Top Banner
Why Punctuation is Important by Vicki Lague Why is punctuation important? Even the simplest punctuation can be used to improve meaning and understanding.
8

Why Punctuation is Important

May 24, 2015

Download

Education

Quick lesson in wny you need to worry about punctuation when you write.
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
  • 1. Why Punctuation is Important
    by
    Vicki Lague
    Why is punctuation important? Even the simplest punctuation can be used to improve meaning and understanding.

2. Take the lowly comma. There are lots of rules to govern it, too many for most students to remember. However, the lowly comma is important. The whole meaning of a sentence can change if its commas are used incorrectly or missing.
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
,
3. This is my , Buddy, when he was just a kitten. He liked to eat shoots and leaves, so I had to be careful about what kind of plants I grew in the house. Some can cause illness in cats; some, like the dephenbacia, are even deadly.
4. Heres another Buddy. He likes to rob convenience stores. First he gets the lay of the land by eating something quick in the store. Then, he pulls out his gun to make his move. Sometimes, he even shoots it into the ceiling to scare the clerk. Someday, he may kill someone. Once he gets the cash, he leaves in a hurry. Hopefully, one day hell be caught and off the street.
5. Read and Analyze
Look at these two sentences. The only difference between them is the use of the comma. Which one would you apply to Buddy the Cat?
Buddy eats shoots and leaves
Buddy eats, shoots, and leaves.
6. Buddy eats shoots and leaves.
If you chose the first one, youre right! In this case, the verb of the sentence is eats. Shoots and leaves are the things Buddylikes to eat. That phrase answers the question What does Buddy eat?, giving us the object of the verb.
7. Buddy eats, shoots, and leaves.
If you picked the second one, sorry, youre wrong. There are three verbs in this sentence. As the sentence is written, there is a series of three things Buddy likes to do. Remember what I told you about him? He eats something, takes out his gun and shoots, and finally he leaves the store. This series requires commas between the elements of the series. The comma before and is optional.
Buddy eats,shoots, andleaves.
Buddy eats,shootsandleaves.
8. This presentation was inspired by the book Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuationby Lynne Truss. The paperback is available at Amazon.com.
If you still dont believe that punctuation is important, click on that Amazon link above, click on the image oft the book when the web page opens, and search for the words Dear Jack. You will find two short letters: same words, different punctuation. What a difference!