After reading the chapter title, I assumed I already knew everything the next few pages would say about punctuation. I was wrong. The section about comma use and misuse particularly caught my attention. I use commas everyday but have never stopped to think why I'm using a comma. I thought the comma rules for restrictive and nonrestrictive clauses was very interesting. If a phrase is essential to the sentence, commas are not needed around the clause. If the phrase is nonessential to the sentence, commas are needed around the clause. In junior high, I learned those rules, but that was a long time ago. This chapter was a great refresher of the punctuation rules.
Now for the editing mistake I found this week. In Sunday's edition of the Standard-Examiner, there was a section showing the winning contestants of an "Almost Newlywed Game" the paper hosted. Engaged couples sent in their engagement stories, in hopes of winning some great wedding prizes. As I was reading one of the winning stories, I noticed an editing error. The sentence read, "At this point I was so sick to my stomach with nerves that I could barely speak, so I just smiled and try to look calm!" The sentence should have read "smiled and tried to look calm." When writing, it's important to pay close attention to verb tenses.
Well everybody, that's it for this week!
It's funny how we start learning this stuff early in school, and yet there's still so much to learn! I agree, this chapter was a really good refresher. Some of the stuff I remembered, but other parts were completely new to me, so I'm glad I learned them! I'm so self-concious of my writing now, though!
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