of sense, the colon corresponds to the word
namely.
I have three brothers: Tom, Herbert, and Jonathan.
(=namely)
Thus the colon is a mark of introduction that separates elements of unequal
importance—a statement, on the one hand, and explanations, examples, quotations, on the
other. The statement is a complete independent clause while the part following the colon
need not be (as in the example above).
3.1 Use a colon to introduce a series following a noun that establishes the
series
There were several reasons for his failure: incompetence, hurry, and conceit.
I was puzzled at her choice of subjects: chemistry, literature, and wine making.
3.2 Use a colon to introduce an appositive
His energy was directed toward his chief goal: graduation from college.
3.3 Use a colon to introduce an explanation or example
Teaching is not an easy job: all good teachers spend hours a day preparing
themselves for their work.
She was exhausted: she had not slept for two days.
Only one course remains: to keep silent.
3.4 Use a colon to introduce a quotation
In this function, the colon is interchangeable with the comma (see 1.18):
The lecturer said: “Nothing is more distracting than thinking of the coming break.”
3.5 Use a colon after a salutation in a formal letter
A comma after the salutation means more informality; a colon suggests formality:
Dear Professor Brown: [formal]
Dear Professor Brown, [informal]
3.6 Use a colon to separate elements
hours, minutes, and seconds
4:25 A.M.
2:17:06
35
Biblical chapters and verses
Exodus 12:31
I Chronicles 3:3-5
titles and subtitles
The English Novel: New Names
“Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”
3.6 Avoid a colon at the end of an incomplete statement
Use the colon only at the end of a main clause. Avoid using it between a verb and
its object or complement, between a preposition and its object, or after such expressions as
such as, especially, or including.
We brought tents, food, and clothing. [not “brought: tents, food, and
clothing”]
I sat among friends, campers, and parents. [not “among: friends, campers,
and parents”]
My motives were a desire for glory and curiosity. [not “were: a desire for
glory and curiosity”]
Poets use lexical devices such as metaphor, simile and alliteration. [not
“devices such as: metaphor, simile and alliteration]
Exercise 18
Explaining the use of colons
Comment on the rules underlying the use of colons in the following sentences.
1. I loved going through his top drawer and examining his prized possessions:
jewelry, watches, wallets, and dollar bills.
2. Let me state my argument immediately: it’s high time we show some
appreciation for the losers of this world.
3. Good narration has four essential features: a clear context; well-chosen details; a
logical, often chronological organization; and an appropriate and consistent point of
view.
4. To the director’s dismay, Einstein asked for an impossible sum: it was far too
small.
5. It is during the summer when the average taxpayer realizes the true costeffectiveness of school: it keeps kids out of the kitchen for roughly seven hours a
day.
36
6. Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies swept the
flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep sickened and died.
7. Solutions, we must remember, are very much like problems: they are rooted in
people, not in technology.
8. Car-safety campaigns repeatedly warn the driver that there are two major hazards
on the nation’s highways: the driver himself and all the other drivers.
9. For years, the theory of higher education operated something like this: men went
to college to get rich, and women went to college to marry rich men.
Exercise 19
Punctuating with colons
Supply the missing colons.
1. Everything was in order chairs were arranged, windows were closed, lights were
turned on.
2. His goal was very simple success.
3. The meeting is to take place at 3 30 P.M.
4. Her favourite book is Poetry The Art of Misreading.
5. There were two important discoveries we made John was a liar and a jerk.
6. It was then that he said “Gentlemen, you are men, but not gentle.”
7. I will give you everything I have money, power, self-esteem.
8. They want us to remember one thing he is not guilty.
9. I recognized his handwriting it was too familiar.
10. She spoke of one thing only her baby.
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IV. THE DASH
The dash is an emphatic mark of punctuation used to indicate a sudden interruption
in the utterance, a sharp break, a shift in thought. On the typewriter, the dash is indicated
by two hyphens (--). Note also that there is no space before or after the dash.
4.1 Use a dash to set off parenthetical expressions that are emphatic or
that already contain commas
He was worried—isn’t it strange?—about the most trivial things.
He invited his three best friends—Fred, Steve, and Yvonne—to his party.
4.2 Use a dash to set off unfinished thoughts
If she found out—he did not want to think what she would do.
4.3 Use a dash to indicate hesitation in dialogue
“Well, what on—’’ He stopped and blinked.
4.4 Use a dash to introduce a summary or explanation
Travelling, reading, skating—these are his favourite activities.
In walking, the average adult person employs a motor mechanism that weighs
about eighty pounds—sixty pounds of muscle and twenty pounds of bone.
Narcissus was the most modern of mythological lovers—he fell in love with
himself.
He summarized his vacation in one word—fabulous.
Note. In the last two examples, the dash can be replaced by a colon (see 3.3).
4.5 Use a dash to set off concluding series
Students experience a lot of pressure—exams, credit tests, essays, obligatory
reading.
Note. In this function, the dash is interchangeable with the colon (see 3.1).
4.6 Use a dash to set off an appositive
One food grown in Southeast Asia—rice—is of the highest quality.
His ambition—to become famous—came true.
For punctuating appositives see also 1.5.2.
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Exercise 20
Explaining the use of dashes
Account for the use of dashes in the following sentences.
1. Just make the most of what you do have—a brain.
2. It was this act that led to the fateful decision to go all-out on the production of an
atomic bomb—an endeavor in which Einstein took no active part.
3. Outrage, confusion, love—whatever is in your mind, let it find a way to the page.
4. It’s the byproduct of fire—smoke and panic—that are almost always the causes
of death.
5. Americans can be divided into three groups—smokers, non-smokers, and that
expanding pack of us who have quit.
6. The farmers complained that they were unable to raise any pigs—the litters were
small and the young survived only a few days.
7. The first time one intern attempted to perform a pleural biopsy—a fairly difficult
procedure—he punctured the patient’s lung.
8. Still, my research—informal though it is—shows that criminals look at television
differently than straight people.
9. Love, friendship, loyalty, kindness—these are all the emotions that we applaud.
10. Everything about this nation—the structure of the society, its forms of family
organization, its economy, its place in the world—has become more complex, not
less.
11. Different as they were—in background, in personality, in underlying
aspiration—these two great soldiers had much in common.
12. Two weeks later, Nobel was dead, but the prizes—in the fields of literature,
chemistry, physics, medicine, and peace—live on.
13. Psychology, sociology, education, government, economics, the armed forces—
virtually every area of human activity has its own jargon.
14. Indecency, vulgarity, obscenity—these are strictly confined to man; he invented
them.
39
Exercise 21
Punctuating with dashes
Supply the missing dashes.
1. He started to insist would you believe it? on higher wages for the janitors.
2. “I think she’s a ” He paused, blushing.
3. A sunny day, a nice companion, a pleasant meal all this filled her with a sense
of satisfaction.
4. I cannot imagine who created this chaos people dead and dying, houses
collapsing, trees uprooted.
5. My only mistake signing this letter is unpardonable.
6. People are too careless they do not lock their car doors.
7. His only desire to win ruined him physically.
8. They ought to be punished didn’t they drive our parents to starvation?
9. Idleness, conceit, recklessness these are the qualities that characterize him best.
10. She spoke of her friends Mark, John, and Lily with warmth and nostalgia.
11. Yesterday a very bizarre coincidence they adopted the shameless resolution.
12. He wishes to buy a new house a nice idea.
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V. THE FULL STOP
The full stop, or period in American English, apart from its traditional function to
end a declarative sentence, has some other uses.
5.1 Use a full stop after an indirect question
A sentence asking a direct question must be ended with a question mark. In
reported speech, the latter is replaced by a full stop.
They asked him how long he had known Mr. Peabody.
She inquired if the admission was free.
5.2 Use a full stop after a polite request or mild command
A request or command may be so mildly interrogative or imperative that a full stop
is called for instead of a question mark or an exclamation point. The purpose of such
statements is to suggest rather than to issue a command or ask a question requiring an
answer.
Do not use the margins.
Come up and see me some time.
May we please have a prompt reply to this letter.
Will you kindly return the enclosed form.
5.3 Use a full stop before a decimal
Use a full stop before decimals, to separate dollars and cents, to precede cents
written alone, and in writing metric symbols.
4.85 percent
$12.76
$0.27
4 cc. (cubic centimeters)
5.4 Use a full stop with the majority of abbreviations
Always use a full stop with an abbreviation that ends in a lowercase (small) letter.
ft. (foot)
Co. (company)
Fla. (Florida)
vs., v. (versus)
hr. (hour)
Ltd. (limited)
mo. (month)
ed. (edition)
in. (inch)
Bro. (brothers)
Eng. (English)
art. (article)
m. (metre)
Inc. (incorporated)
p. (page)
a.k.a. (also known as)
5.5 Avoid a full stop after certain specialized abbreviations and most acronyms
The spelling of abbreviations varies and so needs to be checked in dictionaries.
Ordinarily, abbreviations are used with full stops (see above). Note that widely used
acronyms—words formed from the initial letters of the words in a name—and especially
those that are pronounced as words do not require a full stop:
LADIES (a women’s organization ‘Life After Divorce Is Eventually Sane’)
41
UNESCO
CIA FBI
NATO
SEATO
VIP
IBM
Titles such as Mr. and Mrs. are spelt with a full stop in the U.S.A. and without a
full stop in Britain.
5.6 Avoid a full stop after the title of your paper/essay or the title of any book, story,
etc.
Never use a full stop at the end of the heading of whatever written assignment, be it
a test, a term paper, or an essay. Also, do not use a full stop with the title of any work
unless it concludes the sentence in which case the full stop goes inside the quotation marks.
The title of my term paper is “English Borrowings in Estonian.”
The book I am reading is “Hard Times.”
“Hard Times” makes hard reading.
VI. THE QUESTION MARK
The question mark should be used sparingly and for good reason.
6.1 Use a question mark at the end of a direct question
When did it happen?
He asked, “When did it happen?” [no full stop to end the sentence]
“When did it happen?” he asked. [no comma after the question mark]
Note. If a sentence asking a question contains another question at the end, use only
one question mark.
Why didn’t she ask herself, “Am I right?”
6.2 Use a question mark in parentheses to indicate doubt
To signal doubt about the correctness of a number or date, use a question mark in
parentheses (round brackets) following this number or date.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, 1225(?)-1274, considered faith more important than
reason.
Note. If the dates are in parentheses, the question mark is placed in square brackets:
(1225[?]-1274).
6.3 Avoid a question mark at the end of an indirect question
Indirect questions are those that are patterned as reported speech. They should end
with a full stop (see 5.1).
She wondered what would happen next.
We asked where these people lived.
42
6.4 Avoid a question mark with a polite request
A polite request is the one that has the structure of a question yet does not express
curiosity; it does not really ask a question.
Will you please sign this sheet. [it means: I want you to sign this sheet]
May I have your hat. [it means: Give me your hat]
VII. THE EXCLAMATION MARK
7.1. Use an exclamation mark after an emphatic statement, interjection, or command
No! We must not lose this election!
Come here immediately!
How absurd this sounds!
Note. Do not overload your writing with exclamation marks for the sake of
emphasis. There are other ways to make your statement expressive, such as word order or
effective vocabulary.
I will never forget my trip to Italy! It was fantastic! Nature! People! [overused]
Never will I forget my trip to Italy. Its nature is fabulous, and people are
unforgettable. [improved]
Note. Exclamation marks are never combined with other punctuation marks.
“Be quiet!” he shouted. [no comma after the exclamation mark]
He shouted, “Be quiet!” [no full stop after the quotation]
7.2 Avoid exclamation marks after mild interjections and commands
No, you can’t do that.
For the sake of safety, fasten your set belt.
Well, I believe you are right.
Fill in the blanks.
Exercise 22
Revising the full stop, the question mark, and the exclamation mark
Correct punctuation where needed.
1. The police shouted, “Move back.”
2. I wonder who these people are.
3. Ouch. It hurts.
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4. “How marvellous!,” she exclaimed.
5. She asked, “Are you very busy?”.
6. Try to come earlier.
7. Let me tell you about it!
8. When the child was rescued, the crowed called “Hooray.”
9. She asked why I was late?
10. “Will you wait please?” said the secretary.
11. “What a pity,” she exclaimed.
12. MADD stands for ‘Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.’
13. The abbreviation etc comes from Latin.
14. My term paper, “Sinclair Lewis, the Satirist.,” contains three chapters.
15. The abbreviation Inc derives from Incorporated.
16. What a surprise.
17. “How interesting!,” she shrieked.
18. My trip to the USA lasted for three weeks.
19. Tom Wolfe—isn’t he a writer who makes unusual use of punctuation marks.
20. He is the author of the poem “Is That Right?”
21. George is a sales manager with I.B.M.
22. Will you tell him I would like to make an appointment?
_________________________________________________________________________
================================================================
Overall Revision Exercise
Punctuation marks revisited
Suggest the punctuation marks for the following literary quotations. Some may
require none.
1. People ask you for criticism but they only want praise (W. S. Maugham).
2. Beauty plus pity that is the closest we can get to a definition of art (V.
Nabokov).
3. One writes only half the book the other half is with the reader (J. Conrad).
44
4. It is an awkward thing about autobiography you can’t write it in advance
(B.Russell).
5. The futility of all prefaces I long ago realized for the more a writer strives to
make his views clear the more confusion he creates (Goethe).
6. There is no difficulty in beginning the trouble is to leave off! (H. James)
7. I hate books they only teach us to talk about things we know nothing about (J.J. Rousseau).
8. Never lend books for no one ever returns them the only books I have in my
library are those that other people have lent me (A. France).
9. Even death is unreliable instead of zero it may be some ghastly hallucination
such as the square root of minus one (S. Beckett).
10. The profession of letters is after all the only one in which one can make no
money without being ridiculous (J. Renard).
11. There is only one way of making money at writing and that is to marry a
publisher’s daughter (G. Orwell).
12. How one likes to suffer. Anyway writers do it is their income (W. H. Auden).
13. The more acute the experience the less articulate the expression (H. Pinter).
14. There is no longer any such thing as fiction or non-fiction there’s only narrative
(E. L. Doctorow).
15. Genius does what it must and Talent does what it can (O. Meredith).
16. One can cure oneself of the not un- formation by memorizing this sentence
A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field
(G. Orwell).
17. There are several kinds of stories but only one difficult kind the humorous (M.
Twain).
18. To speak English one must place the tongue between the teeth and I have lost
my teeth (Voltaire).
19. Nobody can say a word against Greek it stamps a man at once as an educated
gentleman (G. B. Shaw).
20. English is the great vacuum cleaner of languages it sucks in anything it can get
(D. Crystal).
21. In our culture love needs a mixer before it qualifies as a subject for literature.
Pour it out neat and you get Mills&Boon (J. Carey).
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22. The conditions of writing change absolutely between the first novel and the
second the first is an adventure the second is a duty (G. Greene).
23. If there is no money in poetry neither is there poetry in money (R. Graves).
24. One should not be too severe on English novels they are the only relaxation of
the intellectually unemployed (O. Wilde).
25. Great writers create writers of smaller gifts copy (W. S. Maugham).
26. If you steal from one writer it’s plagiarism if you steal from many it’s research
(W. Mizner)
27. Every reader is when he reads reading only about himself (M. Proust).
28. They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy foreigners always spell better than
they pronounce (M. Twain).
29. No opera plot can be sensible for in sensible situations people do not sing. An
opera plot must be in both senses of the word a melodrama (W. H. Auden).
30. Silence is deep as Eternity speech is shallow as Time (Th. Carlyle).
31. … I have put a genius into my life all I’ve put into my works is my talent (O.
Wilde).
32. You don’t work to support youself you work to support your writing (A.
Kazin).
33. All the writers are thieves theft is a necessary tool of the trade (N. Bawden).
34. To write one’s memoirs is to speak ill of everybody else except oneself (H. Ph.
Pétain).
35. Asking a playwright how he felt about critics was like asking a lamppost how it
felt about dogs (Ch. Hampton).
36. I wrote the book because we’re all gonna die (J. Kerouac).
37. What the American public always wants is a tragedy with a happy ending (W.
D. Howells).
38. To tell the story of Coleridge without the opium is to tell the story of Hamlet
without mentioning the ghost (L. Stephen).
39. Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as
what they most want to do (W. H. Auden).
40. Knowledge is a polite word for dead but not buried imagination (e. e.
cummings).
41. Today in publishing editors breed like rabbits gone wild (R. Lusty).
================================================================
46
P a r t II. FURTHER PRACTICE
TASK I.
The following extracts contain correct punctuation. Explain the rules
governing the use of these punctuation marks.
1. Some people are born to follow instructions. They are quiet children who always finish
their homework, are never caught being bad, never sneak off and do undetected wicked
things. They never figure out that it is possible to ignore what others want you to do and do
whatever you like. The consequences of deviation are usually minimal. Nobody really
expects you to be that good. If you are born this way, you acquire a look of puzzlement.
You are puzzled because you can’t figure out how or why these other people are doing
outrageous things when the rules have been so clearly stated. Nor do you understand why
people are not impressed with your mastery of those rules.
Puzzlement may turn to smugness. At first, when people asked me whether I had
completed an assignment, I was surprised: of course I had; didn’t the teacher tell us to?
After I realized that punctuality was not all that common, I became smug. Yes, of course I
turned my paper in on time. I did not see that the people who got noticed were likely to be
erratic and late, rushing in explaining that their thesis had not fallen into place until 4 A.M.
of the third Monday after the paper was due. Us punctual types did not wait for theses to
fall into place. Whatever could be knocked into shape in time was what got turned in. The
thing was due, wasn’t it? (Walton 10)
2. Once I met a woman who grew up in the small North Carolina town to which Chang and
Eng, the original Siamese twins, retired after their circus careers. When I asked her how
the town reacted to the twins marrying local girls and setting up adjacent households, she
laughed and said: “Honey, that was nothing compared to what happened before the twins
got there. Get the good gossip on any little mountain town, scratch the surface, and you’ll
find a snake pit!”
Surely she was exaggerating; one assumes the domestic arrangements of a pair of
Siamese twins and their families would cause a few ripples anywhere. And yet the truth of
what she said seemed less important than the glee with which she said it, her pride in the
snake pit she’d come from, in its history, its scandals, its legacy of “good gossip.” Gossip,
47
the juicier the better, was her heritage, her birthright; that town, with its social life freakish
enough to make Chang and Eng’s seem mundane, was part of who she was (Prose 16-17).
3. A countryman’s life consists, basically, of an endless amount of physical activity. You
get up early in the morning in order to do the chores: feeding livestock, milking, cleaning
the barn, etc. As soon as chores are finished, you go off to fix the fence. As soon as that’s
done, you climb on the tractor and start mowing rowen. Since it’s just one of the givens
that you are going to be tired every night, you never waste a movement if you can help it.
It is for this reason that summer people are sometimes amazed and even scornful to see a
native who is cutting wood throw his chainsaw in a truck and drive three hundred yards
back into the woods where he is working. They would have walked, carrying the saw,
saving gas, observing the beauties of nature. They are environmentalists; he is a clod.
Actually, he’s just saving a little extra energy for splitting wood (Perrin 63).
4. Once, long ago, people had special little boxes called refrigerators in which milk, meat,
and eggs could be kept cool. The grandchildren of these simple devices are large enough to
store whole cows, and they reach temperatures comparable to those at the South Pole.
Their operating costs increase each year, and they are so complicated that few home
handymen attempt to repair them on their own.
Why has this change in size and complexity occurred in America? It has not taken
place in many areas of the technologically advanced world (the average West German
refrigerator is about a yard high and less than a yard wide, yet refrigeration technology in
Germany is quite advanced).
The benefits of a large refrigerator are apparent: a saving of time (one groceryshopping trip a week instead of several), a saving of money (the ability to buy expensive,
perishable items in larger, cheaper quantities), a feeling of security (if the car breaks down
or if famine strikes, the refrigerator is well stocked). The costs are there, too, but they are
not so obvious (Rodden 71).
5. As we all know, there are those who can be called “morning people” and there are those
who cannot. Morning people do not mind getting up early. They are cheery, pleasant,
organized, and attentive—all without a hair out of place or the least bit of sleep left in their
eyes. The non-morning people loathe the morning people for these qualities. When the two
come together in a line for breakfast, turbulent feelings may arise. For this reason the
48
breakfast line is relatively quiet, compared to other lines. People would rather not run the
risk of sparking ill-feelings so early in the morning. However, if the same people were to
meet later in the day, the situation would probably be entirely different (Huzicka 83).
6. Friends drove me to Orange, Massachusetts, seventy miles west of Boston, for the
opening of the first U.S. sports parachuting center, where I was to perform. It was the
creation, the passion, of a Princetonian and ex-Marine named Jacques Istel, who organized
the first U.S. jumping team in 1956. Parachuting was “as safe as swimming,” he kept
saying, calling it the “world’s most stimulating and soul-satisfying sport.” His center was
for competitions and the teaching of sky-diving. Instead of hurtling toward the earth, skydivers maintain a swan-dive position, using the air as a cushion to support them while they
maneuver with leg and arm movements until the rip cord must be pulled (Emerson 91).
7. Life had a natural, inexorable rhythm. On weekdays, Mama went to work at a tobacco
factory. On Saturdays, early in the morning, we washed clothes. We washed clothes
outdoors. First, Mama and Jesse drew buckets of water from the well and poured it into the
washpot. It was a big iron pot that stood on three legs and was very black from soot. Mama
put paper and twigs under it and poured kerosene on them. They blazed up, and soon there
was blue smoke curling all around the pot. She put all the “white” things in the pot—sheets
and pillowcases and underwear—and put Oxydol in with the clothes. I was puzzled
because most of the things she put in with the"white” clothes were colored. Our sheets
were made from flour sacks and had red or green or blue patterns on them. Some of the
underwear was colored, too…
Before supper, Mama would get out two heavy irons and put them on the hot part
of the stove. Then she’d tell me to go sprinkle the clothes. I would take some water and
wet the clothes down and then roll them into a ball. That would soften them up some and
make the wrinkles come out easier. After supper, Mama would start to iron on a big
ironing board that had burned places at the end where the iron stood. I couldn’t lift the real
heavy iron, but she would let me have the small iron, and I would push it up and down a
handkerchief or a pair of socks, glad to be a woman like Mama (Mebane 96).
8. One of my favorite places was my grandparents’ apartment in a once all-Italian
immigrant neighborhood, Park Hill in Yonkers. Spending the day with Grandma in her
castle is a cherished memory.
49
I would dash up the stairs two at a time. By the time I reached the second floor, I
would be out of breath, but the thick aroma of an Italian feast would make me run even
faster up the next flight of stairs.
When I reached my grandmother’s floor, her door was wide open because people
from all over the neighborhood would stop in to visit her.
She would say, “Bella Grandma” (meaning “grandma’s beautiful one”) to me in a
sweet Italian accent. Next would come a big kiss and hug. “In one hour, Sal and Grandpa
will come home, and then we’ll eat,” she said.
While Grandma was busy preparing dinner, I would inspect her apartment. The first
room was my grandmother’s bedroom. It was a big room with a big double bed covered
with a snow-white bedspread. On her dresser was a jewelry box I fancied going through.
As what I thought were real diamonds, rubies, and pearls ran through my fingers, I
imagined myself a pirate finding a hidden treasure (Flynn 103).
9. This morning I finished sawing up a tree from the place where I had been cutting for the
past week. In the process I lost my screwrench, part screwdriver, part wrench, that I use to
make adjustments on my chain saw. I shouldn’t carry it in my pocket, but the chain had
been loose; I had tightened it and had not walked back to the truck to put the wrench away.
Scolding myself for being so careless, I began looking for another tree to cut and found a
big one that had recently died.
I like to cut the dead trees from my woodlot, leaving the ones still alive to flourish,
but this one was bigger than I feel comfortable about felling. I’ve been running a chain saw
and cutting my own firewood for six years now, but I’m still awed by the size and weight
of a tree as it crashes to the ground. I have to nerve myself to cut the really big ones. I
wanted this tree to fall onto a stretch of open ground that was free of other trees and brush,
so I cut a wedge-shaped notch on that side of it. The theory is that trees, particularly dead
ones that may have rot on the inside, do not know the theory and may fall in an unexpected
direction. That is the way accidents happen (Hubbell 158-159).
10. Wendell Berry taught English at the University of Kentucky from 1964 to 1977. He has
written about his native Kentucky in numerous poems, novels, and essays. His Collected
Poems was published in 1985; his novels include Nathan Coulter (1960) and The Memory
of Old Jack (1974); his essays appear in The Long-Legged House (1969) and other books.
50
Berry has long been associated with the environmental movement and its effort to preserve
wilderness areas throughout the United States (Levin 266).
11. On the day the princess was eighteen, the king sent a royal ambassador to the courts of
five neighboring kingdoms to announce that he would give his daughter’s hand in marriage
to the prince who brought her the gift she liked the most.
The first prince to arrive at the palace rode a swift white stallion and laid at the feet
of the princess an enormous apple made of solid gold which he had taken from a dragon
who had guarded it for a thousand years. It was placed on a long ebony table set up to hold
the gifts of the princess’s suitors. The second prince, who came on a gray charger, brought
her a nightingale made of a thousand diamonds, and it was placed beside the golden apple.
The third prince, riding on a black horse, carried a great jewel box made of platinum and
sapphires, and it was placed next to the diamond nightingale (Thurber 381-382).
12. Our strength makes him [the leader] strong; our determination makes him determined;
our courage makes him a hero; he is, in the final analysis, the symbol of the best in us,
shaped by our own spirit and will. And when these qualities are lacking in us, we can’t
produce him; and even with all our skill at image-building, we can’t fake him. He is, after
all, merely the sum of us (Korda 201).
13. Einstein was born in 1879 in the German city of Ulm. He had been no infant prodigy;
indeed, he was so late in learning to speak that his parents feared he was a dullard. In
school, though his teachers saw no special talent in him, the signs were already there. He
taught himself calculus, for example, and his teachers seemed a little afraid of him because
he asked questions they could not answer. At the age of 16, he asked himself whether a
light wave would seem stationary if one ran abreast of it. From that innocent question
would arise, ten years later, his theory of relativity (Hoffmann 252).
14. When the Museum of Modern Art sponsored the first American showing of Van
Gogh’s work in 1935, Hugh [Troy] was on the scene again. The exhibit attracted large
crowds of people who Troy suspected were more interested in the sensational aspects of
the artist’s life than in his paintings. To test his theory, Troy fashioned a replica of an ear
out of chipped beef and had it neatly mounted in a blue velvet display case. A small card
telling the grisly story was attached: “This was the ear which Vincent Van Gogh cut off
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and sent to his mistress, a French prostitute, Dec. 24, 1888.” The “chipped beef ear” was
then placed on a table in the gallery where Van Gogh’s paintings were displayed. Troy got
immediate results. New York’s “art lovers” flocked to the ear, which, as Troy suspected,
was what they really wanted to see after all (Rosa and Eschholz 84).
Task II.
The passages below are essentially correct yet contain some punctuation
slips and thus need to be improved. Suggest the proper punctuation.
1. When Pete and I go to the movies, we take turns driving so no one owes anyone else
anything. We leave the car far from the theater so we don’t have to pay for a parking space.
If it’s raining or snowing, Pete offers to let me off at the door, but I can tell he’ll feel better
if I go with him while he finds a spot, so we share the walk too. Inside the theater Pete will
hold my hand when I get scared if I ask him. He puts my hand firmly on his knee and
covers it completely with his own hand. His knee never twitches. After a while, when the
scary part is past, he loosens his hand slightly and I know that is a signal to take mine
away. He sits companionably close, letting his jacket just touch my sweater, but he does
not infringe. He thinks I ought to know he is there if I need him (Toth 258).
2. A strange ceremony marks the beginning of the civic year in High Wycombe. The town
has had mayors since 1285 and the custom of Weighing the Mayor has survived. At 6.30
on a Thursday evening towards the end of May a procession of dignitaries goes along the
High Street to the Town Hall where the new mayor takes office. Immediately afterwards
they assemble outside where a comfortable looking chair is attached to a fine old scale
which is suspended from a brass tripod.
The mayor is weighed first, followed by the mayoress, the ex-mayor and so on. The
weights are checked and recorded, and announced by an official. Each announcement of
the weight is followed by the words ‘and no more’ or ‘and some more’, depending on
whether the official has lost or gained weight in the past year. A loss of weight signifies
hard work over the past year, a gain, laziness. Consequently he or she is cheered or booed
as appropriate (Nolasco 22).
3. Cézanne realized that the act of painting is an abstract art. A realistic painting of an
apple placed next to an apple would never be as “real” (physical) to the viewer as the apple
itself. As one philosopher has said, you would never go to the restaurant and eat the menu.
52
Therefore for Cézanne “realistic” painting will always be a poor imitation of reality.
Painting can effectively portray the abstract principle at work behind an object and give us
a truer sense of the nature of the object (Vandermast 271).
4. In truth there is really no end to the number of things the bridge meant to people. For
whole generations growing up in New York and Brooklyn it was simply a large, dominant,
and generally beloved part of the natural order of things. The river without the bridge or
Brooklyn without the bridge would have been unthinkable and year after year people went
to it on especially fine days, or at moments of personal stress or joy, the way people go to a
mountain or walk beside the sea (McCullough 37).
5. In 1605 King James I was on the throne. As a Protestant, he was very unpopular with
Roman Catholics. Some of them planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament on 5th
November of that year, when the King was going to open Parliament. Under the House of
Lords they had stored thirty-six barrels of gun powder, which were to be exploded by a
man called Guy Fawkes. However one of the plotters spoke about these plans and Fawkes
was discovered, arrested and later hanged. Since that day the British traditionally celebrate
5th November by burning a dummy, made of straw and old clothes, on a bonfire. …
This dummy is called a ‘guy’ (like Guy Fawkes) and children can often been seen
on the pavements before 5th November saying, ‘Penny for the guy.’ If they collect enough
money they can buy some fireworks (Sheerin, Seath and White 12).
6. If you try to catch a train on 24th December you may have difficulty in finding a seat.
This is the day when many people are travelling home to be with their families on
Christmas Day, 25th December. For most British families, this is the most important
festival of the year, it combines the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ with the
traditional festivities of winter.
On the Sunday before Christmas many churches hold a carol service where special
hymns are sung. Sometimes carol-singers can be heard on the streets as they collect money
for charity. Most families decorate their houses with brightly-coloured paper or holly, and
they usually have a Christmas tree in the corner of the front room, glittering with coloured
lights and decorations (Sheerin, Seath and White 13).
53
7. Downing Street, which is a small side street off Whitehall, is the home of the Prime
Minister, who lives at number ten. Next door at number eleven lives the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, who is responsible for financial planning and the British economy. Just around
the corner in Whitehall itself are all the important ministries: the Foreign Office, the
Ministry of Defence, the Home Office and the Treasury.
In the middle of Whitehall is the Cenotaph where the Queen lays the first wreath of
poppies on Remembrance Day. On that day each year the people of Britain remember their
dead from the two world wars of this century by wearing a red paper poppy (Sheerin, Seath
and White 26).
8. Cambridge must be one of the best-known towns in the world, and can be found on most
tourists’ lists of places to visit. The principal reason for its fame is its University, which
started during the 13th century and grew steadily, until today there are more than twenty
colleges.
Most of them allow visitors to enter the grounds and courtyards. The most popular
place from which to view them is from the Backs, where the college grounds go down to
the River Cam.
The oldest college is Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284, and the most recent
is Robinson College, which was opened in 1977. The most famous is probably King’s,
because of its magnificent chapel. Its choir of boys and undergraduates is also very well
known (Sheerin, Seath and White 42).
9. In April 1564 a son was born to John and Mary Shakespeare at Henley Street, Stratfordupon-Avon. His mother was the daughter of Robert Arden, an important farmer in
Warwickshire. His father was a rich citizen whose business was making and selling leather
gloves.
The parents did not guess that their son, William, was going to be such an
important figure in English poetry and drama, and that his plays would still be acted four
hundred years later—not only in England, but all over the world.
When still a teenager of nineteen, William married Anne Hathaway, a farmer’s
daughter some years older than himself. We don’t know how he earned his living during
these early years. He may have helped his father in the family business or he may have
been a country schoolmaster for a time…. In 1587 Shakespeare went to work in London,
leaving Anne and the children at home. One story says this is because he killed some deer
54
which belonged to a rich landowner nearby, and that he had to run away from the law
(Sheerin, Seath and White 51).
10. The Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby is a busy little fishing port that has changed
little for the past 300 years. The town is famous for its associations with Captain Cook—
the famous 18th century explorer—and for one other thing.…
From the old streets around the harbour 199 steps lead up to the church of St Mary.
It was the churchyard to St Mary’s which gave the writer, Bram Stoker, the idea for his
world-famous book Dracula.
For a long time people have believed that creatures called vampires lived in Central
Europe. Vampires are dead people who come back at night to drink the blood of living
people.
Dracula, written in 1897, is the story of a vampire from Transylvania who travelled
to England. When his ship was damaged in a terrible storm, Dracula—the vampire—
jumped to land at Whitby in the shape of a huge dog (Sheerin, Seath and White 67).
11. Yorvik was the capital of a Viking kingdom. In mediaeval times, York was the second
city of the land. Georgian York was the social centre of the North, Victorian York was an
important railway centre, and 20th century York is, among other things, the home of worldfamous chocolate and one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
… In the Castle Museum one can imagine oneself in a 19th century world of
Victorian streets, shops, farmhouses and homes. York Story, in Castlegate, is a lively
museum showing how the city of York grew during 1900 years. In the newest museum
visitors travel in a special electric car (like a time machine) through an original Viking
street with the sights, sounds and smells which a Viking in York would have experienced
(Sheerin, Seath and White 68).
12. The county of Wiltshire is most famous for the great stone monuments of Stonehenge
and Avebury, and the huge earth pyramid of Silbury. No written records exist of the
origins of these features and they have always been surrounded by mystery.
Stonehenge is the best known and probably the most remarkable of prehistoric
remains in the UK. It has stood on Salisbury Plain for about 4000 years. There have been
many different theories about its original use and although modern methods of
investigation have extended our knowledge, no one is certain why it was built.
55
One theory is that it was a place from where stars and planets could be observed. It
was discovered that the positions of some of the stones related to the movements of the sun
and moon, so that the stones could be used as a calendar to predict such things as eclipses
(Sheerin, Seath and White 73).
13. The McCalmans are one of Scotland’s most popular folk groups. They have been
playing together for a long time and have many fans both in Scotland and throughout the
world. Their three-part harmony singing and good humour win them friends wherever they
perform.
After studying at the Edinburgh College of Art they gave up their studies to follow
their main interest, folk music.
When they were at college they began to learn the less well-known traditional
songs and they still sing many of them today (Sheerin, Seath and White 80).
TASK III.
In the following passages, all the punctuation marks except the full stop
have been removed. Supply the missing punctuation.
1. Before my first trip to Europe my grandfather who was then a very confident 82 and is
now a very opinionated 100 poured me a glass of wine and gave me the following
instructions Over there don’t believe anything until three people have told you the same
thing. I not only found this advice invaluable for getting around Europe that summer it has
proven useful for traveling in other parts of the world as well. Nowhere however has my
grandfather’s advice been more useful than in his native Italy where a remarkable
enthusiasm to assist foreigners is overshadowed by a lack of reliable information.…
Don’t waste time with people who respond to your question by asking you a
question. This is a strange linguistic habit some Romans have. As a reply to a request for
information some people respond by inquiring “Is it really around here” or “Do you know
if it’s in this area” These people aren’t being perfidious they’re buying time. It’s best to say
“Grazie. Buona giornata” and move on.
It is important to remember that giving accurate descriptions is much easier in
Manhattan than in Mantua. Many Italian cities are composed of a myriad of tiny streets
many of which are named after people no one has ever heard of. Moreover the numbering
systems change from place to place. In some cities the numbers instead of alternating
56
proceed up one side of the street and then down the other. Piazzas often have an official
name and another by which they are popularly known. Often the best any native can do is
give an approximation of where you want to go (Inturrisi 152-153).
2. I am good friends with a woman who lives across the hollow. She and her husband sell
cordwood to the charcoal factory in town. Her husband cuts the logs because a chain saw is
regarded as a man’s tool and she helps him load and unload the logs. Even though the
wood is going to be turned into charcoal it is traditional to cut it to four-feet lengths. A
four-foot oak log is heavy a strong man can lift it but a woman has to use all her strength to
do her part. My friend returns from her mornings sick with exhaustion her head throbbing.
She and I talk sometimes about how it would be if women were the wood cutters the length
would be less than four feet. Having to do work beyond her strength makes my friend feel
weak ineffectual dependent and cross (Hubbell 159).
3. Barbie was first introduced to sell clothes but her initial role as a vehicle for doll
fashions was soon expanded. For example Barbie’s size made her either too large or too
small for the conventional doll furniture that had existed so a new line of doll furniture
tailored to her dimensions was created. Barbie’s “Dream House” then became one of her
first “non-fashion” accessories. Because Barbie was a young and presumably active lady
her merchandise took on a distinctive character. Barbie was not a “baby” doll and she had
no need for baby cribs high chairs or other “baby” furniture. So Barbie acquired
recreational equipment a dune buggy a Volkswagen van a swimming pool. She also
acquired some friends P.J. and Skipper and most important of all Barbie found a boyfriend
Ken. With the addition of these friends to share her fun Barbie’s need for equipment
became as unlimited as the needs of any modern consumer (Cox 185-86).
4. I know few women who do what I do. What I do is write about science mainly physics.
And to do that I spend a lot of time reading about science talking to scientists and
struggling to understand physics. In fact most of the women (and men) I know think me
quite queer for actually liking physics…
I didn’t realize what an odd creature a woman interested in physics was until a few
years ago when a science magazine sent me to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore for a
conference on an electrical phenomenon known as the Hall effect. We sat in a huge lecture
hall and listened as physicists talked about things engineers didn’t understand and
57
engineers talked about things physicists didn’t understand. What I didn’t understand was
why out of several hundred young students of physics and engineering in the room less
than a handful were women.…
A few months ago I accompanied a male colleague from the science museum
where I sometimes work to a lunch of the history of science faculty at the University of
California. I was the only woman there and my presence for the most part was obviously
and rudely ignored. I was so surprised and hurt by this that I made an extra effort to speak
knowledgeably and well. At the end of the lunch one of the professors turned to me in all
seriousness and said “Well K.C. what do the women think of Carl Sagan” I replied that I
had no idea what “the women” thought about anything. But now I know what I should
have said I should have told him that his comment was unnecessary injurious and out of
place (Cole 215).
5. Edward H. Peeples Jr. is associate professor of preventive medicine at Virginia
Commonwealth University. Born in 1935 in Richmond Virginia Peeples attended
Richmond Professional Institute the University of Pennsylvania and the University of
Kentucky where he received his Ph.D. in 1972. In the 1960s he gained knowledge of urban
poverty as a social worker. He has been a leader of the Richmond Human Rights Coalition
and Council on Human Relations and has long been concerned with the nutritional
problems and medical care of poor people (Levin 393).
6. The college student living at home leads a paradoxical life. Like you we came to college
to learn about ourselves self-exploration is as much a part of our education as organic
chem. Yet it’s hard to maintain our independence when Mom or Dad can’t shake the
parental instincts for surveillance. Nor can family obligations be avoided easily. What do I
do for example when my parents’ anniversary falls the day before my finals? The truth is
being a student who hasn’t left the nest can be just as difficult as trying to get along with a
rommate you don’t like (Bellitto 38).
7. Nothing seemed unusual. In fact it was rather a common occurrence in New York City.
Five men dressed in overalls roped off a section of busy Fifth Avenue hung out MEN
WORKING signs and began ripping up the pavement. By the time they stopped for lunch
they had dug quite a hole in the street. This crew was different however from all the others
58
that had descended upon the streets of the city. It was led by Hugh Troy the world’s
greatest practical joker.
For lunch Troy led his tired and dirty crew into the dining room of a fashionable
Fifth Avenue hotel that was nearby. When the headwaiter protested Troy took him into his
confidence. “It’s a little gig the manager wants to put over” he told the waiter. The men ate
heartily and seemed not to notice that indignant diners were leaving the premises. After
lunch Troy and his men returned to their digging and by late afternoon they had greatly
enlarged the hole in the avenue. When quitting time arrived they dutifully hung out their
red lanterns left the scene and never returned. City officials discovered the hoax the next
day but they never learned who the pranksters were.
Hugh Troy was born in Ithaca N. Y. where his father was a professor at Cornell
University. After graduating from Cornell Troy left for New York City where he became a
successful illustrator of children’s books. When W.W. II broke out he went into the army
and eventually became a captain.… After the war he made his home in Garrison N.Y. for
a short while before finally settling in Washington D.C. where he lived until his death
(Rosa and Eschholz 82-83).
8. I began to reconsider my values after my sister and a friend had babies. I was entertained
by their pregnancies and fascinated by the births I was also thankful that I wasn’t the one
who had to change the diapers every day. I was a doting aunt only when I wanted to be. As
my sister’s and friend’s lives changed though my attitude changed. I saw their days flipflop between frustration and joy. Though these two women lost the freedom to run off to
the beach or to a bar they gained something else an abstract happiness that reveals itself
when they talk about Jessica’s or Amanda’s latest escapade or vocabulary addition. Still in
their 20s they shuffle work and motherhood with the skill of poker players. I admire them
and I marvel at their kids. Spending time with the Jessicas and Amandas of the world
teaches us patience and sensitivity and gives us a clue into our own pasts. Children are also
reminders that there is a future and that we must work to ensure its quality (Brown 109).
9. Norman Mailer born in Long Branch New Jersey in 1923 graduated from Harvard
University in 1943 with a degree in engineering. While at Harvard he made a decision to
become a writer and with the publication of his first novel The Naked and the Dead (1948)
based on his war experiences in the Pacific during World War II Mailer established himself
as a writer of note (Models 182).
59
10. It is difficult to escape the influence of television. If you fit the statistical averages by
the age of 20 you will have been exposed to at least 20000 hours of television. You can
add 10000 hours for each decade you have lived after the age of 20. The only things that
Americans do more than watch television are work and sleep.
Calculate for a moment what could be done with even a part of those hours. Five
thousand hours I am told are what a typical college undergraduate spends working on a
bachelor’s degree. In 10000 hours you could have learned enough to become an
astronomer or engineer. You could have learned several languages fluently. If it appealed
to you you could be reading Homer in the original or Dostoyevsky in Russian. If it didn’t
you could have walked around the world and written a book about it (MacNeil 385).
11. If we condense this inconceivable time-span into an understandable concept we can
liken Earth to a person of 46 years of age.
Nothing is known about the first 7 years of this person’s life and whilst only
scattered information exists about the middle span we know that only at the age of 42 did
the Earth begin to flower.
Dinosaurs and the great reptiles did not appear until one year ago when the planet
was 45. Mammals arrived only 8 months ago in the middle of last week man-like apes
evolved into ape-like men and at the weekend the last ice age enveloped the Earth.
Modern man has been around for 4 hours. During the last hour Man discovered
agriculture. The industrial revolution began a minute ago (qtd in White and Arndt 71).
12. To swimmers sunbathers and aquatic sports enthusiasts Lake Balaton is a generous gift
of nature. White and multicoloured sails glide over the sun-reflecting water and the waves
splash in the wake of the water skiers. Laughter and the noise of carefree play sound from
the beaches from the endless chain of colourful camping sites and from the parks with their
shadow-casting trees.
Out of the water rise blue mountains with sloping vineyards where in old press
houses the grapes are squashed that make the sparkling wine stored in the cellars of this
famous region.
Hidden in the valleys reaching out to the lake there are the famous castle ruins the
small towns with their tiny baroque mansions their statues carved in stone and their mosscovered mills. There they are the gently rolling hills the old pubs the lovely hamlets with
their white-washed houses. There is charm there is romance in the air.
60
Relaxation rest and well-balanced exercise harmony of past and present interesting
excursions and entertainment this is Lake Balaton for you.
Lake Balaton situated in Transdanubia the western part of Hungary is the largest
lake of Central and Western Europe. It covers an area of about 600 square kilometers
measuring 77 km in length and between two and 14 km in width (qtd in Nolasco 27).
13. Good introductions may vary in tone technique or content but they all share one
essential quality they make the reader want to stay and finish the essay. Generally the
introduction places the subject in context creates a cordial or simulating atmosphere and
provides some indication of the writer’s intention or focus. Good introductions invite the
reader to sit a spell on the front porch so to speak of your particular experience or opinion
(Britt 75).
14. In the spring most of the nation’s children are full of happy anticipation for summer
vacation. They are strongly encouraged in this bad habit by school administrators and
teachers all of whom are playing a game called “Counting the Days Until School Is Out.”
It is death to the present moment. By the time vacation arrives everyone is exhausted from
anticipating it and the vacation isn’t half as much fun as the children expected. One week
into summer vacation many children start whining about how bored they are. This
emphasis on summer is very bad lasting even into adulthood. I was thirty before I
recovered my happy perspective on fall winter and spring. I managed only recently to
teach myself to appreciate Monday which to the naked eye is indistinguishable from Friday
same sun same sky same twittering birds (Britt 92).
61
Recommended Reading
Brittain, Robert. A Pocket Guide to Punctuation. New York: Barron, 1990.
Carey, G. V. Mind the Stop. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1958.
Clarke, John. English Punctuation and Hyphenation. London: Harrap, 1990.
Crews, Frederick. The Random House Handbook. 6th ed. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1992.
Devine, J. Commas Are Our Friends. New York: Ivy Books, 1989.
Douglas, Auriel and Strumpf, Michael. Webster's New World Guide to Punctuation. New
York: Simon and Schuster, Inc., 1988.
Gordon, I. Punctuation. Essex: Longman, 1983.
Gordon, K. The Well-Tempered Sentence: A Punctuation Book for the Innocent, the
Eager, and the Doomed. New York: Tickner and Fields, 1983.
Gordon, K. The New Well-Tempered Sentence. New York: Tickner and Fields, 1993.
Hilton, Catherine and Hyder, Margaret. Punctuation and Grammar. London: Letts
Educational, 1992.
Jarvie, Gordon. Chambers Punctuation Guide. Edinburgh: Chambers, 1992.
King, Graham. The Sunday Times Punctuation Made Easy in One Hour. London:
Mandarin Paperbacks, 1994.
Lauther, Howard. Lauther's Complete Punctuation Thesaurus of the English Language.
Boston: Brandon Publishing Company, 1991.
McDermott, John. Punctuation for Now. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan, 1990.
Malotte, S. The Painless Path to Proper Punctuation. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1990.
Miler, J. and Taylor, B. The Punctuation Handbook. West Linn, Oregon: Alcove
Publishing Company, 1989.
Nunberg, G. The Linguistics of Punctuation. Stanford, Calif: Center for the Study of
Language and Information, 1990.
Parkes, M. B. Pause and Effect: A History of Punctuation in the West. Aldershot, Hants:
Scolar Press, 1992.
Partridge, E. You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and its Allies. London:
Routledge, 1990.
Paxon, W. The Mentor Guide to Punctuation. New York: Mentor Books, 1986.
Shaw, H. Punctuate it Right! New York: Harper and Row, 1986.
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Useful Internet Sites
“Appendix A: Punctuation.” 10 Dec.2001<http://www.umt.edu/urelations/style/apxa.htm>.
Dawkins, John. “Punctuation: Less or More? ERIC Digest.” 10 Dec. 2001 <http://www.
ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed347553.html>.
“Fastfax: Improving your Punctuation.” 4 Jan. 2002 <http://www.learningcommas.
uoguelph.ca/writing/fastfax/punctuation.htm>.
Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching and Learning. “Revising: Effective Use of Punctuation.” 20 Jan. 2002 <http://www.smith.edu/jacobsoncenter/writinghandout11.
html>.
“OWL Handouts: Complete Index by Topic.” 20 Feb. 2002 <http://owl.english.purdue.
edu/handouts/index2.html>.
Robbins, Sonia Jaffe. “Editing Workshop: Punctuation.” 16 Feb. 2002 <http://www.nyu.
edu/classes/copyXEditing/Punctuation.html>.
“Rules for Comma Usage: Guide to Grammar and Writing.” 5 Feb. 2002 <http://webster.
commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm>.
Strunk, William, Jr. “Elementary Rules of Usage.” 11 Jan. 2002 <http://www.bartleby.
com/141/strunk.html>.
“Tip Sheet: Comma Usage.” 1 Feb. 2002 <http://www.esf.edu/writingproject/tipsheets/
tipsheetcomma.html>.
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Works Cited
Bellitto, Christopher M. “Be Kind to Commuters.” Rosa and Eschholz 38-41.
Britt, Suzanne. A Writer’s Rhetoric. HBJ Publishers, 1988.
Brown, Lisa. “Why I Want to Have a Family.” Rosa and Eschholz 108-111.
Cole, K. C. “Women and Physics.” Levin 215-218.
Cox, Don Richard. “Barbie and Her Playmates.” Levin 184-190.
Emerson, Gloria. “Take the Plunge.” Levin 90-93.
Flynn, William. “The Loving Walls of Grandma’s Castle.” Levin 103-105.
Hoffmann, Banesh. “My Friend, Albert Einstein.” Rosa and Eschholz 251-256.
Hubbell, Sue. “Felling Trees.” Levin 157-160.
Huzicka, Michele. “On Waiting in Line.” Levin 83-84.
Inturrisi, Louis. “On Not Getting There from Here.” Levin 152-155.
Korda, Michael. “What Makes a Leader.” Rosa and Eschholz 199-201.
Levin, Gerald. Short Essays. 5th ed. HBJ Publishers, 1989.
MacNeil, Robert. “The Trouble with Television.” Rosa and Eschholz 385-388.
McCulloughs, David. “The Great Bridge.” Skwire 36-39.
Mebane, Mary E. “The Rhythm of Life.” Levin 96-101.
Nolasco, Rob. Writing: Upper-Intermediate. OUP, 1987.
The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Quotations. Ed. Peter Kemp. OUP, 1998.
Rosa, Alfred and Paul Eschholz, eds. Models for Writers: Short Essays for Composition.
New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989.
Perrin, Noel. “Class Struggle in the Woods.” Levin 61-67.
Prose, Francine. “Gossip.” Levin 16-19.
Rodden, Appletree. “Why Smaller Refrigerators Can Preserve the Human Race.” Levin
71-74.
Rosa, Alfred and Paul Eschholz. “Hugh Troy: Practical Joker.” Rosa and Eschholz 82-85.
Sheerin, Susan, Jonathan Seath and Gillian White. Spotlight on Britain. OUP, 1989.
Skwire, David. Writing with a Thesis: A Rhetoric and Reader. Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
1976.
Thurber, James. “The Princess and the Tin Box.” Levin 381-383.
Toth, Susan Allen. “Cinematypes.” Levin 257-260.
Vandermast, Roberta. “The Search for Visual Unity.” Britt, Suzanne. A Writer’s Rhetoric.
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HBJ Publishers, 1988.
Walton, Susan. “The Cautious and Obedient Life.” Levin 9-12.
White, Ron and Valerie Arndt. Process Writing. Longman, 1992.
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