Kevin Trotman, "Heavy Punctuation Crossing" taken on April 7th, 2005 via Flickr Attribution Generic 2.0
The semicolon: Ever since I have been writing I have always just added a semicolon when it feels right. The same goes for a comma, I just trust my instincts and hope that I correctly used it. After reading the semicolon chapter, I have learned when it is appropriate to use one and when it is not appropriate to use one. The semicolon can be used when joining two independent clauses, a comma would not suffice in this situation because it would not stop the sentence from being a run on. I also learned to use semicolons when there is a series of items with internal punctuation. It is similar to a series listed with commas but it uses semicolons with internal punctuation.
Unnecessary commas: When reading this section I already knew most of what it went over. One thing that took me by surprise was how you do not use a comma to set off a concluding adverb clause that is essential to the meaning of the sentence. Likewise, if it is unessential to the meaning then you need to add a comma. This is interesting to me because it means it is up to the reader to decide what is essential and what is unessential to the meaning in a sentence.
The apostrophe: I have always known that an apostrophe should be used when referring to possession or plurality. What I have not ever found out was that an apostrophe should not be used for numbers or letters when they are in the plural form. The only time to use an apostrophe is to avoid confusion so it does not look like "bs" or "cs". This is yet another time when it is at the discretion of the writer to decide if it is appropriate or not to use an apostrophe.
Reflection:
I read the rough drafts of Austin and Joy. Overall they both had very good topics and both had good starts on their rough drafts. In Austin's rough draft he had a sentence regarding end punctuation. End punctuation was not something I had listed above but was an example I found in Austin's draft. This example is "Although the good of the country is his first priority, who does the country really belong to?" This example is end punctuation because by using a question mark it is provoking thought for the reader. It also provokes doubt. In Joy's draft, she forgot to use a semi colon in her title. The title is "How Education needs to Change, An Analysis of Andy Kessler's Work." when it really should be "How Education needs to Change;An Analysis of Andy Kessler's Work." The only difference is having a semi colon instead of the comma. Overall the revision stage showed me that many people also struggle with commas, semi colons, and end punctuation.
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