A new found awarness

Before this class I couldn't tell you the difference between a main clause and a prepositional phrase, or many things for that matter. From this chapter and this grammar class I now I been opened into the world of punctuation. From this chapter I learned that punctuation can be very meticulous. From class I learned that punctuation can be very daring-like the dash. I now understand better and can more appreciate purposeful punctuation. Standard use of punctuation is still a huge area that I have to learn. At least now I know how creative and vast the world of punctuation can be.

Punctuation Piracy

I have always been a fan of punctuation. Which is why I use it I suppose...

I think I over use the comma though, so I often endeaver not to do so. It is hard however to not over use the comma, since so much of any writting does not lend itself to brevity; ideas after all take time and often many, many, many words to acheive something along the lines of cohesion --at least for me.

I also enjoy using dashes, although I immediatly started to question the other day why the M-dash was not instead called the W-dash, and the n-dash considered the u-dash. I think I will start calling them as such --as I am a rebel.

A punctuation pirate then. I pluck the fruits of language like some stangly deranged vernacular monkey. Peppering my use of the english language with them, tossing them into writing and speach alike --along with coarser things besides.

Purposeful Punctuation

This chapter builds on one of the most important concepts we have learned this term—namely, that punctuation creates clarity and personality in written work. I had previously used punctuation only as it was necessary to write a proper sentence. Now, however, I also see it as a tool for better writing.

I had never thought of using punctuation to emphasize my ideas or portray them in a certain way. Since I am now confident about using various kinds of punctuation, I plan to experiment with them all: commas, colons, semicolons, and even “daring dashes.” I have a far greater understanding of punctuation than I did at the start of this term.

The first thing that came to my mind after reading the chapter on punctuation, is that there is so much punctuation, and there are so many options as to how you are going to use punctuation to more effectively convey your ideas. Before taking this class, I was not as keenly aware of this point; punctuation was more of something that I just used. I depended more heavily on the words to illustrate my point, when all along I could have been using punctuation to make my points even clearer. At this point, I still don't feel like I have much practice at using punctuation more effectively, but I am at least aware of its power.

While reading through all of the punctuation in the chapter, I began to imagine how a lack of punctuation could lead to some funny situations. Here's an example: if "the boss's daughter" lost the comma, it would read, "the bosss daughter." The word "bosss" would act as an adjective of "daughter" indicating how awesome she is, instead of acting as a possessive noun.

This chapter on punctuation will be an effective tool for future use while writing. If I ever have questions about punctuation, I can always look back to this chapter for writing help.

The Plethora of Punctuation

After reading the chapter, "Purposeful Punctuation," my eyes have been opened to the plethora of punctuation options. I have high hopes for my future writing: I hope to incorporate more of a variety of punctuation techniques in order to strengthen my style. By examining my work, I recognized that I rarely utilize sentence structures other than compound sentences. This seems pretty bland when I consider the vast options that Kolln presents. I hope to eliminate some of my wordiness by incorporating punctuation techniques--dashes, modifiers, and connections--that contribute to meaning while still being concise. I appreciate this discussion of punctuation and feel that it will be greatly beneficial to my writing and my teaching of writing in the future. I foresee myself being much more cognizant of the punctuation style of writers that I admire in order to attempt and internalize the effectiveness of punctuation. After viewing the examples and considering their alternatives, I want to be more purposeful in my punctuation usage because I feel it will make me a more sophisticated writer and teacher.