PunctuationGrammar Snobs are Great Big

Meanies (Casagrande)Eats, Shoots & Leaves

(Truss)

Commas,–Lists

»The colors of the flag are red, white and blue.

–The Oxford Comma»The colors of the flag are red, white, and blue.

–Joining»Two complete sentences & use a conjunction

–Filling gaps»Annie had dark hair; Sally, fair.

More Commas ,,• Before direct speech

– The Queen said, “Doesn’t anyone want cake?”• Setting off interjections

– Stop, or I’ll shoot.• Commas in pairs

– Nicholas Nickleby, published in 1839, uses a great many commas.

• Don’t use commas like a stupid person!– The driver managed to escape from the vehicle before it sank and swam to the river bank.

» Comma after sank

Grammar Book• Please take a moment and do pages

148, 150, and 152 in your grammar book.

The Semi Colon ;

• They are more powerful more imposing pretentious than a comma, but they are a comma all the same. The really have within them deeply within them, fundamentally within them, the comma nature.

Gertrude Stein, “Poetry and Grammar” 1935

Semicolon ; • The semicolon tells you that there is still some question about the preceding full sentence; something needs to be added […] The period tells you that that is that; if you didn’t get all the meaning you wanted or expected, anyway you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But with the semicolon there you get a pleasant feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer.

The Medusa and the Snail, 1979 Lewis Thomas

Semicolon ;

• Use a semicolon between two related sentences where there is no conjunction such as “and” or “but”, and where a comma would be ungrammatical.

• Many times a dash - can be substituted for a semicolon, but it’s very modern and less formal. –Save a dash for when the connection is less direct, like a bridge between fractured ideas

Semicolon ;

• The policeman in comma fights– Fares were offered to Corfu, the Greek island Morocco, Elba, in the Mediterranean, and Paris.

– Fares were offered to Corfu, the Greek island; Morocco; Elba, in the Mediterranean; and Paris.

• A compliment to the reader

Semicolon ;

• Linking words require a semicolon– However, nevertheless, also, consequently, hence

– A sentence doth require ev’ry clause.– At ev’ry comma, stop while one count;– At semicolon two is the amount;– A colon doth require time of three; – The period four, as learned men agree.

Cecil Hartley, 1818

An Example

• Tom locked himself in the shed. England lost to Argentina.

• Tom locked himself in the shed; England lost to Argentina

• Tom locked himself in the shed: England lost to Argentina.

Colon :

• HW Fowler said that the colon “delivers the goods that have been invoiced in the preceding words.”

• A colon is preceded by a complex sentence

• It theatrically announces what is to come

• Yes! And Ah! colons

The Yes! Colon :

• Tom has one rule of life: never eat anything bigger than your head.

• This much is clear, Watson: it was the baying of an enormous hound.

The Ah! Colon :

• There is probably more than meets the eye.

• I loved Opal Fruits as a child: no one else did.

• You can do it: and you will do it.

Colon :

• Acts as a fulcrum between two antithetical statements

• Introduce the part of the sentence that exemplifies, restates, elaborates, undermines, explains or balances the preceding part.

• Set off sub titles• Separate dramatic characters from dialogue

• Start off long quotations and introduce examples

Grammar Book• Please take a moment and do page 153

The Apostrophe (or, the flying comma)

• The boy’s hat. (possessive is singular)

• The boys’ hats. (possessive is plural)

• The women’s movement. (possessive is plural, but does not end in “s”)

Other Apostrophe Obligations

• In one week’s time. (indicates time or quantity)

• Summer of ‘68 (omission of figures in dates)

• I s’pose (omission of letters)• ‘ sup (indicates non-standard English) • O’neill (Irish names)• F’s (plurals of letters)• Do’s and Don’t’s (plurals of words)

Grammar Book• Please take a moment and do pages

169 - 171

It’s or Its• It is or it has= it’s • Its = possessive• One’s (A Room of One’s Own, Woolf)

• They’re (there, their)• You’re (your, ur)• Who’s (whose)

S & Z• In modern names ending in “S”, the “S” is required after after the apostrophe– Keats’s poems

•Exceptions: – Names from the ancient world (Achilles’ heel)

– Names ends in “iz” sound (Bridges’ score)

– Jesus (Jesus’ disciples)

Just for “fun”• Who (subject) /Whom (object)

– Who is the best grammar snob of all? •Him is! (no, silly…he is!)

• I/ Me (try the sentence without other)– I’m so glad you could celebrate with Lisa and I.•…you could celebrate with I

– AWKWARD! …you could celebrate with me

Dangling Modifiers• Clocking out every evening, the coffee pot should be in the forefront of your mind.

• Panting in the heat, my skirt stuck to my legs.

• Upon sending the memo, the staff knew that the president was a man of wisdom.

• A man of vision, the coffee pot problem was solved by the president.

Common Mistakes • Lay/Lie

– To lie is is fib– To lie is something you can do alone– To lay is something you do to something

• Raise/Rise– Same Rule!

•The sun rises.•I raise my hand.

The End

• Wild applause!

Pages 148, 150, 152, 153, 169, 170, and 171 Will be corrected in class on Monday, Nov 19. Grammar Test on Nov 19. Test covers PPT.PPT will be on edmodo.