This page includes
information unlike any you'll find in a handbook.
We discuss 2 ways of determining when and where to use
commas.
Semicolons
Comma
Web Page Scavenger Hunt
Use this quiz
to learn how best to use these pages.
1. What
punctuation mark is discussed in the link from the second pot
of gold?
2. What comma
convention does Jack the Ripper illustrate?
3. When might
you be forced to eat a bologna, cheese and peanut butter
sandwich?
4. What is the
reward for strutting your stuff?
Do
these sentences need commas?
5. I have 100
100 dollar bills.
6. When I last
saw her I was amazed at how wonderful she looked.
7. Jack's
presentation will be boring; Jane's I want to listen to.
The rules we use were not established until the second half of
the 17th century. (That's why you see Shakespeare break so many
of them.) We need punctuation marks when we write, though,
because like other conventions (thank you notes, for instance),
punctuation helps readers understand writers' messages. Besides,
learning these conventions establishes your credibility as a
writer. When you use them correctly, you demonstrate your ability
to participate in a community of highly-literate language users.
You may be surprised to learn that
conventions of punctuation differ from language to language.
There are even differences between American and British usage: