Characteristics Of Commas In English

This chapter holds a certain significance because it helps a writer know how to use the basic elements of the English language, in a way that people want to read. King says that vocabulary and word choice is a very important aspect of grammar, and this should be reflective of your style of writing. He makes very clear in this chapter the importance of sentence structure, and word order (King 118-120). King writes:

Proofreading and revising is a very crucial step in the writing process. If a person does not proofread then the essay they worked on may not make sense and may overall confuse the reader. Using correct punctuation shows how sentences are supposed to be read. Once I have made sure all my sentences are grammatically correct I then compose my final copy of the essay.

One disadvantage of high school was that our teachers focused very little time on grammar; therefore, I never gained a good foundation in correct grammar. Over the years this has hurt me in my writing because proper grammar is crucial in writing. By going to the learning center and receiving help from Professor Cox I was able to recognize repeated grammar mistakes within my papers. One very common mistake I made throughout all my papers was not inserting a comma after a subordinating clause at the beginning of a sentence. I noticed that I had a tendency to always start sentences with subordinating clauses, but would never put in a comma afterwards. Once I recognized this mistake and learned the correct way to fix it I started paying close attention to this grammatical error, making sure I did not make it again. Therefore, towards the middle to end of the semester I no longer made these errors in my papers. A good example of this correct grammar technique can be found in paper number four numerous times, “When applying to PA school, people need to beware of the programs pre-requisites because they vary between programs.” The comma between “school” and “people” is the correct use of a comma after a subordinating clause. Another grammar mistake I continuously made was putting a comma in front of the words “therefore” and “however” when a semicolon was needed. I was taught in high school, that you always put a set of commas around

structural wise, sentences with less comma splices. For example the author wrote: “I put myself back in

I noticed that I have an issue with my placement of commas. I don’t know when to place them and when not. Since that is an issue I end up not placing them at all and I need them. I am learning when they are needed and when not from the feedback on my paper showing where there should be placement of them.

As I was reading through the feedback I received on the first major paper I have written in over four years, I happened to think of something I read on a pink notebook in Walmart last night. “Good feedback is the key to improvement.” When I saw the small errors I missed, I knew it was time to start making some healthy adjustments to my writing. Although I have a terrible habit of using contractions and comma splices, I would like to expand my vocabulary and make my writing stronger, be able to incorporate more transitional statements, and I would like to become more comfortable with comma usage.

You will be asked to correctly add commas to a paragraph of text using your understanding of the 8 comma rules.

The biggest skill set I gained from this course is a deeper understanding of grammar. I felt that I benefited greatly from the Com Fit exercises as well as the readings from Writing for Success. I think I had a decent understanding of the use of punctuation, except commas. I thought I understood but based on the lessons in week 4 and the feedback I received on my essays, my skills needed improving. I now know better how and where to use commas,

I was reading through the feedback I received on the first major paper I have written in over four years, I happened to think of something I read on a pink notebook in Walmart last night. “Good feedback is the key to improvement.” When I saw the errors I missed, I knew it was time to start making some healthy adjustments to my writing. Although I have a terrible habit of using contractions and comma splices, I would like to expand my vocabulary and formulate my writing to become stronger, be able to incorporate transitional statements, and I would like to become comfortable with comma usage.

Using consistent characters allows the reader to flow from one character to the next in an enjoyable manner. You want to show what the character does or how they are described without adding anything confusing in between. This also allows an easy transition from one idea to the next. This chapter also talks about how writers who are beginners tend to use big words to show what they have learned; however, experienced writers don’t do that. Experienced writers use humble pronouns and pointers that generate a more powerful effect by building stronger but shorter paragraphs. Using conjunctions and other linking words is another way to enhance the flow of a sentence. Conjunctions are used to show the relationship between words or phrases and allows the writer to join sentences that are more precise and easy to

To emphases/highlight words can be a way of signaling the significance of a syllable or a word (183). Depending on what word is stressed in a sentence can determine its meaning. Inflection is done by altering the pitch or tone of the voice, usually to show if a sentence is a declarative statement or a question. This was something that I struggled with when I recited Williamson’s poem. I didn’t pay close attention to the punctuation the end of each sentence and resulted the listener not understanding when I was stating a question. Another device that gives meaning to dialogue are speech patterns which adds believable characterization to a sentence and makes it natural-sounding (184). This wasn’t too bad in speech because I did show how Williamson was trying to more personal and educated. Next is pace, which provides nonverbal information about passion, urgency or boredom of a situation. There were times in my reading that I showed some pace changes and this was good and bad. Toward the end I rushed certain sentences to show passion; however, I should have slowed down

Another quality a writer should have in his or her paper is giving examples or things that the readers would find useful and use it themselves. In William Zinsser’s “The Act of Writing: One Man’s Method”  he gives a lot of information on writing a paper and how to improve my writing skills. He talks about “editing, cutting and revising” (166). The one that I use the most, after learning from him, is the bracket method. He says that, “The brackets might surround the little qualifiers… sentence that… repeats what the previous sentence…”(167). I use the brackets idea and it makes my essay a little better. It really helps me to see what I had already said in the other sentence, so I can change the sentence or delete it. Another writer that gives out good information is Lewis Thomas. In “Notes on Punctuation”, Thomas talks about all kinds of punctuation. He gives information on the parenthesis, semicolon, colon, dash, comma, exclamation and quotation marks. Before I read his essay I didn’t know what or how to use a

So, regardless of what comma rule I may break by adding a comma to this sentence, as long as my readers don’t get confused and stop reading, I don’t care – and neither should you.

Do you know? A comma may be exempted from a ticket, this is incredible things. Commas are probably the most common symbols, but commas have different meanings in different places. If you use a comma in the wrong place, the reader will get the wrong message. According to grammar girls (July, 15) “The judge ruled that Ms. Cammelleri’s pickup truck wasn’t covered by a law that applied to "any motor vehicle camper, trailer, farm implement and/or non-motorized vehicle." That's "motor vehicle camper" rather than "motor vehicle, camper” as the village where the pickup was parked tried to argue.” In fact, we can understand that the meaning is probably motor vehicle, camper, but because the comma is not used in the middle of motor vehicle and camper,

This assignment was different the other essays I have done before in this course. I had to found all the incorrect parts by myself this time. Which by judging from my previous essay would require a huge amount of time. I wanted to do this by myself so I choose to not ask Stellan for any help. I learned that I am not the best when it comes to using comma signs. The first mistake came in this sentence “Throughout a housing bubble we can see”. There should have been a comma sign after the word “bubble”. Another mistake can be found in the second header “Household debts has increased drastically in relation to disposable income”. The problem is that it shall stand “have” instead of “has”. Furthermore, a mistake I made multiple times was that I