Punctuation, Part 1

In the post below I have briefly discussed what I have learned after reading three topics from the punctuation section of Rules for Writers.

The three topics I read from the Rules for Writers books were:

1. Unnecessary commas
2. The apostrophe
3. Quotation marks

Varlan, Horia. "Punctuation marks made of puzzle pieces". October 23, 2008 via flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Unnecessary Commas

One of the biggest things I took away from this section is that commas are not really prevalent in most cases. Although many of us like to put a comma before the words "but" and "and" in compound sentences most of the time they are not necessary. This is because "and" and "but" serve as a links between the two different subject verbs. The section also taught me that if the dependent clause is necessary for the understanding of a sentence no comma should be used. The meaning changes once you incorporate the comma.

The Apostrophe

Most of the content within this section was common sense, adding 's to possessive nouns and not using apostrophes in plural forms of numbers or abbreviations. The most helpful part was the clarification of when to add 's to possessive pronouns. Essentially, almost no possessive pronoun will contain an 's, although it is a very common mistake to add one because it doesn't look right without it.

Quotation Marks

Again, most of the content within this section was common sense, such as only adding quotations for direct quotes and not for paraphrases or summaries. The most helpful part of this section was the advice on quoting within a quote, and when to use single quotations or double. Also, most punctuation goes within the quotation marks unless they are semicolons or colons. 

Reflection:

While peer reviewing my classmates drafts, I noticed that there were many common errors when it came to comma placement and quotations. The book stated that commas and most punctuation typically go within quotation marks, however it was very common for us, myself included, to make the mistake of placing them outside of the quotations. For example, when Casey introduces her article she puts the comma outside of the quotation marks:

In the article "Edward Snowden: The World Says No to Surveillance", the Snowden relies heavily on his public image and ethical appeals to entice the audience to agree with his opinions.

Another common mistake made was misplacing the apostrophe in a possessive noun. In most cases, possessive pronouns are followed by an 's, but for possessive pronouns such as "its" there is no apostrophe. Mira made this mistake in her draft when introducing the topic of her article:

Pope Francis the "super-pope" has flipped the world on it's head (Turrentine p.4).