Cory,H_AdvancedWritingNewEd

Punctuation
1.1 Commas: verb and object
Don 't put a comma between the verb and its
obj ect, even wh en th e object is a noun cla use.
Verb + object
I har eforgotten 1111) chthlhood,
Verb + noun clause I ha ref orgoNell ichat .
l iconder if...
I cannot accept that .
Verb + two objects
I icish sumeone (could .
I told the capta in schat I thought.
I told th e captain that . . .
A Taking care not to separate the verb from its object, add
any co mmas that may be necessary in the following
sentences.
I asked her what time her mot her expected he r home.
2 I co uldn't pe rsuade him to tell me whe n he had started
to indulge in this habit.
3 I told her to simplify matters that I was the hoss.
-4 There was no way we could have guessed who was going
to he at th e part y.
B The role of punctuation is to make written English
easy to read, and to make the meaning absolutely clear.
In the following exercise we see how poor punctuation
can lead to ambiguity and misunderstandings.
In each of the following pairs of sentences, one of the
sentences is well punctuated, while the other needs one
or two commas: add those commas.
l a She promised to leave the hall before midnight.
1h She promised to keep her mother happv to leave the
bull before Illi<lnight.
2a If oulv \'(HI 'd told Helen she would he welcome!
2b If on I\' vou'd told Helen she wouldn't have been
shocked when she saw it.
3a She asked me to cut a long story sho rt to mend her car.
3b She asked me to devote my whole weekend to work ing
on the e ngine of her Seat 127,
-la l cun't re me mber whet he r we drank five bottles or six.
-lh I call rem em be r whethe r vou can or not.
Sa It was she who chose which was unusual for her.
5h It W"L'i she who chose which film we went to see.
1.2 Commas: verb and subject
Don't put a comma between th e subject and the
verb, whether the subject is a single word or a long
noun phrase. In the following examples, the subject is
in bold.
Da ncing excites me.
Th e only thing I ha ceforgotten is fum; it ends.
Th e lcay som e ofher best studen ts spoiled th eir
writing and conf used th eir readers byfailing to
punctuate properly (cas a terrible (corry to .\liss Brodie.
A In each of the following pairs of sentences, one of the
sentences is cor rectly punctuated , for the reason given
above. The other sentence is incorrectly punctuated, and
requires one comma . Decide which sentence is incorrectly
punctuated, and add the missing comma.
l a " 'hen he starte d to play polo was whe n Kate stopped
100i ng him .
Ib Wben be starte d to play polo Kate stopped Imiog him .
Za Whether or not you're going doesn't inte res t me at all.
21> Whether or not you're going I ce rtainly am.
3<\ \Vhere there used to he a factor)' 1I0 W th ere we re fields
of wild flowers.
3h Whe re large sums 01" mooey ehao ge hand s is where
lawyers are to he fouml.
B Revision
Add any commas that may be necessary.
1 Wasn't it Churchill who said that power co rrupts and
absolute power corm pts absolutclv?
2 Manv of the stude nts amI their friends and supporte rs
were shot at by th e police who later claimed that they
we re only o be~i ng orders.
3 ~ I y youngest siste r who was a haby durin g the time I
spent in the 'Honse of the Hising Sun ' was strongly
advis ed not to do what I had don e.
-I A large nu mber of fairly successful trials had alrea dy
been com ple ted with laboratory animals before any
change in the hehavtour of the professor who was
responsible for the proj ect was noted .
32 • Writing sub-skills