PPT-Commas, Semicolons, Colons, Dashes, and Parentheses

Punctuation Lesson But why does it matter Because it saves lives Lets eat Grandma Lets eat Grandma Punctuation gives us pauses between words and ideas Imagine if you didnt take pauses between words and sentences . Wayne State University School of Social Work. What is a Comma?. Merriam-Webster (2012) defines a comma as:. . “. A punctuation mark, used especially as a mark of separation within the sentence. ”. The Secrets of Commas, Colons, and Semi-colons. an SSC Workshop. Commas (part 1). The Panda Joke. A panda walks into a restaurant, orders a bowl of eucalyptus, and casually eats his entire lunch. After finishing his dinner, he promptly pulls an Uzi from under his coat, shoots the other customers in the restaurant, and then begins to walk out of the restaurant. As he walks out the door, the irate owner confronts the panda: “What do you think your doing? You come in here eat and then shoot up my place. Why?” . En. -. Dash and . Em. -. Dash. Magic Little Dashes!. Do you know the rules of usage for:. FOUR TIMES WHEN . YOU. SHOULD USE. The Hyphen. -. FOUR TIMES WHEN . YOU. SHOULD USE. The Hyphen. HYPHENATED ADJECTIVE . Marking code: P. What is it?. Brackets, commas or dashes can all be used to separate a word or phrase that has been added to a sentence as an explanation or afterthought.. The word/phrase inside the brackets, commas or dashes is called a parenthesis.. SEMICOLONS. Separating. Independent Clauses. :. use a semicolon to separate independent clauses joined without a conjunction. SEMICOLONS. Separating. Independent Clauses. :. use a semicolon to separate independent clauses joined without a conjunction. 8. th. Writing. COMMA RULES!. Remember - commas save lives!. Let’s eat, Grandpa!. Let’s eat Grandpa!. 1. Between items in a series. A SERIES is a list of three or more words, phrases, or clauses.. Use a . hyphen. to divide a word at the end of a line. . Only words with more than one syllable can be divided. Do not leave a single letter at the beginning or the end of a line. . Longer words can be divided in more than one place.. Grammar Notes. Semicolons. 618.1 To Join Two Independent Clauses. Use a . semicolon. to join two or more closely related independent clauses that are not connected with a coordinating conjunction. Remember: independent clauses can stand alone as a separate sentence.. colons. To the left of the colon, you must have a complete sentence/independent clause. . I need to purchase the following items: parsnips; carrots; bread, both rye and wheat; and lettuce.. Don’t put a colon if there’s a verb to the immediate . - The marks of parenthesis are the marks of punctuation . ( ) . that set off unrelated words, phrases, or clauses that do not change the meaning of the sentence when omitted. Use marks of parenthesis in pairs.. ?. Parentheses . are round brackets( the symbols that are enclosing this . sentence).. Parentheses usually contain . information that adds more depth to the main sentence. . This extra information can be omitted from the main sentence entirely . A semicolon tells the reader to pause longer than you would for a comma, not quite as long as you would for a period. . Semicolons are primarily used in compound sentences.. The semicolon takes the place of the comma and the conjunction joining the independent clauses. ELACC8L2a: . Use punctuation (comma, ellipsis, dash). to indicate a pause or break.. ELACC8L2b: . Use an ellipsis to indicate an omission.. Comma Usage Rules. A . comma. . is used to separate words or groups of words so that the meaning of a sentence is clear.. Using Dashes. Dashes are used for two main purposes. . The . first is what I call the Pause Dash. It more or less says to the reader, “Right here, I want you to take a breath. What you will read next relates to what you have just read in an interesting way, and I would like to emphasize it.” When using dashes this way, you are allowed only one per sentence..