7 Handbook

Writer’s Notes

One strategy you can use in your writing process is to reflect on what you have written. Making “Writer’s Notes” after you have finished writing a paper can help you to think about how you got to this stage of the writing process, what you might have done differently, and what you feel you’ve done well in writing the paper. Answering the following questions before handing in a draft of your paper can help you reflect on your writing practice and improve your process for the next assignment.

1. What went well during the writing of this paper? Why?
2. With what did you struggle during the process of writing this paper? Why do you think you struggled in this area?
3. How might you approach your next writing task to help address this concern?
4. Considering the issues we explored in this unit, what did you struggle with? Why?
5. What’s one thing you learned about yourself as a writer during this process?

Post-Grade Revision Form

If you choose to revise your essay after receiving a grade and comments from your instructor, you can use the questions below to help you begin the important work of global and substantive revision. Remember that your instructor will not comment on everything that needs to be revised. Instead, you should see your instructor’s comments as a useful starting point and as a way to begin to re-see your work. The following prompts can help you to identify patterns of concern, as well as to help make better sense of the revision comments from your instructor.

Because you might need to answer these questions for each major writing assignment, you will need to write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Read through your draft and your instructor’s marginal and terminal (end) comments. What does your instructor say about the higher order concerns of purpose, focus, development, and organization? Instead of writing all of your instructor’s comments below, summarize what your instructor is saying about these areas of your essay.
2. What did your instructor identify as the specific strengths of this essay?
3. What are the three primary areas of revision that you’ll need to focus on?
4. Keeping in mind that your instructor will not have marked all of the examples of areas of concern (in other words, if she noted that you’re struggling with organization, she will not mark every place in the essay where you’re having organizational problems), read through your draft and mark any place where you see evidence of your areas of concern.
5. How will you rewrite/restructure your essay in order to address these concerns? Remember that revision is more than simply adding a sentence or moving a paragraph. What global changes will you need to make and what ideas do you have for making these changes?
6. As you read through your draft, what other areas of concern did you identify? How will you address these in your revision?

Remembering Higher Order Concerns

As you revise, keep these higher order concerns clearly in mind.

Purpose/Focus: Do I make a single, clear point throughout my essay? Does every single aspect of my essay relate specifically and explicitly to this main idea? Does my main point meet the assignment objectives and goals?

Development: Do I clearly connect every claim, example, or subclaim to my main point? Do I have enough concrete examples to illustrate my point? Do I explain how these examples illustrate my main point? Where do I need more specific details or more explanation to clarify my points?

Organization: Does each paragraph clearly and logically follow the one before it? Does every single sentence in each individual paragraph work toward the same explicit goal? Are the connections and relationships between paragraphs clear? Are the connections and relationships between sentences clear? Where might transitional words and phrases help clarify these relationships?

Tone/Audience: Have I defined a clear audience? Where have I forgotten to consider my target audience’s needs? Given my target audience, am I using the appropriate tone and level of formality throughout my essay?

Editing

Once you’ve rewritten your essay and addressed the higher order concerns above, you can now think about editing for grammar, punctuation, typos, errors, and conventions. Remember to set your revised draft aside for at least 24 hours before editing. One of the best ways to catch such errors is to read your essay out loud.

The Three-Ex Guide to Developing Your Ideas

Deborah Murray

Employing the “3-Ex Strategies”—Exposition, Example, Explanation—helps writers figure out which aspects of their essays need more development. Often, a novice writer may have lots of examples, but she may not have provided any articulation of points and subpoints. This reliance on facts without any framework of ideas is especially typical of papers including research. An over-reliance on source information results in the infamous “data dump.”

The three-ex guide is not intended to serve as a means of organizing or outlining an essay. Instead, it should help writers figure out which areas of their essay need development. I came up with this scheme in working with writers in the Writing Center and in my classes.

These terms came to me as I was helping one writer (“Christine”) with her research paper on sleep. She had neglected to determine the main points of these sources, so she relied on quoting a few fascinating facts. All of these facts were loosely related to the topic of sleep, but few of them were related to her overall claim. To demonstrate this problem to my student, I scheduled a conference. I shared with her the graphic (Exposition, Example, Explanation).

Using three highlighters, I explained what each of these aspects was, and then handed the highlighters to Christine. With the help of the highlighters, she discovered that her paper was mostly pink (examples). She had some exposition (yellow) at the beginning and end of her essay, but she had no explanation (blue). And, of course, the reason that she didn’t have explanation is that she could not explain how the quotes supported her points, because they did not. In fact, in some cases, there were no claims (exposition) there for her facts (examples) to support. By highlighting her own essay, Christine could see the essay’s problems.

Her original draft was a data dump, containing lots of examples from her sources. Christine went back to the drawing board. She collected (with my help) a couple more sources from newspapers. These new sources were relevant to her essay’s point, and now it was easier for her to find relevant support in two of her original sources.

Christine learned that even though she was required to use research for this paper, the bulk of the essay should be her own writing: stating her claims, then explaining how the quoted material supported her claims. Most of the essay should be exposition (yellow) and explanation (blue), with the examples (pink) only in support of her points.

I introduce this color-coded chart to demonstrate to novice writers a way to develop their essay. Many paragraphs have at least one sentence for each of the three categories: exposition, example, and explanation. Of course, experienced writers will produce paragraphs which (when analyzed and highlighted) display much more complicated color schemes: Sentences that are green and purple as the colors blend together. Students can strive to achieve this more complex style, but for most beginning writers, I’m quite satisfied with style reflected by the three basic colors. The most developed paragraphs, when analyzed and highlighted, are mostly blue.

These terms do not need to appear sequentially; in fact, some paragraphs may lead with example. Other paragraphs may not include explicit exposition. Some paragraphs are primarily transitional, so they may not have all either exposition, examples, or explanation. No on-size-fits- all rule exists for paragraph development. Use these terms as a strategy—not a stencil.

Here is a visual representation of the Three-Ex Strategies:

Exposition Sentences State Your Claim(s) or Subclaim(s)

They introduce ideas and tell readers why your ideas are important. Sometimes this type of sentence might be called a “topic sentence,” “main point,” or even a “thesis statement.” While not every paragraph requires an explicitly stated point, many types of writing do require that you have explicit statements of exposition. When highlighting paragraphs within your essay, think of exposition sentences as yellow (bold and italic, here).

Example: The text in the ad indicates the importance of physical appearance.

Example Sentences Provide Support for the Exposition

Your support might come from research, from close reading of a text you are responding to, or from your own experience and observation. Generally, you should have at least two examples for every major point of exposition in your essay. When highlighting paragraphs within your essay, think of example sentences as pink (red here).

Example: The answer in the pink box reads, “I love my mother, but I don’t love her thighs.”

Explanation Sentences Explain How Your Example(s) Illustrate Your Exposition

These sentences show readers how you got from Point A to Point B. How exactly do your examples support your point? Also, how does a paragraph’s point relate to previous points made? How do you define important terms of your discussion? When highlighting paragraphs within your essay, think of explanation sentences as blue.

Example: This answer stresses the idea of maintaining what the woman considers to be a positive physical appearance—thin thighs.

Open Versus Closed Form: Determining the Most Appropriate Structure for an Essay

In school, most of us learn a variety of rules for organizing our writing. While some of these rules can be helpful, not all rules suit all writing tasks. And, in fact, the more proficient you become as a writer, the more restrictive you may find these rules. What may be more useful is a set of criteria to consider when determining what the most effective organizational strategy for an essay might be. Here is a brief discussion of the two broad categories of organization—“open” and “closed.”

A type of organization called “closed form” may be the one you’re most familiar with. The five- paragraph structure you may have learned to follow for timed writing situations is an example of this type of form. In a five-paragraph essay, the first paragraph (often called the introduction) introduces a point and three subpoints; each paragraph develops one point, and the conclusion restates the previously discussed points. This structure can be quite useful to help you organize your ideas, but it can also be fairly repetitive and restrictive. What if you only have one central point, but you need several paragraphs to present it fully?

Most documents using closed form are less restrictive than the five-paragraph essay. The most common feature of closed form writing is that the opening paragraph gives readers a clear statement of the essay’s central point. This thesis claim can be read as a promise— one that readers will expect be fulfilled in the subsequent paragraphs. In closed form, most paragraphs have a topic sentence (though it may not be the first sentence in the paragraph). Generally, all sentences in each paragraph are specifically related to the topic sentence. A closed form essay’s conclusion sums up the points under discussion; for a short essay, these points may not need to be reiterated systematically, but in a longer essay, an essay’s conclusion does restate the essay’s claims point by point. Most standard academic writing employs closed form structure.

Open form organization—as its name implies—is less rigid than closed form. This type of essay still needs to be focused and developed, but it is less structured. Rather than relying on an explicit statement of points, this type of essay relies on detailed, memorable examples—often from the writer’s personal experience or observation. Also, open form prose makes use of figurative language and appeals to the reader’s senses in its specific use of detail.

Most essays employ both open- and closed-form features. For example, in open form writing, a writer may still occasionally be explicit about a central point. Also, in closed form writing, a writer may include some personal examples and detailed descriptions. Also, not every paragraph in a closed form essay has to be presenting a point. For example, some paragraphs may be transitional. Also, writers using both kinds of organizational structures may use a short paragraph to get readers’ attention in order to emphasize an important idea or detail.

The chart below gives you a number of criteria to consider when determining the most suitable organization for a writing task. The boxes are checked based on the most suitable form for each consideration. Each rhetorical situation will have a variety of constraints to consider, so it is helpful to practice making your own choices about each writing task’s organization.

Punctuation Made Simple^[1]

Gary A. Olson

Some people write well but allow themselves to be disabled by a fear of punctuation and grammar. They know how to prewrite, organize, and revise, but proofreading for punctuation and grammar causes them difficulties. There’s no need to fear these conventions of standard written English. In fact, these conventions can help you become a more effective communicator.

Punctuating Your Prose

Before discussing specific punctuation marks, we want you to know one important fact: punctuation is simple. Many people believe that punctuation rules are rigid commandments and that only the “experts” know all the rules. You may be surprised to learn, however, that it is not the “experts” but rather educated speakers and writers, such as yourself, who have established the practices that we know as the “‘rules of punctuation.” In other words, over the years good writers have used punctuation in ways that have made their messages especially clear to their readers. Writers have agreed to follow these practices because they have proved to be so effective.

As an analogy, think of the traffic signs that govern the rules of the road. When you see a red blinking light or an octagonally shaped red sign, you bring your vehicle to a full stop; when you see a blinking yellow light, you proceed with caution. These traffic rules help make driving safe and efficient. But there’s no reason why a red blinking light signifies a complete stop; it well could have been any other color. The caution light, too, could very well have been another color. The important fact to remember is that drivers have agreed to follow these signals and to do certain things when they come upon them. The same is true with punctuation marks. Writers have agreed that certain marks will signify things in written communication.

The rules of punctuation are not static; they have changed throughout the years and will continue to change. What once might have been considered improper punctuation may now be considered correct. The rules of punctuation are created and maintained by writers to help make their prose more effective, and their exact meaning changes through time, just as traffic rules evolve with time. (For example, in many states it is now acceptable to make a right turn at a red light if no other vehicles are in sight.) At any point in time, a particular punctuation mark means what writers agree it means; as consensus shifts, so will its meaning.

If you approach punctuation with this understanding of its origin and flexibility, you will not be intimidated by the conventions of punctuation.

In the panels that follow, we discuss several of the most useful punctuation marks that you will use as a communicator. Instead of listing many rules as a grammar book might, we discuss these various marks in general so that you can get a sense of how to use them in your own prose. Of course, every communicator should own and use a grammar handbook as a reference tool. You will still want to refer to such a book when you come upon a particularly difficult punctuation problem. Here, however, we are most concerned with helping you develop a feel for the way punctuation works. We begin with the easiest of these marks and move to the most difficult.

The Colon

You might be surprised to learn that the colon is one of the most helpful and easiest to use of all the punctuation marks. You don’t need to remember six or seven rules to understand how a colon works. In prose, a colon really does only one thing: it introduces. It can introduce just about anything: a word, phrase, sentence, quotation, or list. You’ll notice that we have used colons in the two preceding sentences to introduce a sentence, in the first case, and a list, in the second case. This is how simple the colon is. Let’s look at some other examples:

Joe has only one thing on his mind: profit.

Joe has only one thing on his mind: his stock portfolio.

Joe has only one thing on his mind: he wants to get rich.

Joe has only one thing on his mind: stocks, bond, and certificates of deposit.

We have used a colon in these four sentences to introduce various kinds of things: a word, a phrase, a sentence, and a list. You can use a colon in your prose in any place where you must directly introduce something. A colon gives special emphasis to whatever you’re introducing because readers must first come to a stop, and so they pay more attention to it. For example, let’s say you are writing a letter describing a product, and you want to emphasize above all that this product, a Jacobsen lawn mower, is reliable. You could very well write:

The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitors especially in the key area of reliability.

While this sentence gets the point across, it doesn’t place much emphasis on reliability.

A sentence using a colon is much more emphatic:

The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitors especially in one key area: reliability.

Notice that the second example places clear emphasis on the point that the writer is trying to communicate to his or her reader: that the Jacobsen lawn mower is above all reliable. The writer of this sentence has used the colon effectively.

Perhaps the most common way to use a colon is to introduce a list of items, as in this sentence:

This report reviews five main criteria to determine whether to purchase the IBM PC: hardware, software, maintenance agreements, service, and customer support.

If you aren’t sure whether you need a colon in a particular sentence, here is a handy test: read the sentence, and when you reach the colon, substitute the word namely; if the sentence reads through smoothly, then there’s a good chance that you do need a colon. For example, you can read any of the example sentences above with the word namely in the place of the colon:

Joe has only one thing on his mind (namely) profit.

Joe has only one thing on his mind (namely) his stock portfolio. Joe has only one thing on his mind (namely) he wants to get rich.

Joe has three things on his mind (namely) stocks, bonds, and certificates of deposit.

This test may not work 100 percent of the time, but it is a fairly reliable indicator of whether you need a colon.

One word of caution: do not place the colon after the verb in a sentence, even when you are introducing something, because the verb itself introduces and the colon would be redundant. For example, you would not write:

My three favorite friends are: Evelyn, Marlyne, and Ronni.

The colon is not necessary in the sentence above because the verb does the work of introducing the three friends. You can check this sentence by using the test we just mentioned. It would seem awkward to read this sentence, “My three favorite friends are, namely, Evelyn, Marlyne, and Ronni.” The fact that the sentence is awkward when you read it with namely is an indication that the colon is unnecessary. Remember, the colon shows emphasis and, therefore, you want the reader to stop at the colon before proceeding on to whatever it is you are introducing.

The Semicolon

The semicolon is another important tool you can use when you write. There are two ways to use this punctuation mark: as a connector between two sentences and as a supercomma.

1.  To Connect Two Sentences

 The semicolon is most often used to connect two sentences. Obviously, the sentences ought to be relatively close in content, but other than that you can connect any two sentences with a semicolon. The diagram below may help you remember this usage:

Sentence ; Sentence

As a communicator, you are always putting together complex ideas in your prose and showing how they relate to one another. A semicolon is an economical way to join two sentences, and therefore two ideas, so that your reader sees the relationship. For example, you may write any of the following sentences:

Jim is a good typist; he makes few mistakes.

The MFC Corporation is an excellent company to invest in; its dividends have risen sharply and steadily over each of the last ten years.

Ms. Sanchez is a good real estate salesperson; however, she was unable to sell her own house.

Each of the three examples above contains two sentences glued together by a semicolon. The second part of each sentence makes a comment on the first. Certainly, each sentence could be written as two sentences, but you wouldn’t be expressing the close relationship between the two parts that you do when you use a semicolon. With two separate sentences, the reader must stop at the period of the first sentence and then begin to read the second; with two sentences connected by a semicolon, the reader does not come to a full stop and, therefore, the relationship seems that much closer. Also, this type of sentence allows you to express your ideas economically.

The important point to remember is that you must have a complete sentence on both sides of the semicolon. If your second sentence begins with a conjunction (and, but, or, etc.), you do not need a semicolon because the conjunction and the comma that usually goes with it are equivalent to a semicolon. Instead, combine two full sentences with the semicolon.

Sometimes a sentence may begin with words like however, therefore, and nevertheless. If your second sentence begins with one of these words, and if it is indeed a full sentence, you still must use a semicolon to connect the two. The sentence about Ms. Sanchez illustrates this use.

A word of caution: never glue two sentences together with only a comma. Grammarians call this sentence error a comma splice. Here is an example of two sentences connected with only a comma:

The banking community became quite upset at the rise in the prime rate, bankers felt that they would ultimately lose a considerable amount of money.

A comma splice is considered ungrammatical because the reader begins reading the second sentence before realizing that the first sentence is completed. Readers are used to stopping at the end of a sentence, and they become disoriented when they find that they have unknowingly left one sentence and entered a new one. This is why effective writers avoid the comma splice. Here are two additional examples of comma splices:

Ms. Linccini is a fine worker, she meets all her deadlines.

Our sales have increased by twenty percent, our inventory has been reduced by thirty percent.

Each of the examples above constitutes two sentences glued together with a comma. You can correct a comma splice by inserting a semicolon between the two sentences, by adding a comma to your conjunction, or, of course, by punctuating them as two sentences. Whichever way you choose, however, you must make sure your final drafts do not contain comma splices.

There is one instance in which a comma splice is considered acceptable. Occasionally, you may have a list of items that could stand alone as full sentences. You may use commas to attach these items so long as it is clear to the reader that this is a list of relatively equal items. Here is an example:

I opened the safe door, I took out the money pouch, and I concealed it in my desk drawer.

The example above shows a list of three items and illustrates a step-by-step process. Even though the items all constitute full sentences, it is acceptable to use commas to attach them but only because they are members of a larger list. If you are unsure about using commas to connect sentences in a list, perhaps it is best to rewrite the sentence. Do, however, stay alert for any two sentences in your prose that are connected by only a comma.

Related to the comma splice is the run-on sentence. Run-on sentences, often called fused sentences, are two sentences punctuated as if they were one. In other words, a run-on is a comma splice without the comma—two sentences smashed together with no punctuation between them. Here are two sample run-ons:

Chu Lie is the foreman Joseph Garcia is the line boss.

I knew that the new personnel policy would cause problems the union is reacting quite vehemently.

As you can see, each of the two samples is composed of two sentences. The writer should have connected the sentences with a semicolon or punctuated them as separate sentences. Again, you don’t have to worry about such matters until the proofreading stage, but you must make sure your final draft doesn’t contain run-on sentences.

2.  As a Supercomma

As you know, you normally separate the members of a list with commas, as in this sentence:

I have just bought shares in IBM, USAG, and ITT.

The commas let the reader know where one item ends and the next begins. Sometimes, however, you have a list of complex items and one (or more) of the items already contains a comma. In such a case, the reader is likely to get confused about what is really a member of the list and what is not. You can avoid this confusion by making the semicolon a sort of “supercomma.” Look at the sentence below to see how the supercomma works:

Suncom Corporation has subsidiaries in four cities: New York, New York, Wilmington, Ohio, Houston, Texas, and San Francisco, California.

This sentence contains so many commas, both between the members of the list and within them, that readers are likely to become confused. Instead, you can make the semicolon a supercomma between each of the members so that your meaning is clear:

Suncom Corporation has subsidiaries in four cities: New York, New York; Wilmington, Ohio; Houston, Texas; and San Francisco, California.

The second sentence is clearer than the first because the reader knows exactly where members of the list begin and end. You probably will not need to use a semicolon as a supercomma often, but if your sentence contains a list of items, one (or more) of which already contains a comma, you can clarify your meaning by using the supercomma.

The Comma

The comma tells the reader to pause, just as the blinking yellow light tells a driver to slow down and to proceed with caution. Some writers can tell where a comma is needed by reading their prose aloud and inserting a comma where there seems to be a clear pause in the sentence. This may work much of the time if you read the sentence carefully and accurately. However, this procedure is not the most precise way to approach comma usage. Below are four general ways to use commas with a reasonable degree of certainty.

1. Between Items in a Series

When you are listing three or more items in a sentence, simply place a comma between each member of the list. Here are two examples:

Mr. Sanchez used the money that he won from the sweepstakes to buy a house, a car, and a small yacht.

We will purchase the stock if the price is lowered to $30 per share, if we are allowed to buy a block of over 10,000 shares, and if we receive a guarantee that no new shares will be created in the next fiscal year.

The commas clearly mark where one member of the list leaves off and the next one begins. There is no mystery in how to use the comma in these kinds of sentences. What is often unclear, however, is whether to include the comma between the last and second-to-last items in a list. In the past, it was considered improper to omit the final comma in a series, but modern writers believe that the conjunction (and, but, or) does the same thing as a comma: it marks the place between two items in the set. These writers have argued that a sentence is more economical without an unneeded comma. As a result, you now have the option to choose whether to include the final comma. Nevertheless, many people still follow the old rule and expect to see the final comma. Also, if your list is rather complex, omitting the comma may confuse the reader about where the second-to-last item leaves off and the last begins. In this case, of course, you would want to include the comma in order to avoid confusion. Perhaps it is best to get into the habit of always using the comma between the last two items in order to avoid all controversy.

You do, however, have the option to omit it.

2.  Between Two Sentences

You’ll remember that a semicolon is used to connect two sentences. However, more often we glue two sentences together with a comma and conjunction (such as and or but). In fact, if you examine a document you have written recently, you are likely to find many such sentences; they are so common that you don’t even realize you are writing them. When you do put two sentences together with a conjunction, you must also include a comma. That is, the conjunction and comma are equivalent to a semicolon when you’re connecting sentences. Here are three examples:

The Suncom Corporation has just acquired the OILCO company, and it has agreed to sell OILCO’s oil-drilling rights in Texas as soon as possible.

I knew that the price of IBM stock would increase after it entered the home computer market, but I had no idea that the price would skyrocket.

I first conducted a thorough audit of the company, and I then interviewed the manager to try to determine how much money was missing.

Each sentence above is made up of two sentences glued together with a comma and conjunction. For example, the first sentence is made up of the following:

The Suncom Corporation has just acquired the OILCO company.

It has agreed to sell OILCO’s oil-drilling rights in Texas as soon as possible.

All you need remember is this: when you’re connecting two sentences with a conjunction, you must also include a comma because the conjunction and comma work together as a team.

Perhaps this diagram will help you remember:

Sentence, Conjunction Sentence

Often you may use a conjunction but not have a complete sentence on both sides of it. In this case you do not need a comma. For example, you could easily rewrite the above sentences so that one part of each sentence is not a full sentence:

The Suncom Corporation has just acquired the OILCO company and has agreed to sell OILCO’s oil-drilling rights in Texas as soon as possible.

I knew the price of IBM stock would increase after it entered the home computer market but had no idea that the price would skyrocket.

I first conducted a thorough audit of the company and then interviewed the manager to try to determine how much money was missing.

Because in the above examples you do not have full sentences on both sides of the conjunction, there’s no need to include a comma.

One last bit of advice: if your sentence is very short (perhaps 5 to 10 words), you do have the option of omitting the comma if you wish. You have this option because your reader can usually understand a short sentence more readily than a long one, and therefore you would not need a comma for readability. Here is an example:

Mr. Santana is old and he is senile.

This sentence is so short that you may omit the comma. Remember, punctuation is meant to help the writer and the reader, not to make their jobs more difficult. That’s why you may opt to omit the comma between these two short sentences.

3.  To Attach Words to the Front or Back of Your Sentence

Most of the sentences we compose really consist of a short core sentence with many details added to that core sentence. Frequently, we add information to sentences by attaching one or more words to the front or back of the core sentence. You don’t need to memorize seven or eight rules naming each of the different structures you can add to your sentence. Instead, remember that when you add information to the front or back of a sentence, you want readers to know that you are doing so, in order to help them clearly understand your message. Here are four examples:

Certainly, Joan is a successful salesperson.

Although she flunked chemistry and barely passed math, Joan is a good student.

In order to help save the company from bankruptcy, we sold shares in the company at discount prices.

Joan is a good student, although she flunked chemistry and barely passed math.

If you examine the sentences above, you will see where the writer has attached words to the front or back of each core sentence. Even when you add one word, such as certainly in the first example, you want your reader to know where the real sentence begins. This is why you place the comma there. If you read the sentences carefully, you’ll also notice a natural pause where the comma is situated.

4.  On Both Sides of a Nonessential Component

The three uses of the comma just discussed are quite easy. You should be able to tell when those commas are needed or not. When you are proofreading your own prose, it will be clear to you whether you have a list of items or not, whether you are attaching two sentences with a conjunction or not, and whether you are tacking words onto the front or back of your sentence or not. The fourth use of the comma, however, is a little more complex because you must make a judgment call. Nevertheless, even this fourth way to use a comma is relatively simple.

Often, you will insert a group of words into the middle of a sentence. Sometimes this group of words will need to be set off by commas from the rest of the sentence, and sometimes you will not need commas. In order to tell whether you need commas, you must make a judgment about whether the added words are essential to the meaning of the sentence or whether they simply provide extra detail. Let’s use an analogy to illustrate this concept. The modern stereo system is what we call a component system, in that it is made up of many different components: an amplifier, receiver, turntable, tape deck, and various speakers. With most stereo systems, you have the option of removing certain components and adding new ones. For example, you may decide to unplug your tape deck but retain the turntable. The various components are optional or nonessential to the system itself. Similarly, you often add or delete components from your sentences. If a component (a group of words in this case) is added to a sentence but does not affect the meaning of the sentence when it is removed, then that component is not essential.

In order to tell a reader that a group of words is a nonessential component, you place commas in front and in back of the group of words. However, if omitting the group of words would drastically change the meaning of the sentence, then those words are not a component; rather, they are essential to the meaning of the sentence. In that case, you would not want to put commas on either side of the component so that the reader knows that those words are absolutely important to the meaning of the sentence. For example, look carefully at the following sentences:

Ms. Johnson, who is the company president, will present the awards at our annual dinner.

Banks which hold over a billion dollars in assets are rare.

In the first sentence, the information about Johnson being the company president has no bearing on the main idea of the sentence: that she will present the awards at the annual dinner. Since this information is added or extra, we let the reader know it is an interchangeable component (like the stereo’s tape deck) by placing commas on either side of it. In contrast, the second sentence contains information that is absolutely essential to the meaning of the sentence: “which hold over a billion dollars in assets.” If you were to place commas around these words, you would be erroneously telling the reader that the words constitute a nonessential component. For example, look at this sentence:

Banks, which hold over a billion dollars in assets, are rare.

This sentence tells the reader that the main idea is that “banks are rare.” Certainly, banks are far from rare, but by enclosing the information in commas you have said that they are. Although we’ve spent some time discussing this use of the comma, it isn’t very difficult to master. Simply remember that when you are proofreading you should check your sentences for essential and nonessential components.

The Dash

The dash—typed as two hyphens side by side with no space between the dash and the words on either side of it—is used to connect groups of words with other groups. Generally, the dash does this in two ways: it separates words in the middle of a sentence from the rest of the sentence, or it leads to material at the end of a sentence.

As you know, writers often place a component in a sentence and set the component off with commas. Sometimes, however, you might wish to place special emphasis on the component, but commas are too weak to serve this purpose. If this is the case, you may wish to use dashes for added emphasis. For example, look at these two pairs of sentences:

1. Linda Simpson, the president’s most trusted economic advisor, will resign her office during today’s press conference.
2. Linda Simpson—the president’s most trusted economic advisor—will resign her office during today’s press conference.
3. Simpson’s prescription for the economy, lower interest rates, higher employment, and less government spending, was rejected by the president’s administration.
4. Simpson’s prescription for the economy—lower interest rates, higher employment, and less government spending—was rejected by the president’s administration.

All four examples are correct, but numbers 2 and 4 place more emphasis on the component within them because of the dashes. Also, you have probably noticed that number 4 is much clearer than number 3 because the dashes clearly mark where the component begins and ends, whereas the reader might become confused by all the commas in number 3. In other words, you can use the dash to make sure your reader clearly understands your point.

In addition, you have an added advantage when using dashes over commas: you can use a full sentence as a component. For example, examine these sentences:

Linda Simpson—her enemies call her the author of our nation’s economic woes—has resigned her office with the present administration.

The present economic condition—Linda Simpson calls it an economic disaster—will require stringent fiscal measures before improving.

Notice how economical your sentence is when you can interject another entire sentence into the middle of it. Combining sentences in this way accentuates the relationship between the ideas and helps you draw attention to the component within the dashes.

You can also use a dash to attach material to the end of your sentence when there is a clear break in the continuity of the sentence. Here are two examples:

The president will be unable to win enough votes for another term of office—unless, of course, he can reduce unemployment and the deficit simultaneously.

Generally, the president’s economic policies have proved ineffective—although, it’s true that he has lowered inflation considerably.

These two samples show how you can attach added material to the end of your sentence.

Use dashes sparingly—only for those occasions when you wish to show special emphasis. They can help you communicate effectively in certain situations, but you don’t want to clutter your prose with too many of them.

The Apostrophe

An apostrophe is a signal telling the reader that a word is either a possessive or a contraction. As you know, a contraction is simply two words contracted into one. You use contractions most often in informal or personal types of writing but usually not in more formal types. When you speak, you use contractions every day. Here are some common contractions:

My ROTC marksmanship score showed that I had six 5’s and three 4’s.