Purpose of the Lesson

The purpose of this lesson is to learn the tricks of punctuation in effective English writing.

One key point when punctuating a sentence in English is that commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks come immediately after the word. Do not leave a space. Another important thing to remember is that the dependent clauses, or those within commas, can be omitted from a sentence and the sentence will still read correctly. That's why they are called dependent because they cannot stand alone. Also, when making abbreviations, a period always follows the abbreviated form. Finally, when you have a list of three items, some editors say you should put a comma before the and while others say it is correct to omit the comma. I prefer to use a second comma in such lists. Let's look at the examples below. I will show you what I mean.

Use a comma to set off introductory elements. As you can see, the sentence reads correctly without it.

In the summer of discontent, they bonded for life.

Use a comma to set off coordinate adjectives. When you have more than one adjective in a row, they are separated with commas.

She had long, flowing hair. Her wide-set, green eyes were glowing.

An interjection, considered a parenthetical phrase, is also contained within commas.

Whatever you do, we must realize, of course, that there is much at stake.

If a phrase is placed between commas and it can be removed from a sentence without changing the ovall meaning of the sentence, it is a dependent clause. The part of the sentence that stands along is the independent clause.

John Cooper, the resident in question, gave the initial address.

Remember, learning is all about practice and feedback. You are now ready to begin the Practice Exercises for Lesson 5. Go back into the system and do the exercise. The system will give you a score.

Next move on to the Interactive Writing Practice page for Lesson 5.

Next move on to the practice exercises on punctuation.

Great! You are now ready to enter Lesson 6.