Punctuation, Part 2

For this post, I read more of the "punctuation" sections in Rules for Writers.


The Comma

Although I know how to use restrictive and nonrestrictive elements in a sentence, I've never knew that they had specific names. It was also interesting that "which" is used for nonessential clauses, and "that" for restrictive. Otherwise, this section didn't surprise me.

• "However, an argument based solely off of emotion is rarely effective, because readers are able to see how they are being manipulated into feeling a certain way."
• This quote from my draft correctly uses commas. The comma after the transitional expression "however" is necessary, and the comma after "effective" separates the two independent clauses.

The Apostrophe

I never learned anything from the "plural of letters" section, but I'm not sure when I would really need to know any of that. The rest of the sections were relatively common sense, but I still see people mess up "its" vs "it's" and "whose" vs "who's".

• "Regardless of her article's future impact, Samakow's use of rhetoric forms a coherent argument . . ."
• Both "article" and "Samakow" are possessive. The article possesses the future impact, and Samakow possesses her usage of rhetoric. 

Image by Graham, Sean. "Employee Must 'Wash Hands.'" Uploaded 9/5/06 via Flickr.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license. 

Quotation Marks

The section about using punctuation with quotation marks was helpful. Even though I am usually good at punctuating my quotes, I have found mistakes like these in my writing (luckily usually before anyone else sees the paper).

• "She cites, 'eighty-eight percent of those whose parents used corporal punishment, but only 69 percent of those whose parents did not, said spanking with the hand should be legal.'"
• Because I am citing my source directly, I need to use quotation marks. There is a comma before the quote to introduce it, and the period at the end of the sentence is inside the quotation marks.

Other Punctuation Marks 

The only one of the punctuation marks mentioned that I use in my writing is the ellipsis, and that is usually only when I am quoting an outside source.

• "The use of quotes like '. . .children who are hit are more likely to use the action to solve problems with their peers and siblings. Later on, they’re at a higher risk for delinquency and criminal behavior' are used to show how spanking can impair children’s development."
• I removed part of the quote, and to reflect that, I used an ellipsis. The book says not to use them before or after a quote that is part of a larger passage because readers can infer that, but I think that rule doesn't apply when part of the quote has been removed.