2. Take the lowly comma. There are lots of rules to govern it,
too many for most students to remember. However, the lowly comma is
important. The whole meaning of a sentence can change if its commas
are used incorrectly or missing.
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3. This is my , Buddy, when he was just a kitten. He liked to eat
shoots and leaves, so I had to be careful about what kind of plants
I grew in the house. Some can cause illness in cats; some, like the
dephenbacia, are even deadly.
4. Heres another Buddy. He likes to rob convenience stores. First
he gets the lay of the land by eating something quick in the store.
Then, he pulls out his gun to make his move. Sometimes, he even
shoots it into the ceiling to scare the clerk. Someday, he may kill
someone. Once he gets the cash, he leaves in a hurry. Hopefully,
one day hell be caught and off the street.
5. Read and Analyze
Look at these two sentences. The only difference between them is
the use of the comma. Which one would you apply to Buddy the
Cat?
Buddy eats shoots and leaves
Buddy eats, shoots, and leaves.
6. Buddy eats shoots and leaves.
If you chose the first one, youre right! In this case, the verb of
the sentence is eats. Shoots and leaves are the things Buddylikes
to eat. That phrase answers the question What does Buddy eat?,
giving us the object of the verb.
7. Buddy eats, shoots, and leaves.
If you picked the second one, sorry, youre wrong. There are three
verbs in this sentence. As the sentence is written, there is a
series of three things Buddy likes to do. Remember what I told you
about him? He eats something, takes out his gun and shoots, and
finally he leaves the store. This series requires commas between
the elements of the series. The comma before and is optional.
Buddy eats,shoots, andleaves.
Buddy eats,shootsandleaves.
8. This presentation was inspired by the book Eats, Shoots &
Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuationby Lynne Truss.
The paperback is available at Amazon.com.
If you still dont believe that punctuation is important, click on
that Amazon link above, click on the image oft the book when the
web page opens, and search for the words Dear Jack. You will find
two short letters: same words, different punctuation. What a
difference!
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