Punctuation, Part 2

The comma, the colon and end punctuation are the three topics I chose to explore under the Punctuation section of Rules for Writers. Each of these topics have given me grammatical hell throughout my writing career which is apparent in the examples I show below from my analysis paper.

Wentzel, Larry "Punctuation Dinosaur" 07/23/2010 via flickr.com Attribution 2.0 Generic

The Comma (292)

Obviously a comma is used to separate clauses where it could be potentially confusing for the reader. This is most necessary with the need for a comma after an introductory clause. What was new, was the need for a comma after every item in a series including before the conjunction for the last item in the series. Finally, the use of commas to denote who is the direct object or direct address of a sentence was a new use of commas that I only sort of understood before.

Example 1.

Example 2.

The Colon (319)

A colon is mostly used to show the beginning of a list after explanation of what the list is or is about in an independent clause preceding it. There are a lot of common misuses of the colon such as using a colon between a preposition or verb and its object. Finally, using a colon in between an idiom (for example, etc.) and its object is a misuse of a colon.

Example 1. 

Example 2.

End Punctuation (333)

Reading through this section I came across interesting points about how to accurately use exclamation points and question marks at the end of sentences. For instance, a question mark must be used when an actual question is asked not when one is writing about a question and an exclamation point should be used when there is actual exclamation not when simply writing about a momentous moment. Finally, a big question of mine was answered in this section. When a sentence ends in an abbreviation one should not end a second period after but that period will serve dual purposes in that sentence.

Example 1.

Example 2.