As we discussed in class, punctuation is not simply a set of rules without purpose --- and its purposes go beyond annoying us. Good use of punctuation makes you a stronger writer, since you can express yourself with clarity, power, and creativity.
Give an example or two of how punctuation can change a sentence: a made-up one, a text message, or one you find. [Here’s another example: “Let’s eat, Grandpa!” or “Let’s eat Grandpa!”]
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One example that is like the Eats, Shoots, and Leaves example is "Anthony turns, slides, and swings". Without the commas, this sentence would be "Anthony turns slides and swings" meaning that he walks around a park and physically turns the slides and the swings. Another example is seen by school parking lots when they have signs that say "Slow, Children Crossing". This means that that cars passing by must drive slowly because there will be children crossing the road. If there was not comma then the sign would say "Slow Children Crossing" meaning that the children that are crossing are slow (as in not very smart). One more example would be "Jessica was seen wearing black satin and Danielle with small flowers". This is describing what Jessica was wearing and what Danielle was wearing. If a comma was added, the sentence would be "Jessica was seen wearing black satin, and Danielle with small flowers". That would mean that Jessica was wearing Danielle which does not make sense.
An example of how punctuation can change a sentence is a text that could say "im going to the store to get some chocolate pretzels and chips." The true meaning of this text is suppose to say, "I'm going to the store to get some chocolate, pretzels, and chips." This statement can be misinterpreted by someone because there is no punctuaiton. They could think that that person was going to get some chocolate (covered) pretzels and chips. Without the punctuation in the sentence, it can be taken in the wrong way.
Punctuation is very important to the english language. It also makes it one of the more confusing languages as well. Putting a comma in somewhere can make a huge difference between two sentences that are worded exactly the same. For example, if you write "the animals ate, ran, and played", then you know that the three things are separate. However if you take the commas away and write "the animals ate ran and played", then it seems like the animals ate a type of food called ran. Sometimes this can make a huge difference if it is an important message being sent.
Another example would be "I ate chocolate, cake, fruit, meat, and hot dogs", then you ate five things. If you take the commas out, then you ate three things, and not all of them make sense. So commas are one of the more important punctuation marks in the English language. These examples may seem like minor things that don't matter. However, if it is an important document, then commas and other punctuation are crucial to being understood.
Punctuation plays an immensely important role in all languages. It provides clarity, and can create a better flow in one's writing. However, sometimes omitting a punctuation mark can completely change the meaning of a sentence. My mom once recieved an email that said "A woman without her man is nothing".
It didn't have any punctuation in it. This let ti be interpreted two ways. It could be seen as "A woman, without her man, is nothing". That shows that a woman isn't anything without a man. However it could also be interpreted as "A woman: without her man is nothing". This sentence has the complete opposite meaning. It says that without a woman, men are nothing!
Sometimes, omitting punctuation just alters a sentence slightly. If one asked "when did you eat last?" that implies they want to know the last time you ate. A response for that could be "yesterday". If the same sentence had a comma in it, it would have a different meaning. "When did you eat, last?" shows the person is implying that you ate last out of everyone eating. A response from that question could be along the lines of "No, I ate first!"
Punctuation can change a sentences meaning so much that the reader can be confused as to what really was being said. For example, on thanksgiving, my cousin asked me "Is it time to eat, Mike?" Without commas, it could be interpreted as Is it time to eat mike? or are we going to eat Mike as a meal?
Also, if someone says "Mr. Moccia, the other English teacher is the best!", it would be someone telling Mr. Moccia that another english teacher is the best, which would be a lie. The correct placement of commas should be "Mr. Moccia, the other english teacher, is the best!" so it is saying that Mr. Moccia is the best teacher by using an appositive.
An example I can think of is "For Christmas Eve begged for snow." This would mean that the holiday, Christmas Eve, wants for it to snow. It is also a fragment. Instead, the more likely correct sentence would be "For Christmas, Eve begged for snow." This sentence is an independent clause and means that a girl names Eve wants for it to snow on Christmas.
In text messages, I cannot use the shortenings or have a lack of punctuation. Somehow, whenever I attempt to, I inevitably give the wrong idea. I believe it's important to use things correctly or else sometimes we begin to forget what the right thing is.
An example of how punctuation can change a sentence is signs that say "Slow Children at Play". While the Signs are seperated so that it makes sense as "Slow, children at play", if you think about it, without the comma they mean something completely different. While "Slow, children at play" means to slow down because there are children at play, "Slow children at play" could be interpreted as "slow" children, or children who are either not physically fast, or just not very smart, are at play.
Another example would be the sentence "John the teacher and the principal were going to the office." Whereas it sounds like John is a teacher, and he is going with the principal to the office, the sentence would be different with a comma. "John, the teacher, and the principal were going to the office", is completely different because this is now stating that there are three people going to the office.
Certain punctuations can have different effects on a sentence depending on where they are placed, such as commas. In the sentence, "The food is ready to eat, Andy" the comma shows that Andy is being told when the food is ready to eat. In the sentence, "The food is ready to eat Andy" the lack of a comma turns the normal sentence into a mutant food dish ready to eat a person.
Punctuation is important because without it, a sentence can mean something very different from what you want it to mean. An example of using punctuation is in the sentence, "I need you to go to the store and get a flower t shirt and candy." Without commas, this sentence sounds like you want someone to get a flower t shirt at a store. With commas, the sentence is like this, "I need you to go to the store and get a flower, t shirt, and candy." With the commas, you can see that the person needs a flower and a t shirt as two separate things.
Another sentence where punctuation is needed is in the sentence, "Mrs. Smith the company president and I presented the award at the annual dinner." Without commas, this sentence sounds like Mrs. Smith is the company president, but with commas you will see it doesn't mean that. With commas the sentence sounds like this, "Mrs. Smith, the company president and I presented the award at the annual dinner." With commas you can see that Mrs. Smith and the company president are two different people.
An example would be something like a sign that says "Exit up ahead". This could possibly mean, from what it looks like, that you literally exit upwards toward the sky, or with punctuation, "Exit: up ahead" then it means that there is an exit coming up on the road that you should turn onto.
Another example can be " The letter was written mailed and recieved". This could suggest that the letter says "Mailed and recieved" in it, or it could be "The letter was written, mailed, and recieved".
There are many people who become confused or get the wrong idea about things just because someone carelessly forget to put a comma into the sentence. An example of this would be, "Jerry went to the store to buy some fruit, snacks and biscuits." The person wo added the comma would read it as Jerry buying three items. But when you dont adxd commas it makes it sound like Jerry bought two items. "Jerry went to the store to buy fruit snacks and chips," says that Jerry bought fruit snacks and chips, not fruit and snacks. This is a common problem that writers use today, but do not realize it.
Punctuation has developed into not just a method of being grammatically correct, but also being clear and making sense. Often times if grammer is used incorrectly, a sentence or phrase may not make sense or possess a totally different meaning. For example, "I already ate Fred." This version means that a person reall ate Fred. But another version with the comma is "I already ate, Fred." This means that someone is telling Fred that they have already eatten.
Another example is "The toy broke Sally." Meaning that the toy has physically broke a person named Sally. But when adding a comma, the sentence has a new meaning. "My toy broke, Sally." Meaning the person saying the sentence is telling Sally her toy broke.
One example that I remember hearing back in middle school about the importance of commas in a sentence was: "What's the latest dope?" and "What's the latest, dope?" Both these sentences have two different meanings depending on where the comma is placed. The first sentence is asking "what is the latest dope?" as in "what is the latest news or information?". The second sentence is asking "What is the latest, dope?". In this sentence you are referring to the person as a dope or dummy when asking them "what's the latest?". All these kinds of examples show how even though commas are small pieces of punctuation, they have a very important purpose in writing.
Punctuation is very important to the english language. Punctuation can change the whole meaning of a sentence. For example, one sentence could say, "Sarah ate Mike slept." That doesn't make any sense because it is basically saying that Sarah ate Mike. A comma, however, can clear everything up. The correct form of that sentence would be, "Sarah ate, Mike slept." We now know that they are both doing different things and that Sarah didn't eat Mike. Another example of punctuation would be the one we went over in class. This would be the panda bear one. The first way this could be said is, "Eats, shoots, and leaves." That makes it seem like panda bears eat, shoot, and leave the place. The correct way to say it would be, "Eats shoots and leaves." Which is only telling us what it is they eat. Without correct punctuation, there would be a lot of communication problems.
Punctuation is important to our language because it can change the meaning of a sentence completely. One example of this would be "I went to the store to buy vanilla, ice cream, chocolate, syrup, and whipped cream." This whole sentence would change meaning completely if you took out the commas. It would be "I went to the store to buy vanilla ice cream chocolate syrup and whipped cream." The food bought at the store are different items if you forget the commas.
Another example would be the sign that is around many children filled neighborhoods that says "Slow, children ahead." Without the comma, the sentence would say "Slow children head." That does not mean what it ment before. Both of my examples displayed above show the difference commas and other types of punctuation can make when writing the english language.
Punctuation is what determines if a sentence means one thing, or something completly different. For example the sentence, "I told you yesterday, you needed to bring it." When the comma is put after yesterday, what was told happened yesterday. Here is the same sentence but with different meaning, "I told you, yesterday you needed to bring it." Now when it was told is unclear but it is more clear that it needed to be brought yesterday.
My example of how punctuation can change the meaning of a word phrase "The boys hats are all yellow" and "The boy's hats are all yellow". When read, they both sound the same, but when written they have totally different meanings. One says all the hats made for boys are the color yellow. The other says all the hats owned by the boy are the color yellow. Two similar sentances in which one little punctuation (an apostraphe) changed the whole meaning of the sentance.
An example of how punctuation changes the meaning of a sentence is " Alli makes chicken, cake, and rice." This is describing 3 things that Alli has made. Without commas the sentence would look like this. "Alli makes chicken cake and rice." This sounds like "chicken cake" is a type of cake rather than two separate foods. Another example is "I am going to the food store, dry cleaner's, and to mail a letter." Without punctuation it would look like this: "I am going to the food store dry cleaner's and to mail a letter." This sounds like you are going to the dry cleaner in the food store instead of and the food store. A lack of punctuation can be very misleading.
It is very important to know good punctuation because only a comma can change an entire meaning of a sentence. An example of this would be "Go to the store and pick up vanilla ice cream and apples." With the correct use of commas the sentence would say "Go to the store and pick up vanilla, ice cream, and apples." Just by adding two commas the sentence changed from wanting vanilla ice cream to vanilla and ice cream.
Punctuation can completely remodel the meaning of a sentence. An example of completely reversing the meaning of a sentence is: "A woman without her man is nothing" and "A woman: without her, man is nothing." in doing this, there is a complete alteration of the sentence's meaning. This rule is not exclusive for colons and commas, but for all punctuation marks. Such as the hyphen. This can be shown in a three-way sentence. "You'll be working twenty four-hour shifts,""You'll be working twenty-four hour shifts," and "You'll be working twenty-four-hour shifts." A few hyphens hold the fate of what the workers' working hours will be. Simple occurrences such as these is why punctuation is so important in our everyday lives.
Puncuation is very important because it can change the meaning of a sentence. For example, "I saw Aaron, my best friend and boyfriend, at the grocery store yesterday." In this sentence, I am saying that Aaron is my best friend and boyfriend and I saw him in the grocery store. The meaning of this could be changed if I said "I saw Aaron, my best friend, and boyfriend at the grocery store yesterday." In this sentence, I saw three people at the grocery store-Aaron, my bestfriend, and my boyfriend.
Forgetting to use commas or other punctuation marks can easily change the meaning of a sentence.For example: The girls who laugh rarely are shy.
In this sentence the meaning that comes across is that the girls who never laugh are shy. However, when you change the sentence to:
The girls who laugh, rarely are shy.
Now this sentence has a completely different meaning. It now means that the girls who do laugh are not shy. Misplacing or not using commas at all can really mess up your sentences or give readers the wrong idea about what you are trying to say.
Punctuation is very important when you write a sentence. If you do not include correct punctuation then the sentence can take on very different meanings. One example is if you were to say, "The girl ran,jumped, fell, cried and screamed for her mom." Without the commas, the sentence would make no sense. It would be a huge run-on. Another example would be to say, "The boy ate, the girl sang." Without the comma, it would be like saying the the boy ate the girl. It would not even make sense to say it. Commas are vital in the English language.
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