Archive for January, 2009
Last time during the explanation on “What is a punctuation“, I mentioned that the uses of commas will be elaborated in a later session and this is exactly what this article is focussed on; so fasten your seat belts.
What Is A Comma?
→ A comma is a sign or punctuation mark which denotes the shortest pause and the least amount of separation between words, phrases or clauses.
Importance Of Commas
→ The comma is the most frequently used punctuation mark and has an array of uses.
Is this a coincidence, is this a chance?
Of course not! As I previously told you, a punctuation mark helps to translate or convey the exact voice inflexion from spoken to written words. And when anyone talks, there’s always a series of short pauses. Now by definition, a comma marks a short pause.
Now be careful to not overuse commas, that is, do not use too much of it in your sentence. Why? It will spoil the meaning of your sentence and making it confusing for your readers. A sentence with many unnecessary commas often leads to several interpretation.
When To Use Commas?
Your common sense and the desire to make your meaning clear, will usually guide you where a pause is needed. Just try to say aloud what you want to write and see for yourself where you make obvious pauses. Everything comes with practice and maturity of your writing skills.
General Uses Of Commas – When Are Commas Used?
1) To separate words in a list or series
E.g:
→ Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Fernando Torres were the top three players nominated for the FIFA world player of the year.
2) To mark off direct speech
E.g:
→ Aliya said, “He’s the handsome I was telling you about the other day.”
3) To mark off or separate expressions like: “however, in fact, of course, therefore, after all, indeed, for instance“, from the rest of a sentence
E.g:
→ Indeed, Manchester United won the prestigious title of the world best football club.
→ It was, however, too expensive for our budget.
4) To show Ellipsis
E.g:
→ You may go your way; I, mine.
→ He will soon succeed; you, never.
5) To mark off question tags.
E.g:
→ The new year’s eve was great, isn’t it?
6) To separate short co-ordinate clauses
E.g:
→ Please run upstairs, go to my room, get me my bag.
→ I came, I saw, I conquered.
→ When it rained, we got wet.
7) To mark off nouns in apposition
E.g:
→ Problogger, Darren Rowse, is very much loved and solicited in the blogosphere.
8.) To separate clauses in a compound sentence.
E.g:
→ Mickels Rea was very busy with his first official album, so he did not come to the last Star Academy get-together party.
Pitfalls:
In Complex Sentences, the comma should not be used when the omission of the Relative Clause would make the Principal Clause meaningless or would change its meanings. (Explanation of the red words in a later session)
E.g:
Consider the following sentence:
→ “Shakespeare plays which were written in the years 1604-1609 are all tragic and sombre.”
⇒ Now, if commas marked off the clause as follows:
“Shakespeare plays, which were written in the years 1604-1609, are all tragic and sombre.”
This would completely change the whole meaning of the sentence and would thus convey the main meaning of: “Shakespeare plays are all tragic and sombre.”
Is this what the original sentence wanted to say? No, the original meant that only those written in the years 1604-1609 were tragic.
Got it? So, be careful when using commas.
Last Words..
There are other different ways in which commas are used, but I have brought forward only the most common and important ones. Commas can be used as per your intuition since different people and writers essentially have varied styles – but provided you convey the right meaning without ambiguities. In any case, I would to love to hear your comments below..
Good grammatical construct is one of the pillars of a successful GP paper. Writing correctly also implies the right use of verbs in sentences. When it comes to verbs, some students get confused with the usage of past participles; a common complaint from teachers and examiners alike.
Why Is The Past Participle So Confusing For Students?
The answer to this question perhaps lies in the polymorphic use of the past participle itself. That is, the past participle can be used in several ways namely: nouns, part of a verb, adjectives and adverbs. As you have guessed, past participles have the ability of denoting a complete action.
But you should bear in mind that past participles cannot be used as the main verb of a sentence. And this is where most students fail to anticipate.
Errors At Glance
Consider the following sentence:
1) “The global warming has long been foresee as a known threat to earth.”
2) “This truth cannot be bore any longer.”
What are wrong with the above sentences?
Sentence 1: foresee should have been written as “foreseen”
Sentence 2: bore should have been written as “borne” or “born”
My Opinion On Why Those Mistakes Happen
As per my experience as a gp student and class orator (some 5 years ago) my conclusion as why students make those mistakes are:
1) Student are not aware of the transformation of certain verbs into other tenses like past tense and past participles. (In the case of the “bore” in sentence 2.)
Some verbs have uncommon patterns in the transformation from their present tense into past tense and past participle.
Eg:
* bear -> bore -> borne (or born)
* see -> saw -> seen
* write -> wrote -> written
These ‘weird’ verbs are, I believe, not strongly grasped by students since ‘common’ verbs usually just take ‘ed’ or ‘d’ or just remain the same:
* describe -> described -> described
* arrive -> arrived -> arrived
* read -> read -> read
Advice:
You have to learn and be aware of the different categories of verbs and their different tenses. I remember in my early primary school, we used to learn by heart large table of verbs in all their tenses and this has been a lot of help to me in my later language usage. If you have not been able to do it at that time, do it now!
2) Students are not concentrated enough when writing.
You have to care what you are writing because the examiners do not care to give marks for such foolishness. Examiners are here to give marks, make it easy for them and for yourself!
3) Students write in a haste, thus forcing errors.
This is a fact due to time restrictions. But this is not an excuse! It is your duty and home work to train your writing skills alongside with your writing speed. The examiner does not care if you write quickly or slowly, what they care is ‘what you are writing’ and allocate marks.
So as a general paper student, take a moment to think about what I have explained and help yourself gain good marks. If you have any suggestion or you don’t agree with my point of view, you are free to use the comment form below to express your opinion.
Essay Words With Meaning And Sentences To help You
1) Scalded => burnt by hot liquid or steam
Jirel took the scalded girl to hospital.
2) Spooky => scary
The old house was huge, dusty and spooky.
3) hundle huddle => crowd together
The girls huddled together in fear.
4) shabbily => poorly dressed with worn-out clothes
The old man, lying at the post office, was shabbily dressed.
5) advent => arrival
The advent of the iPhone 3G has created a big craze among youngsters and adults alike.
6) loathe => dislike greatly
Some travellers actually like them while others loathe them.
7) nutritious => high food value
Above all, the daily food you eat may not be nutritious.
8.) dismay => shame consternation
We starred at the teacher in great dismay.
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