Comma and Punctuation Review Exercises

The Comma

1. To separate the elements in a list of three or more items.

The potion included gobstoppers, chewing gum, bran flakes and coleslaw.

His favourite puddings were ice apple pie, rhubarb crumble, and jelly and ice cream.

I dedicate this work to my parents, Marie Smith and God.

The Comma

2. Before certain conjunctions.

She was a fantastic cook, but would never be as good as her mother in law.

He hated his neighbours, so he never invited them round.

We all had to move to higher ground because the floodwaters were rising quickly.

The CommaShe really didn't feel hungry

because she had already eaten a hearty lunch.

I knew she would not be hungry, because my sister works in a restaurant and had seen her eating a huge meal earlier in the day.

The Comma

3. To separate introductory elements in a sentence.

Given the appalling weather conditions, Michael was lucky to survive the storm.

As the night drew to a close, the clubbers wandered home.

Having mastered the use of the colon, it is important to make it work for you in your writing.

The CommaShortly we will be leaving for the

port.

After his nap Sam felt a lot better.

After a deliciously long nap in his hammock, Sam felt a lot better.

The CommaInside the house was a total mess.

Inside, the house was a total mess.

Until the summer lectures will take place in the main building

Until the summer, lectures will take place in the main building.

The CommaSadly, the whole building was

beginning to crumble.

On the other hand, the new extension looked fantastic.

His wife Jill was a high flyer in the city.

Jill, his wife, was a high flyer in the city.

The Comma

4. To separate parenthetical elements in a sentence.

Sarah, the most intelligent pupil in the class, was always late for school.

The pyramids, one of the wonders of the ancient world, lie just outside Cairo.

The Comma5. To separate direct speech or quoted

elements from the rest of the sentence.

"That house there," he whispered, "is where I grew up."

"Give me the money," he snarled, "unless you want to meet your maker.„

"Give me the money!" he snarled.

The Comma"That cake looks delicious," she

said. "Where can I get the recipe?"

"That cake looks delicious," she said, "Where can I get the recipe?"

The Comma

6. Commas are used to separate elements in a sentence that express contrast.

He was first attracted by her money, not her stunning looks.

She is intelligent, not pretty.

He thought the building was enormous, but ugly.

The Comma

7. Commas are used for typographical reasons to separate dates and years, towns and counties etc.

His home was in Streatham, East London.

My father was born on March 13, 1949.

The Comma

8. Commas are used to separate several adjectives.

The old, ramshackle, dilapidated house had a charm of its own.

That rather dull-looking, badly-dressed, clumsy man is actually a university professor.

The little old house was in a beautiful wood.

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Comma UsageAdd comma where necessary.After a hard day at the office I like to

relax with a large gin.The recipe needed jam flour sugar

fruit eggs ketchup and baking powder."Look at this" he whispered.Paulina his wife of many years had

decided to go and live in Greece.As the sun began to sink over the sea

Karen got ready to go out.

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Comma UsageShe was intelligent not especially

practical.The thief was wearing impractical

high heels so she could not run fast.

We go to Blackpool for the cuisine not the weather.

"I advise you" said the teacher "not to cross me again today."

Steven his head still spinning walked out of the office for the last time.

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Punctutation ReviewPut an end punctuation mark and

capitalize the first letter.it was a bright cold day in April, and

the clocks were striking thirteen Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him

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Punctuation Reviewthe hallway smelt of boiled

cabbage and old rag mats at one end of it a coloured poster, too large for indoor display, had been tacked to the wall it depicted simply an enormous face, more than a metre wide: the face of a man of about forty-five, with a heavy black moustache and ruggedly handsome features

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Punctuation ReviewWinston made for the stairs it

was no use trying the lift even at the best of times it was seldom working, and at present the electric current was cut off during daylight hours it was part of the economy drive in preparation for Hate Week

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Punctuation Reviewthe flat was seven flights up, and

Winston, who was thirty-nine and had a varicose ulcer above his right ankle, went slowly, resting several times on the way on each landing, opposite the lift-shaft, the poster with the enormous face gazed from the wall it was one of those pictures which are so contrived that the eyes follow you about when you move BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU, the caption beneath it ran

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Comma & SemicolonPlace a comma or semicolon between

brackets.Pasta[] a large family of shaped[] dried

wheat pastes[] is a basic staple in many countries. Its origins are obscure. Rice pastes were known very early in China[] pastes made of wheat were used in India and Arabia long before they were introduced into Europe in the 11th or 12th century. According to legend[] Marco Polo brought a pasta recipe with him from Asia in 1295. Pasta quickly became a major element in the Italian diet[] and its use spread throughout Europe.

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Comma & SemicolonPasta is made from durum wheat flour[]

which makes a strong[] elastic dough. Hard durum wheat has the highest wheat protein value. The flour is mixed with water[] kneaded to form a thick paste[] and then forced through perforated plates or dies that shape it into one of more than 100 different forms. The macaroni die is a hollow tube with a steel pin in its center[] the spaghetti die lacks the steel pin and produces a solid cylinder of paste.

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Comma & SemicolonRibbon pasta is made by forcing the

paste through thin slits in a die[] shells and other curved shapes are produced with more intricate dies. The shaped dough is dried carefully to reduce the moisture content to about 12 percent[] and properly dried pasta should remain edible almost indefinitely. Pastas can be colored with spinach or beet juice. The addition of egg produces a richer[] yellower pasta that is usually made in noodle form and is often sold undried.

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Comma UsageIn the following paragraph, insert commas wherever you think

they belong.

Frederick DouglassThe son of a white man and a black slave Frederick Douglass

spent his early years in slavery but escaped in 1838 and became a leading orator journalist and abolitionist. One stormy night Douglass was traveling from New York to Boston by boat. Because his African-American ancestry disqualified him from occupying a cabin or any of the public rooms he was obliged to curl up in a corner of the deck to sleep. An officer came across him there and took pity on him. Knowing that he could find Douglass a stateroom if he could pass him off as an American Indian the officer approached him with the words "You're an Indian aren't you?" Douglass immediately grasped the significance of the question. Looking the officer straight in the eyes he replied "No sir I'm a nigger" and curled up in his corner again.

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Comma UsageThe Least Successful Car

In 1957 Ford produced the car of the decade--the Edsel. Half of the models sold proved to be spectacularly defective. If lucky the proud owner of an Edsel could enjoy any or all of the following features: doors that wouldn't close hoods and trunks that wouldn't open batteries that went dead horns that stuck hubcaps that dropped off paint that peeled transmissions that seized up brakes that failed and push buttons that couldn't be pushed even with three people trying. In a stroke of marketing genius the Edsel one of the largest and most lavish cars ever built coincided with rising public interest in economy cars. As Time magazine reported "It was a classic case of the wrong car for the wrong market at the wrong time." Never popular to begin with the Edsel quickly became a national joke. One business writer at the time likened the car's sales graph to an extremely dangerous ski slope. He added that so far as he knew there was only one case of an Edsel ever being stolen.

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ColonColon – adds extra information after a clause:A colon can introduce a list

◦ We need three kinds of support: economic, moral, and political.

A colon can be used before an explanation◦ We decided not to go on holiday: we had too little money.

A colon is used before a quotation◦ Whitehead had this to say about writing style: "Style is

the ultimate morality of mind.“Greeting in a business letter.

◦ Dear Senator Dodd:A colon can be used between the main title and the

sub-title of a book.◦ The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion.

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Colon - practicePut a colon or check if it is used correctly. In that case some

rewriting may be required.

The Endangered Species Act contains a potential problem for private property owners, the government refuses to compensate them for the inconveniences imposed.

Images of stylish men appear: in magazines, on television commercials, and on billboard advertisements.

She had received only one reply to my letter: although I had written to my friend several times.

"The Awakening, Kate Chopin's Exploration of Love and Seduction" is an informative article.

While working out, she discovered an amazing fact. She was now able to bench-press ten pounds more than the week before.

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Punctuation ReviewPut any necessary appropriate punctuation

marks.When a friend dies part of yourself dies too.We took photographs of the patron saint of

nail-biters the Venus de Milo.Picture this a Neanderthal man deep in the

forest gorges on the yummies of his time fruits berries anything sweet and pluckable.

Last week we read The Catbird Seat a short story by James Thurber.

Our three children Larry Curly and Moe have decided to enter show business.

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Punctuation ReviewWhen in doubt mumble when in trouble delegate.An Americans devotion to McDonald's rests in

part on uniformities associated with all McDonald's restaurants setting architecture food ambience acts and utterances.

Some players hit the ball and stand dejected waiting for it to land others turn away and leave it to the caddy.

Dynamite was lavishly used and many of San Franciscos proudest structures were crumbled by man himself into ruins but there was no withstanding the onrush of the flames.

Lila who lives in a trailer with a parakeet and some scrappy dogs and cats has been the town fire warden for almost 30 years.

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Punctuation ReviewThe woman is wearing golden stretch pants

green eyelids and a hiveshaped head of hair that looks both in color and texture exactly like 25-cents worth of cotton candy.

Hurling which has been the national sport of Ireland since legendary times is to American eyes like a soccer game played at ice-hockey speed.

While on maneuvers in South Carolina Billy Pilgrim played hymns he knew from childhood.

Guiding the ball through the upper chutes down a runover lane off the slingshot bumpers to the flippers I cradled it there bouncing it back and forth until I had a perfect shot through the lighted spinner.

The train its metal wheels squealing as they spin along the silver tracks rolls more slowly now.

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SemicolonSemicolon – invented by Aldus Manutius (italic typeface,

modern punctuation) To sort out a monster list.

◦ We had four professors on our committee: Peter Wursthorn, Professor of Mathematics; Ronald Pepin, Professor of English; Cynthia Greenblatt, Professor of Education; and Nada Light, Professor of Nursing.

To separate closely related independent clauses.◦ My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she's afraid she'll

miss out on something.

Between main clauses linked by a conjunctive adverb (however, moreover, therefore, consequently, otherwise, nevertheless, thus, etc.) or transitional expression (in fact or for example).◦ I am going home; moreover, I intend to stay there. ◦ "Words rarely express the true meaning; in fact they tend to hide it."

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Semicolon In a list of items you can either :

1. use a comma between each item and a linking word between the last two items (e.g. and, or)

2. put a colon (:) before the list starts and a semicolon (;) between each item. You do not have a linking word between the last two items.

◦ In the 1960s most university students: were aged 18-21; were on full-time courses; went to a university away from their home town; had a grant on which they survived during term time.

◦ In the 1960s most university students were aged 18-21, were on full-time courses, went to a university away from their home town, and had a grant on which they survived during term time.

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Semicolon UsageDetermine if a semicolon is necessary1. He wanted to take a walk, so we drove to

Niagara Falls and walked around the park.2. She did the laundry she used the last of the

laundry detergent.3. They both went swimming while they were

on vacation in Mexico.4. They finished digging in the garden and

planting flowers they admired their work.5. To build the fence around the garden, they

needed to dig trenches close to seven feet deep.

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Semicolon Usage6. The garden contained vegetables they will

harvest them in fall.7. Their house and garden are extremely

important to them that's why they take care of their property so well.

8. When planting impatiens, it's important to plant some in the sun and some in the shade because it's hard to tell how much of each they need.

9. All of the garden tools are kept in the garage they are cleaned every spring.

10. My favorite flower is forget-me-nots even though some people consider it a weed.

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DashDash – serves to set off parenthetical elements that contain

internal forms of punctuation. It is generally confined to cases where there is a sudden break from the general run of the passage. Of all the punctuation marks it is the most misused.

◦ All four of them—Bob, Jeffrey, Jason, and Brett—did well in college.

  Modern word processors provide for two kinds of dashes: the

regular dash or em dash (which is the same width as the letter "M," — ) and the en dash (which is about half the width, the same as the letter "N," – ).

  en dash: Ctrl+Num- or Alt 01501. chronological range (1961–1963)2. indexing scheme (table 13–C)3. join compound modifiers (the New York–New Jersey border)

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Dash em dash: Ctrl+Alt+Num- or Alt 0151 sparingly used in formal style

1. shows a break in a dialog ("How many times have I asked you not to —" Jasion suddenly stopped talking and looked out the window.) or abrupt change in thoughts (I wish you would—oh, never mind. )

2. Other examples:◦ I pay the bills—she has all the fun. (A semicolon would be used

here in formal writing)◦ I need three items at the store—dog food, vegetarian chili, and

cheddar cheese. (a colon would be used here in formal writing)◦ My agreement with Fiona is clear—she teaches me French and I

teach her German. (a colon would work here in formal writing)◦ Please call my agent—Jessica Cohen—about hiring me.

(parentheses or commas would work just fine here instead of the dashes)

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Comma, Colon, Semicolon & DashChoose an appropriate

punctuation mark and create your own sentence following the model.

1. The days were hot and dry the nights were extremely cold.

2. We have visited New York City several times however we have never seen the Statue of Liberty.

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Comma, Colon, Semicolon & Dash3. I divide all readers into two

classes those who read to remember and those who read to forget.

4. Danny could play the one musical instrument that no one wanted to listen to the bagpipes.

5. Our three children Moe Larry and Curly have decided to enter show business.

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Semicolon, Colon & Dash Levin wanted friendship and got friendliness he wanted

steak and they offered Spam.

Your essay is both good and original however, the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

There are three choices in this life be good, get good, or give up.

The fortune teller reminded us that there is only one thing we can count on for sure total uncertainty.

Our labors in life learning, earning, and yearning are also our reasons for living.

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Question MarkIt is used at the end of a direct

question.◦How did you enjoy our yesterday’s

performance?Tag question

◦He finished on time, didn’t he?Be careful not to use it in an

indirect question.◦The instructor asked the students

what they were doing.

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Hyphen Hyphen – can be used to hyphen broken words at the right-

hand end of our lines. However, certain manuals insist that you not break words at line-endings in any case.

 Other uses of a hyphen are: compound words (six-year-old daughter) numbers and fractions (twenty-one, one-fourth) adding certain prefixes: When it comes before a capitalized

word or the prefix itself is capitalized (non-English, I-formation); the prefixes self-, all-, and ex- almost always require a hyphen (ex-husband, all-inclusive, self-control); when the prefix end the same letter that begins the word, you will often use a hyphen (anti-intellectual) but not always (cooperate, unnatural)

In a series of identical compounds (Both full- and part-time employees will get raises this year.)

Do not use space before or after a hyphen.

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Slash & Ellipsis Slash/Slant/Solidus/Virgule – is used to indicate of a choice

between the words it separates◦  Using the pass/fail option backfired on her; she could've gotten an A.◦ he/she

There is no space; however, we must put a space when we quote a poem because a slash identifies lines. ◦ "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / but I have promises to keep."

  Ellipsis – is a very handy device when you quote, but you

want to omit a part of it 

◦ "Bohr […] used the analogy of parallel stairways […]" (Smith 55).

There are manuals which recommend using square brackets around the ellipsis, however, some do not.

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Parentheses & Brackets Parentheses – between parentheses we place material that we want to de-

emphasize, but we still want to include it

◦ Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost (do you remember him?) remains America's favorite poet.

Brackets You can use them to include explanatory words or phrases within quoted

language.

◦ Lew Perkins, the Director of Athletic Programs, said that Pumita Espinoza, the new soccer coach [at Notre Dame Academy] is going to be a real winner.

To enclose [sic] showing misspelled or inappropriately used word.

◦ Reporters found three mispelings [sic] in the report.

If you have italicized or underlined words within quoted language that was not italicized or underlined in the original, you can note that change in brackets included within the sentence or paragraph. ◦ It was the atmosphere of the gym that thrilled Jacobs, not the eight championship

banners hanging from the beams [italics added].