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Category_MWW Blog>The Comma
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An independent clause and a sentence are the same thing. And the first rule of all punctuation is that a comma goes before a coordinate conjunction that connects independent clauses. The fact that ...
Category_MWW Blog>The Comma
Clarifying Terminology
When we say, "Do not put a comma after 'so,'" we are talking about a single separating comma. A pair of commas can go anywhere. There is never a single comma after "so." We have this confusion ofte...
Category_MWW Blog>General
Happy New Year
Dear blog people,
If you remember a very successful Australian tennis player from the 1970s, Evonne Goolagong, you might remember that she had "walkabouts" -- times when she just wasn't with it, w...
Category_MWW Blog>General
That Pesky Word "So"
The rules for “so”:
When it means “so that” and implies the reason for doing something, it begins a dependent clause which, at the end of the sentence, gets no punctuation.
…I sent it to her so I...
Category_MWW Blog>The Hyphen
And If the Letter-for-Letter Spelling Is Interrupted...
There is a question about the blog from earlier in the week: What happens when the spelling is interrupted or picks up midword?
It is important to remember that the hyphen goes with the letter tha...
Category_MWW Blog>General
Letter-for-Letter Spelling
The "rule" for letter-for-letter spelling is that the spelling should look exactly like the word/words when they are written normally -- same punctuation, same capitalization.
...Robert Hendricks,...
Category_MWW Blog>The Comma
"Yes" and "No" and Their Friends
When yes and no or any of the words that indicate affirmative or negative are in the middle of a sentence, they are surrounded by commas.
...And, yes, he did accompany us the first time.
...He was...
Category_MWW Blog>The Comma
The Parenthetical
Don't forget that a parenthetical has to be surrounded by punctuation. When the parenthetical follows the word and, for example, there has to be a pair of commas around the parenthetical.
...And i...
Category_MWW Blog>The Comma
Elements Out of Their Natural Order
When a noun clause direct object is pulled out to the front of the sentence -- where it does NOT belong -- it takes a comma after it before the subject and verb in the sentence.
...Where she was t...