Recap of week 1, and what’s next

This week we covered one of the most widely misunderstood and misused punctuation marks, the comma. Remember though, that a current trend is to limit the use of the comma.

We also looked at semicolons and colons. The learning quizzes should have provided you with lots of opportunities to explore these punctuation marks in correct use. There is another quiz after this article for those who would like to explore this a bit more.

Re-read this extract below that we covered at the start of the course. Perhaps the comma, semicolon and colon descriptions will make more sense to you now?

The period indicates a long pause; the comma indicates a short pause. The semicolon signals not only a stop but also ‘equality’; something equally structured will follow.

The colon signals that the thought is not complete, that something explanatory will follow: an important word, phrase, sentence, or a formal listing. The colon is a very formal mark, the dash is less formal, and the material within parentheses just ‘whispers’ to the reader.

_{Longknife and Sullivan, The Art of Styling Sentences, page 146}

Next week, we tackle another misused punctuation mark. See you then to take on the apostrophe!

Theresa