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Rather than thinking of a punctuation as a series of random codes with arbitrary and usually frustra

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Title: Rather than thinking of a punctuation as a series of random codes with arbitrary and usually frustra


1
All punctuation separates for a
reason. Punctuation tells readers how to read by
indicating points of separation and
emphasis.
Rather than thinking of a punctuation as a series
of random codes with arbitrary (and usually
frustratingly inconsistent) meanings, it is
helpful to see punctuation as a system of
markings that provides different degrees of
separation and emphasis. This self-guided
tutorial is designed to help explain the concept
of punctuation as a hierarchical system and
provide examples of how writers can raise and
lower punctuation levels to send signals to their
readers. You may navigate through the tutorial
simply by clicking different parts of the table.
View the Hierarchy
SOURCES
2
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
3
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
4
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
5
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
6
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
7
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
8
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
9
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
10
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
11
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
12
Hierarchy of Punctuation
Click on sections of the table for further
explanation and examples
13
Hierarchy of Paired Punctuation
If the word or words in question make up a
sentence interrupter, you must use paired marks.
You can choose from commas, parentheses, or
dashes. They too form a hierarchy, based on how
much they emphasize the interrupter and separate
it from the sentence.
BACK
14
Hierarchy of Paired Punctuation
If the word or words in question make up a
sentence interrupter, you must use paired marks.
You can choose from commas, parentheses, or
dashes. They too form a hierarchy, based on how
much they emphasize the interrupter and separate
it from the sentence.
In Graven Images, Bellow discusses the tension
between the perception and reality of photography
as a medium for communicating neutral and
apolitical truths. His two interrupters add
crucial meaning to his argument. The first is
important in establishing Bellows objectivity.
He calls extra attention to the fact that his
admiration for excellent photographers is
ongoing, thus positioning himself as a fair,
moderate critic of photography. In the second
interrupter, he emphasizes the phrase or long,
adding extra power to an idea of crucial
importance to his argument the human longing,
which is different from mere hoping, to
experience and understand reality. In both cases,
the use of paired dashes calls attention to
phrases whose importance could be missed if the
level of separation and emphasis were lowered.
BACK
15
Hierarchy of Paired Punctuation
If the word or words in question make up a
sentence interrupter, you must use paired marks.
You can choose from commas, parentheses, or
dashes. They too form a hierarchy, based on how
much they emphasize the interrupter and separate
it from the sentence.
Later Early will return to and further develop
the ideas of the Miss America pageant as a
created cultural commodity and as a rite of
passage, but for now he is mainly focused on the
reactions of his wife and daughters to its
ritualistic femininity. This is probably why he
chooses to include the aside in the interrupter
(planting seeds of ideas he will return to later)
but keep the level of emphasis neutral.
Parentheses are ideal for this scenario. Had he
used dashes, Earlys readers would see the
interrupter as very important, and expect that he
would pick up one of these ideas (the pageants
relationship to football or fall, or its
commercial origins) in the next sentence. Had he
used commas, the extra information would become
confusingly convoluted with the main body of the
sentence. It would be difficult to identify as
extra, but not immediately applicable,
information. Parentheses provide a compromise
between these two extremes.
BACK
16
Hierarchy of Paired Punctuation
If the word or words in question make up a
sentence interrupter, you must use paired marks.
You can choose from commas, parentheses, or
dashes. They too form a hierarchy, based on how
much they emphasize the interrupter and separate
it from the sentence.
Here Carson includes two interrupters. In the
first, she allows her readers to see with her by
sketching the landscapes images. In the second
she helps to clarify her thoughts with a bit of
extra explanation. Both interrupters blend
seamlessly, and appropriately, into the ideas of
the sentence, without undue emphasis over or
separation from them. Additionally, the smooth
alternations between the main body and
interrupters gives this sentence a gentle
rhythmic pulse that mimics the tides she
discusses Carsons use of hierarchically low
commas, then, has an interesting artistic, as
well as practical, function.
looking back across that immense flat crossed by
winding, water-filled gullies and here and there
holding shallow pools of left by the tide I was
filled with awareness that this intertidal area
although abandoned briefly and rhythmically by
the sea is always reclaimed by the rising tide
BACK
17
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
18
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
19
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
20
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
21
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
22
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
23
Degree of Separation and Emphasis
Heres a trick Type man is the only creature
that blushes into an internet search engine, and
you will find numerous references to a famous
Mark Twain quote. You will also find that the
punctuation varies. Ignoring, or unaware of, how
Twain punctuated this quip, quoters seem to do
whatever they want. Consider the following
Twain provides a particularly good demonstration
of how the hierarchy attempts to conceptualize
the subtlety of punctuation. None of these
options is right or wrong. They are simply
different. You are able to choose which degree
of separation and emphasis is most appropriate
for the rhetorical situationthe subject,
audience, and purposeof your writing.
BACK
24
Section Break
  • Time
  • Place
  • Narrative voice
  • Content
  • Focus
  • Purpose

BACK
25
Section Break
Thereafter Stickeen was a changed dog. During the
rest of the trip, instead of holding aloof, he
always lay by my side, tried to keep me
constantly in sight, and would hardly accept a
morsel of food, however tempting, from any hand
but mine. At night, when all was quiet about the
camp-fire, he would come to me and rest his head
on my knee with a look of devotion as if I were
his god. And often as he caught my eye he seemed
to be trying to say, Wasnt that an awful time
we had together on the glacier? Nothing in
after years has dimmed that Alaska storm-day. As
I write it all comes rushing and roaring to mind
as if I were again in the heart of it. Again I
see the gray flying clouds with their rain-floods
and snow, the ice-cliffs towering above the
shrinking forest, the majestic ice-cascade, the
vast glacier outspread before its white mountain
fountains, and in the heart of it the tremendous
crevasseemblem of the valley of the shadow of
deathlow clouds trailing over it, the snow
falling into it and on its brink I see little
Stickeen, and I hear his cries for help and his
shouts of joy. (John Muir, Stickeen) Muirs
section break emphasizes several changes. The
most obvious is the new time and place years
have passed, and he is no longer in the Alaskan
wilderness. But these are related to a more
significant shift he has moved from a narrative
focus to a reflective one. Finished with his
story, he pauses to ponder its larger
significance.
  • Time
  • Place
  • Narrative voice
  • Content
  • Focus
  • Purpose

BACK
26
Section Break
I buy Vermont Avenue for 100. My opponent is a
tall shadowy figure, across from me, but I know
him well, and I know his game like a favorite
tune. If he can, he will always go for the quick
kill. And when it is foolish to go for the quick
kill he will be foolish. On the whole, though, he
is a master assessor of percentages. It is a
mistake to underestimate him. His eleven carries
his top hat to St. Charles Place, which he buys
for 140. The sidewalks of St. Charles Place
have been cracked to shards by through-growing
weeds. There are no buildings. Mansions, hotels
once stood here. A few street lamps now drop
cones of light on broken glass and vacant space
behind a chain-link fence that some great machine
has in places bent to the ground. Five plane
treesin full summer leaf, flecking the lightare
all that live on St. Charles Place. (John McPhee,
The Search for Marvin Gardens) In this essay,
McPhees section breaks emphasize his narrative
structure, which shifts back and forth between
his descriptions of one particular game of
monopoly and his exploration of corresponding
real-life points in Atlantic City, on which the
monopoly board is based. The section breaks
signal these changes to the reader by making a
distinction between normal paragraph breaks
within passages and the movement between the two
distinct narrative contexts.
  • Time
  • Place
  • Narrative voice
  • Content
  • Focus
  • Purpose

BACK
27
Section Break
The clowns glance was like the glance of
Rembrandt in some of the self-portraits lively,
knowing, deep, and loving. The crinkled shadows
around his eyes were string beans. His eyebrows
were parsley. Each of his ears was a broad bean.
His thin, joyful lips were red chili peppers
between his lips were wet rows of human teeth and
a suggestion of a real tongue. The clown print
was framed in gilt and glassed. To put ourselves
in the path of the total eclipse, that day we had
driven five hours inland from the Washington
coast, where we lived. When we tried to cross
the Cascades range, an avalanche had blacked the
pass. A slopes worth of snow blocked the
road traffic backed up. Had the avalanche
buried any cars that morning? We could not learn.
The highway was the only winter road over the
mountains. (Annie Dillard, Total
Eclipse) Dillard makes liberal use of section
breaks, a technique that mirrors her somewhat
fragmented, collage-like writing style. The
section breaks signal that a particular thought,
image, or event is complete (at least for now)
and that she intends to move on to something new.
The added separation provided by the section
breaks helps her readers navigate her dense,
interwoven ideas.
  • Time
  • Place
  • Narrative voice
  • Content
  • Focus
  • Purpose

BACK
28
Paragraph
BACK
29
Paragraph
We lived in the very heart of the local Black
Belt. There were black churches and black
preachers, there were black schools and black
teachers black groceries and black clerks. In
fact, everything was so solidly black that for a
long time I did not even think of white folks,
save in remote and vague terms. But this could
not last forever. As one grows older one eats
more. Ones clothing costs more. When I finished
grammar school I had to go to work. My mother
could no longer feed and clothe me on her cooking
job. There is but one place where a black
boy who knows no trade can get a job, and thats
where the houses and faces are white, where the
trees, lawns, and hedges are green. My first job
was with an optical company in Jackson,
Mississippi. The morning I applied I stood
straight and neat before the boss, answering all
his questions with sharp yessirs and nosirs. I
was very careful to pronounce my sirs distinctly,
in order that he might know that I was polite,
that I knew where I was, and that I knew he was a
white man. I wanted that job badly. (Richard
Wright, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow) Wright
uses the paragraph break to move his narrative
one step forward. The change of focus and mood
from reflection to action makes the separation of
a paragraph appropriate. The two sections are
solidly linked, however, by the strong
transitional sentences that end the first and
begin the second paragraph.
BACK
30
Paragraph
We are told that the trouble with Modern Man is
that he has been trying to detach himself from
nature. He sits in the topmost tiers of polymer,
glass, and steel, dangling his pulsing legs,
surveying at a distance the writhing life of the
planet. In this scenario, Man comes on as a
stupendous lethal force, and the earth is
pictured as something delicate, like rising
bubbles at the surface of a country pond, or
flights of fragile birds. But it is illusion
to think that there is anything fragile about the
life of the earth surely this is the toughest
membrane imaginable in the universe, opaque to
probability, impermeable to death. We are the
delicate part, transient and vulnerable as cilia.
Nor is it a new thing for man to invent an
existence that he imagines to be above the rest
of life this has been his most consistent
intellectual exertion down the millennia. As
illusion, it has never worked out to his
satisfaction in the past, any more than it does
today. Man is embedded in nature. (Lewis Thomas,
The Lives of a Cell) Here Thomas organizes
complex ideas into elegant, balanced paragraphs.
The first is devoted to description of a popular
perception, and the second offers Thomass
correction of the belief. The break keeps these
ideas separate, while the first word of the
second section (the coordinating conjunction
but) gives the reader a general sense of what
Thomas will do even before he does it.
BACK
31
Paragraph
Trying to cling to something, I liked doctors and
girl children up to the age of about thirteen and
well-brought-up boy children from about eight
years old on. I could have peace and happiness
with these few categories of people. I forgot to
add that I liked old menmen over seventy,
sometimes over sixty if their faces looked
seasoned. I liked Katherine Hepburns face on the
screen, no matter what was said about her
pretentiousness, and Miriam Hopkins face, and
old friends if I only saw them once a year and
could remember their ghosts. All rather
inhuman and undernourished, isnt it? Well, that,
children, is the true sign of cracking up.
It is not a pretty picture. Inevitably it was
carted here and there within its frame and
exposed to various critics. One of them can only
be described as a person whose life makes other
peoples lives seem like deatheven this time
when she was cast in the usually unappealing role
of Jobs comforter. (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The
Crack-Up) Fitzgeralds form matches his
subject in this piece. The disjointed, manic
quality of the paragraph breaks reflects the
process of cracking up that he describes. In
this passage, the breaks place a particularly
strong accent on the short middle paragraph. This
pair of sentences is already unusual in its
conversational tone, implied distance, and direct
address to the audience. Its isolation adds even
more emphasis.
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32
. ! ? Terminal ? ! .
BACK
33
. ! ? Terminal ? ! .
Just as the first mystery was how a poem could
have a tune in such a straightness of meter, so
the second mystery is how a poem can have
wildness and at the same time a subject that
shall be fulfilled. It should be the pleasure of
a poem itself to tell how it can. The figure a
poem makes. It begins in delight and ends in
wisdom. (Robert Frost, The Figure a Poem
Makes) One rhetorical strategy clearly evident
in this passage is the use of sentence variety.
The first three sentences get progressively
shorter, moving from the elegant parallel
structure of the long first sentence to the brief
fragment that is the third. This third sentence
is particularly notable because Frosts use of
terminal punctuation is, according to traditional
rules, a mistake. Considered in terms of the
hierarchy and rhetorical situation, however, this
choice makes sense. The use of an
unconventionally high level of punctuation gives
this phrasethe key idea of the essaya sense of
separation and emphasis that would otherwise be
missing. Frost also tickles his readers
expectations. Because we have the expectation
that sentences will do more than this one has, we
read eagerly ahead, seeking a clearer sense of
what the writer means.
BACK
34
. ! ? Terminal ? ! .
Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it
does not make me angry. It merely astonishes me.
How can any deny themselves the pleasure of my
company! Its beyond me. (Zora Neale Hurston,
How It Feels to Be Colored Me) Here Hurston
uses simple, accessible language and structure to
make her point with power, clarity, and humor.
Each sentence builds on and responds to the ideas
of the previous, and at the same time is neatly
self contained. Hurston could have easily
combined all of these ideas into a single,
moderately long sentence, but instead she
structures this short paragraph as a series of
crisp, punchy statements, taking advantage of the
high level of emphasis provided by terminal
punctuation. Notice too the use of the
exclamation point at the end of the question in
the third sentence. Rather than using the
traditional terminal punctuation (a question
mark), Hurston heightens the liveliness of the
sentence still further with the exclamation point.
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35
. ! ? Terminal ? ! .
Poetry is cathartic only for the unserious, for
in front of the rush of expressive need stands
the barrier of form, and when the hurdlers
scissored legs and outstretched arms carry him
over the bars, the limp in his life, the headache
in his heart, the emptiness hes full of, are as
absent as his street shoes, which will pinch and
scrape his feet in all the old leathery ways once
the race is over and he has to walk through the
front door of his future like a brushman with
some feckless patter and a chintzy plastic prize.
(William H. Gass, The Doomed in Their
Sinking) Demonstrating a striking mastery of
organization, Gass punctuates this remarkably
long yet readable sentence with only a few
commas. It is the absence of terminal punctuation
in this passage, then, that makes it particularly
notable. Unlike Hurston, who in Example 2 breaks
a long idea into short, forceful chunks, Gass
develops the extended metaphor of the athlete and
the poet within a single sentence, lending it a
sense of unified elegance that creates an
interesting contrast with the vivid, visceral
images and textures it contains. Though the basic
ideas might remain, this overall sense of unity
would certainly be diminished if separation were
added in the form of additional terminal
punctuation.
BACK
36
Semicolon
BACK
37
Semicolon
In none of these people have I discerned what I
would call a neurosis, an exaggerated fear I
have discerned only a natural caution in a world
made up of gadgets that whir and whine and shriek
and sometimes explode. (James Thurber, Sex Ex
Machina) Thurbers use of the semi-colon is
textbook he joins a pair of independent clauses.
The first expresses an idea in fairly simple
terms, and the second offers further refinement
of the idea. This usage is also in keeping with
the question-answer relationship. Though the
first phrase is not a direct question, it does
pose an idea that is answered in the second
half I dont think this I do think this.
Consider the alternatives. Thurber could have
raised the level of separation with a period, or
he could have lowered it with a comma plus the
coordinating conjunction but. The semi-colon
provides a very effective middle ground.
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38
Semicolon
I felt betrayed when, in some tumble of touch
football twenty years ago, I heard my tibia snap
and when, between two reading engagements in
Cleveland, my appendix tried to burst and when,
the other day, not for the first time, there
arose to my nostrils out of my own body the musty
attic smell my grandfathers body had. (John
Updike, The Disposable Rocket) Updike connects
a series of independent clauses with semi-colons
in this sentence. Interestingly, he also uses
the coordinating conjunction and after each
semi-colon, a bit of an unusual move, since
coordinating conjunctions like and are
typically paired with commas, not higher-level
punctuation. Consider the independent clauses he
connects, however. Each is complex, and contains
a subordinated element that is set aside by
commas (in some tumble match of touch football
twenty years ago, between two reading
engagements in Cleveland, and not for the
first time). If the clauses were separated by
serial commas, the reader could find it difficult
to distinguish between these and the
subordinating commas and become confused about
where items in this complex list begin and end.
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39
Semicolon
The androgyne is certainly one of the great
images of Camp sensibility. Examples the
swooning, slim, sinuous figures of pre-Raphaelite
painting and poetry the thin, flowing, sexless
bodies in Art Nouveau prints and posters,
presented in relief on lamps and ashtrays the
haunting androgynous vacancy behind the perfect
beauty of Greta Garbo. (Susan Sontag, Notes on
Camp) As in Example 2, the semi-colons here
are used to separate elements (and thus improve
readability) of a series of items containing
commas. Unlike the previous example, however,
each item is not an independent clause. The
placement of the semi-colon between items in a
complex list is the one instance in which it may
separate phrases that are not independent
clauses. Note that Sontag breaks a rule by
failing to have an independent clause before the
colon. In the context of this informal essay,
which is structured as a long list, Sontag uses
multiple sentences like the one above. After
showing her mastery of this complex list
structure in many other instances, she is
arguably within her rhetorical rights to
abbreviate it here.
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40
Colon
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41
Colon
The illustrations were right down my alley a
heroine so poor she was ragged, a witch with an
extremely pointed hat, a rich, crusty old
gentleman inbetter than a wheelchaira runaway
carriage and I set to. (Eudora Welty, A Sweet
Devouring) Here, Welty uses the classic list
introduction function of the colon. Positioned
after the introductory clause, (The
illustrations were right up my alley) it
indicates to the reader that some kind of
clarification is coming. A list of descriptions
follows, making this sentence a good example of
the general to specific relationship the colon
often highlights. Throughout the sentence,
Welty uses careful punctuation to send signals to
her readers. The use of the colon calls attention
to the descriptions of illustrations by both
preparing the reader for them and separating them
from the rest of the sentence. The lack of and
before the final item in the list (the rich,
crusty old gentleman) implies that the list
could go on. Welty also makes interesting use of
dashes and the semicolon. Consider the effect of
the succinct and I set to following the lengthy
list.
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42
Colon
I recall looking at a house around the corner
with a rental sign on it this house had once
been the Canadian consulate, had 28 large rooms
and two refrigerated fur closets, and could be
rented, in the spirit of the neighborhood, only
on a month-to-month basis, unfurnished. (Joan
Didion, The White Album) Didion uses the
colon to introduce a list of specific details
about the house she alludes to in the
introductory clause. Her usage is somewhat
unusual, however, as the list that follows is
another complete independent clause. Didion could
have easily and correctly replaced the colon with
a period, and made the list into its own
sentence. The context of this sentence may
offer some insight into the reasoning behind
Didions punctuation. The sentence appears in a
paragraph where she is focused primarily on
describing the fragile, decadent decrepitude of
the neighborhood. This particular house is just
one example of the strange atmosphere. By
lowering the punctuation from a period to a
colon, Didion keeps the example within a single
sentence and avoids potentially signaling that
the house is going to be the focus of attention.
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43
Colon
From this, it would seem, followed the querulous
obstinacy with which the anti-Semite clung to his
concept to be deprived of this intellectual tool
by missionaries of tolerance would be, for
persons like the colonel, the equivalent of
Western mans losing the syllogism a lapse into
animal darkness. (Mary McCarthy, Artists in
Uniform) Though the colon often consists of a
brief general statement followed by more detailed
and specific explanation, it may also serve the
opposite function summing things up. McCarthy
offers an analysis of the twisted reasoning
behind anti-Semitism that includes a complex
comparison (Western mans losing the
syllogism). She punctuates this more detailed
explanation with a concise summary (a lapse into
animal darkness). Thinking in terms of
hierarchical punctuation options, McCarthys use
of the colon makes sense. The punctuation could
be lowered to a comma, but this would also reduce
the emphasis that the colon places on the final
phrase. A dash would also work well here, a
reminder that sometimes punctuation is as much
about personal stylistic choices as rules or
correctness.
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44
Dash
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45
Dash
The peculiar, dank smell of wood rot and mildew,
in one of the houses I most recall that had
partly burned down, the smell of smoke and
scorch, in early summer pervading even the lyric
smell of honeysucklethese haunting smells,
never, at the time of experiencing, given
specific sources, names. (Joyce Carol Oates,
They All Just Went Away) In this essay, Oates
punctuation is somewhat unconventional. She
frequently uses sentence fragments like the one
above and other technically questionable devices
in rendering this highly atmospheric portrait of
childhood experience. This sentence is a good
example of tone overriding technical usage. The
dash divides it into two parts, but neither is a
complete sentence. The first part provides vivid
and specific sensory details the second sums up
her general perception of these details. The
dash, then, sets aside additional information,
even though the context is a sentence fragment.
Note, too, that the focus shifts from specific to
general, a relationship that the dash often
highlights. Finally, Oates frequent and diverse
of use of dashes, a casual and flexible piece of
punctuation, fits with the general tone of the
essay.
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46
Dash
There were also the high, nasal notes of
middle-class American speechwhich I rarely am
conscious of hearing today because I hear them so
often, but could not stop hearing when I was a
boy. (Richard Rodriguez, Aria A Memoir of a
Bilingual Childhood) Rodriguezs use of the
dash is hierarchically interesting in this
sentence because it so clearly represents a
decision to move up the scale, raising the level
of separation and emphasis. A comma would be a
more conventional choice. Consider, though,
how the words after the dash (particularly the
phrase which I rarely am conscious of hearing
today . . .) are given more emphasis than they
would have if the parts had been smoothly and
quietly joined by a comma. Using a dash to catch
his readers eye, Rodriguez subtly calls attention
to his adult perceptionreminding his readers
that this essay is about the contrast between
shifting perspectives (like the adult/child
perspectives he alludes to here). Were he to
have used a comma, this sentence would have
seemed weighted toward the childs perspective
rather than shared equally between child and
adult.
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47
Dash
He had been born in New Orleans and had been a
quite young man there during the time that Louis
Armstrong, a boy, was running errands for the
dives and honky-tonks of what was always
presented to me as one of the most wicked of
citiesto this day, whenever I think of New
Orleans, I also helplessly think of Sodom and
Gomorrah. (James Baldwin, Notes of a Native
Son) Here Baldwin places a dash between
independent clauses, a more unconventional usage.
Either a period could correctly separate the two
completely, or a semi-colon could correctly join
them, maintaining a close connection but adding a
degree of separation that the dash erases.
Consider what he accomplishes by using the
dash, however. The intensity and irony of the
last sentence are enhanced by the punchline
effect of the dash in a way that would be less
dramatic with a higher level of separation. There
are also many ideas in the sentenceBaldwins
father, Louis Armstrong, the cityand a reader
might expect a semi-colon to introduce a thought
that covers them all. The dash seems to join what
follows more directly to the one idea that
immediately precedes itnamely, New Orleans as a
wicked city.
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48
, Comma ,
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49
, Comma ,
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50
Pause Technique
At some point, most people are told that it is a
good idea to put commas where you naturally pause
when reading a sentence aloud. This is
well-intentioned but problematic advice because
it is based on the dubious assumption that our
speaking conventions follow punctuation rules.
Most of us ignore many basic grammatical rules
when we are speaking (things that we can actually
hear and evaluate), and punctuation disappears
entirely in speech. Nobody says Hi comma Bob
period. But the pause rule is useful in the
sense that it gets the writer thinking about
where separation and emphasis should occur in a
sentence. So is there any way to salvage this old
trick? The answer is yes. It takes some time and
attention, however. To make the pause strategy
more effective, try it like this
For instance, one common point of comma confusion
is whether commas are placed before or after
coordinating conjunctions (for, and, nor, but,
or, yet, so). Try reading this sentence aloud
with an exaggerated pause in both places I
love eating bananas but (pause) I hate slipping
on the peels. I love eating bananas (pause) but
I hate slipping on the peels. Commas are placed
before coordinating conjunctions. The second
example should sound more natural.
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51
Avoid separating the subject and predicate with a
comma.
Complete sentences all have a subject (the noun
or noun phrase that functions as the sentence
topic) and predicate (the comment made about the
subject). It is almost always a bad idea to break
up these main sentence parts with a comma. In
simple sentences, this principle is obvious and
visible. Consider the following
The elevator operator chuckled. versus The
elevator operator, chuckled.
Not only does the second sentence look odd, the
problem of too much separation is obvious. It
makes no sense to separate the subject (The
elevator operator) from the action he performed
(chuckled). But we usually write in much
longer and more complex sentences, and that is
where things get trickier. Often writers suspect
that there is a kind of quota system for commas,
and are nervous about a long string of
unpunctuated text, like this one
The burly man selling soaps and powders outside
of city hall offered me a coupon for a
complimentary shampoo and styling at Harrys
Famous Original Uptown Barbershop.
Writers might be inclined to punctuate this
sentence in a couple of ways.
Example 1
Example 2
Thinking hierarchicallyi.e. considering whether
it makes sense to include the separation and
emphasis added by even the lowly commacan help
writers to avoid the common problem of comma
overuse.
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52
Avoid separating the subject and predicate with a
comma.
Complete sentences all have a subject (the noun
or noun phrase that functions as the sentence
topic) and predicate (the comment made about the
subject). It is almost always a bad idea to break
up these main sentence parts with a comma. In
simple sentences, this principal obvious and
visible. Consider the following
The elevator operator chuckled. versus The
elevator operator, chuckled.
Not only does the second sentence look odd, the
problem of too much separation is obvious. It
makes no sense to separate the subject (The
elevator operator) from the action he performed
(chuckled). But we usually write in much
longer and more complex sentences, and that is
where things get trickier. Often writers suspect
that there is a kind of quota system for commas,
and are nervous about a long string of
unpunctuated text, like this one
The burly man selling soaps and powders outside
of city hall offered me a coupon for a
complimentary shampoo and styling at Harrys
Famous Original Uptown Barbershop.
The burly man selling soaps and powders outside
of city hall, offered me a coupon for a
complimentary shampoo and styling at Harrys
Famous Original Uptown Barbershop.
Here the subject (The burly man selling soaps
and powders outside of city hall) has been
separated from the predicate (offered me a
coupon for a complimentary shampoo and styling at
Harrys Famous Original Uptown Barbershop). The
separation is inappropriate. The comma, then,
should be removed.
Example 1
Example 2
Thinking hierarchicallyi.e. considering whether
it makes sense to include the separation and
emphasis added by even the lowly commacan help
writers to avoid the common problem of comma
overuse.
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53
Avoid separating the subject and predicate with a
comma.
Complete sentences all have a subject (the noun
or noun phrase that functions as the sentence
topic) and predicate (the comment made about the
subject). It is almost always a bad idea to break
up these main sentence parts with a comma. In
simple sentences, this principal obvious and
visible. Consider the following
The elevator operator chuckled. versus The
elevator operator, chuckled.
Not only does the second sentence look odd, the
problem of too much separation is obvious. It
makes no sense to separate the subject (The
elevator operator) from the action he performed
(chuckled). But we usually write in much
longer and more complex sentences, and that is
where things get trickier. Often writers suspect
that there is a kind of quota system for commas,
and are nervous about a long string of
unpunctuated text, like this one
The burly man selling soaps and powders outside
of city hall offered me a coupon for a
complimentary shampoo and styling at Harrys
Famous Original Uptown Barbershop.
This punctuation is tempting, because the stuff
in front of the comma forms a complete thought.
But what about the stuff after? The lengthy
phrase that follows is connected to the word
coupon. It is fairly obvious why you wouldnt
punctuate a shorter phrase this way (something
like a coupon, for a toothbrush). This string
of words may be longer, but the principal is the
same. No comma is necessary.
The burly man selling soaps and powders outside
of city hall offered me a coupon, for a
complimentary shampoo and styling at Harrys
Famous Original Uptown Barbershop.
Example 1
Example 2
Thinking hierarchicallyi.e. considering whether
it makes sense to include the separation and
emphasis added by even the lowly commacan help
writers to avoid the common problem of comma
overuse.
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54
If you add extra phrases to the main sentence
body, signal that they are separate with commas
(unless context makes raising the punctuation
level desirable).
The flip side of the principle of keeping the
subject and predicate together is the idea that
if additional information or modifying phrases
are added to the sentence, the writer should
indicate that they are separate from the main
sentence body with commas (or, if appropriate,
higher-level punctuation). Consider this simple
sentence
In each case, the commas act as boundaries,
marking the main sentence body off for the
reader.
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55
Avoid joining independent clauses with a comma
(the dreaded comma splice).
Conventional punctuation rules require that two
or more independent clauses (complete sentences
consisting of a subject and predicate) be
connected by more than a comma. Unlike
punctuation higher up in the hierarchy, commas
alone arent strong enough to connect complete
sentences. Take, for instance, this example we
looked at before
Turn comma splices into acceptable compound
sentences by replacing the comma with
higher-level punctuation or by adding a
coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or,
yet, so) after the commai.e. Amoebas require
little to no maintenance, so they make excellent
companions for busy professionals.
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56
, Comma ,
She took such a feverish interest in the Devil
Baby that when I was obliged to disillusion her,
I found it hard to take away her comfort in the
belief that the Powers that Be are on the side of
the woman, when her husband resents too many
daughters. (Jane Addams, The Devil Baby at
Hull-House) Addams makes classic use of the
commas ability to define the boundaries between
the main body of a sentence and the extra,
modifying phrases that can be added. The main
body appears in the middle of the sentence, where
both the subject (I) and the predicate (found
it hard to take away her comfort in the belief
that the Powers that Be are on the side of the
woman) are immediately joined with no
punctuation between. But Addams fleshes out the
idea with a couple of extra phrases, one at the
beginning and one at the end, that modify and add
information to this main sentence body. Her use
of commas to separate these extra bits from the
main idea help the reader to identify, and thus
comprehend, the main idea of what would otherwise
be a very confusing series of clauses.
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57
, Comma ,
A few weeks ago this feeling got so strong I
bought myself a couple of bass hooks and a
spinner and returned to the lake where we used to
go, for a weeks fishing and to revisit old
haunts. (E.B. White, Once More to the Lake)
This sentence provides a good example of how
using commas to distinguish additional
information from the main sentence body can be
vital for clarity. Consider what would happen to
the last phrase if the comma were removed . . .
the lake where we used to go for a weeks fishing
and to revisit old haunts. Coming right after
where we used to go, the phrase for a weeks
fishing etc. is quite confusing. Is White saying
they used to go there for a week, etc, or he
went, a few weeks ago, for a week, etc.? By
adding the comma, White eliminates what could
otherwise be a confusing hitch in his prose.
Because the for a week phrase is separated from
where we used to go by a comma, it is more
obvious that this last phrase refers to White
himself, and his recent return to the lake,
rather than the purpose of trips made in the
distant past.
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58
, Comma ,
My fathers quiet eyes are water-color blue, he
wears his small skeptical quiet smile and
receives the neighborhoods life-secrets.
(Cynthia Ozick, A Drugstore in Winter) Red
Alert! In this sentence, Ozick departs from
conventional punctuation rules and places a comma
between two independent clauses. Certainly Ozick,
a professional writer, knows this is a comma
splice. We are left to consider, then, why she
decided that this particular rhetorical situation
made lowering the punctuation level
appropriate. Importantly, the essays informal
tone and genre allow for flexibility, but
consider also how the sentence would change if
Ozick completely separated the two halves with a
period or replaced the comma with a semi-colon.
As it is punctuated, the image of her fathers
eyes combines with the descriptions and actions
in the second part of the sentence to create an
picture vivid in its simplicity. How much of this
delicacy would be lost with the added separation
of a higher level of punctuation? The
differences are subtle. But it is precisely the
finely nuanced quality of these possibilities
that makes them so exciting to thoughtful
writers.
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59
Zero
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60
Zero
Life would not be worth living under the tyranny
of an invader and Nathan Hale apparently hadnt
paused to wonder whether God might not have other
uses for him besides being hung. (Edward
Hoagland, Heaven and Nature) Here Hoagland
omits the comma in what would otherwise be a
standard compound sentence (two independent
clauses joined by both a comma and a coordinating
conjunction). Why would he choose to lower the
level of separation by removing the comma that
traditionally precedes the coordinating
conjunction (and)? Consider how the sentence
changes when the comma is included. Commas often
signal subordination, indicating which points act
primarily in service of others. When the comma is
present, it places more weight on the second half
of the sentence. The general comment about
tyranny seems to be acting mostly as a setup for
the specific information about Nathan Hale. The
and alone, however, serves a kind of balancing
function, signaling the equal importance of the
phrases. Writers can move down the hierarchy to
eliminate unwanted emphasis and create a sense of
equality.
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61
Zero
One of them dropped out of line and said
something to a loud, fat girl who wore a Peanuts
sweatshirt under her fatigue blouse and she
started to cry. (Michael Herr, Illumination
Rounds) Like Hoagland in Example 1, Herr
eliminates the comma before the second
independent clause (and she started to cry) of
his sentence. The result is much the same. There
is a sense of balance between the two clauses
that would otherwise be reduced. The lack of
comma also hurries the conclusion along. Rather
than lingering over she started to cry, the
reader passes over it quickly. Perhaps Herr
wanted to reduce potential melodrama, for the
image disappears into the general atmosphere
rendered by the sentence. In addition to
eliminating an expected comma, Herr adds an
unexpected one. Because loud and fat are not
coordinate adjectives (that is, they represent
different classes, or kinds, of qualities), no
comma is necessary between them. But Herr
includes it, slowing the reader down and adding
emphasis to this phrase even as he hurries and
de-emphasizes the girls crying. The resulting
sentence is balanced in an unusual and compelling
way.
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62
Zero
He understands, for example, that he is now
forty-six years old and close to becoming a
vice-president of the agency and that at this
particular age and status he now actually feels
the need to go to the kind of barbershop where
one makes an appointment and has the same barber
each time and the jowls are anointed with
tropical oils. (Tom Wolfe, Putting Daddy
On) According to conventional punctuation
rules, Wolfe should have commas between the
phrases that make up the two lists in this
sentence (the list of what his friend Parker now
understands, and the embedded list detailing the
barbershop process). As it is, all of these
phrases pile up on each other in a kind of
breathless chaos. But in the context of this
essay, the effect is ideal. Wolfe is describing
the situation of people living in what he calls
the Information Crisis. The frenetic,
overloaded feeling of the sentence is a perfect
mirror of the condition he is explaining the
absence of separation and emphasis left in the
wake of the missing commas reflects the challenge
of classifying and prioritizing the deluge of
information Wolfe describes. Zero, then, is the
perfect punctuation choice for the rhetorical
situation.
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63
Sources
The concept and design of this entire
presentation is based on former BSU Writing
Center Director Rick Leahys Word Works article
Punctuation as a System. To read the
full version of the original article, click
here. Grammatical definitions adapted from
Martha Kollns Rhetorical Grammar. All quoted
punctuation examples taken from selections
included in The Best
American Essays of the Century.
Works Cited Kolln, Martha. Rhetorical Grammar.
4th ed. New York Longman, 2003. Leahy, Rick.
Punctuation as a System. Word Works 81 (Oct.
1996) 1-4. Oates, Joyce Carol, and Robert
Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays of
the Century. New York Houghton Mifflin,
2000.
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