Comments on: Five Lessons in Punctuation

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:37:54 +0000

It’s a hot point,it might be helpful to all seeking for a good English.Thank you for this site

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:00:11 +0000

After reading this last night, I am proud to say that I managed to fit several colons and semi-colons into my final exam in Lit this morning.

By: Anna

Anna — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:41:33 +0000

I’ve read that for important figures like “Jesus”, you make the possessive like this – Jesus’. Is that right?

By: SongLee

SongLee — Fri, 09 May 2008 05:43:24 +0000

I am so thankful for this blog “series”! I am an English major and love to read how I can improve!

By: Pointy-Hatted Geek

Pointy-Hatted Geek — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:41:46 +0000

Sorry, that should be “WHERE you get peanut butter and jelly in one jar.”

By: Pointy-Hatted Geek

Pointy-Hatted Geek — Fri, 09 May 2008 04:40:19 +0000

Annie-

That last comma is called an Oxford comma (there’s a song about it) and people seem to disagree about whether it is or isn’t necessary. I personally think that it is, as otherwise it seems that the last two objects listed go together.

For example:

In my book, “We went to the store to get bread, bananas, peanut butter, and jelly” means that we went to the store for those four things.

On the other hand, “We went to the store to get bread, bananas, peanut butter and jelly” means that we went for three things: bread, bananas, and that weird striped thing were you get peanut butter and jelly in one jar.

By: Aemi

Aemi — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:27:49 +0000

Er, alright, Lala, I’ll bite: what IS the difference? And aren’t you supposed to put spaces? As in: “The soldiers entered the house – what was left of it – and looted it.”

By: nutmeag

nutmeag — Fri, 09 May 2008 00:32:08 +0000

Annie:
Both are correct. I believe it depends on the style of writing you’re using. For instance, I’m a tech writer of government manuals and they prefer to leave out that last comma. Most scientific journals follow that same format. I think humanities writers prefer to leave the last comma in.

By: Felix

Felix — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:15:55 +0000

Beth – 1970s is generally considered to be correct. Only use an apostrophe when leaving it out could be confusing, for example:

“Remember to dot your i’s.”

“We kept sending SOS’s.”

And you can still use an apostrophe to show possession:

“The ATM’s keyboard was broken.”

By: annie

annie — Thu, 08 May 2008 21:59:52 +0000

I was scolded at a transcription job for using the last comma, following the “and,” when listing things.

Wrong:
I ate a chicken, a shoe, and a plastic fork.

Right:
I ate a chicken, a shoe and a plastic fork.

Anyone feedback? Are both correct?