Is there a punctuation specialist in the house?

Gehanna,

Can I get in on those lessons? I'm pretty good at spelling but sometimes I really wonder about my punctuation.

Hope there's help for us
Chacounne

You both should go out and buy Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. It's hilarious, dangerously popular, and very thorough.

It should have most of what you need to know.

Actually, you should keep in mind that Eats, Shoots & Leaves is all about British grammar and punctuation; if you're American, some of the rules will be incorrect.

I'm a huge fan of the Gregg Reference Manual, which I find to be written in, pardon me, plain English, with plenty of examples to back up the rules.

For a more, er, Goth approach to punctuation, you could try Karen Elizabeth Gordon's The Well-Tempered Sentence.

If you have specific questions, I'd be really happy to help. I'm a copy chief by day.

Gehanna, when you find that sentence, post away! Either here or PM. Happy to help!

(Say, wasn't this a song by Culture Club back in the 1980s? "Comma Commelion"?)



(And this is why I can't quit my day job. The jokes just don't get any better than that.)

Punctuation

When I asked the same question in a writer's group a few years ago, I had several published freelance writers and novelists tell me to get a copy of Strunk and White The Elements of Style.

It's inexpensive-five or six dollars-and less than a hundred pages.

Hope this helps,

Sonya

What does any of this have to do with mentoring?

Perhaps a Mod can move your original post to a more appropriate section.

Gehanna said:

Hahaha!!!

Ok here are the two final sentences from one of my articles:

"In addition to teaching emotional intelligence, as it relates to self awareness, instruction on positive regard and acknowledgment of others must be included. After all, what good is self without others?"

My questions are:
Is the punctuation correct?
Is it tacky to start a sentence with the words "After all" ?
Do you have any general suggestions?

Sincerely,
Gehanna

Click to expand...

Actually, I think the "After all" sentence is quite clever. And there's no reason why you should not begin the sentence that way. As for the previous sentence, I tightened it a bit.

"Along with emotional intelligence as it relates to self-awareness, positive regard for and acknowledgment of others must be taught. After all, what good is self without others?"

Does this work for you? If you have questions, please ask. (I started writing a lengthy explanation, but I thought that might be overkill.)

! one link every writer should have bookmarked !

http://bartleby.com/

spend some time there and you'll be amazed. but for now, here's page one of the elements of style.

http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk1.html

seriously, spend some time at this site.

seriously.























i'm serious.

better yet, the contents (linked) of EoS

http://www.bartleby.com/141/

Gehanna,

Since your question has generated quite a few replies here, I'm going to keep this thread as is in the mentoring forum, especially since you requested help from one individual.

However, if you feel you aren't getting the response you would like, I'll see what I can do about switching this thread onto another board.

- Katie

BTW, the Chicago Manual of Style may help you as well. There are quite a few AW members who are knowledgable in grammar. I'll see if I can't steer a couple this way to give you some more suggestions.

Hermit, she's asking to be mentored about punctuation issues. What do you find wrong with that?

Strunk and White is very helpful, and so is Chicago manual.

However, both of them are style guides; that is, they are a vastly reduced subset of grammar and usage, and are designed to emphasize particular choices among several correct possible choices.

Get an undergraduate grammar and usage manual--I'm fond of those by Diana Hacker, but there are lots to choose from, and they're all pretty much the same in terms of contents. They differ in terms of presentation, and structure. They're actually very useful, designed to be easy to navigate and find answers to questions that occur in medias res, so to speak. Any community college will likely have several associated with English composition classes, and you can a used copy--or just go to Amazon or your local bookstore.

Personally, I've never taken a shine to S&W's Elements of Style. And while the Chicago Manual of Style is the bible of publishing, it may not be the best source for someone looking for a tutorial. I still recommend Gregg Reference Manual first and foremost. Anyway, I'm glad my edit worked for you.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Truss actually discusses British, American and Canadian punctuation. I recommend it for everyone, even those whose use of punctuation is perfect.

I'm pretty good with punctuation (all three styles), though I sometimes abuse commas. I occasionally work as a proofreader, so if you'd like me to take a look at your story, I'd be glad to give you some feedback.

Semi-colons are my specialty. How weird would that sentence sound to anyone other than a writer?

firehorse said:

Semi-colons are my specialty. How weird would that sentence sound to anyone other than a writer?

Click to expand...

Better than saying you are spastic for colons...

firehorse said:

Truss actually discusses British, American and Canadian punctuation. I recommend it for everyone, even those whose use of punctuation is perfect.

Click to expand...

Apologies -- I should have said that Truss is a UK author, and thus, UK punctuation is to be expected throughout. The preface makes this very, very clear. It's a fun book, I'll give you that, and worth the read. But I still don't think it's a good primer for American grammar. My humble opinion, of course--like I mentioned previously, I also can't stand Elements of Style, so I probably have to hand in my card to the union and shut the door behind me...

Here's the link for Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I stumbled upon it a couple of weeks ago. There's a nice little punctuation game to play.

Medievalist's right about the Chicago Manual being publishing-based. However, there is a chapter devoted to punctuation and grammar, which may be useful to look over (say, in the library or your bookstore) to get your brain working in that direction again before you hit into the more complex how-to's.

I have to echo William on Barteby's. I haven't found a better reference.

Gehanna,

There have been some great answers here. I have one more suggestion for you.

There is a soft cover book entitled, The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. The Mysteries of Grammar and Punctuation Revealed, by Jane Straus.

Here's the link to the website where you can read about the book and a link to purchase if you're interested.
http://www.grammarbook.com/

It's a wonderful handy tool to keep in your reference books. It's one of many I have handy when my brain goes into the "dead zone."

Good luck.
Joanne

Outstanding resource!

I have no desire to downplay Strunk and White--a wonderful, classic source of information on English--but we thoroughly modern English teacher types are totally enamored of Hodges' Harbrace Handbook. The fifteenth edition was released last year. It's not cheap--I believe I paid about $60 for my copy, and that was through a school catalog using a fake purchase order--but worth the price. You'll find the answers to all your punctuation and other grammatical issues in 876 pages miraculously sandwiched between its tiny brown covers. In keeping with the high-tech tenor of our times, he new edition has added goodies like "The Truth About Spell Checkers" and "Citing Internet Sources" using MLA format.

You can visit the web site at http://www.harbrace.com.

I'm a volunteer "X-pert" (that's someone who thinks they once knew everything, if only they could remember some of it) on a couple of Q&A websites, and I don't know what I'd do without the Handbook to keep me from having to make up stuff to keep those pleading non-native speakers happy.

Meanwhile, I'm a red-pen carrying member of the Grammar Police, so I'll be happy to answer punctuation or other grammar questions any time.

Joanne