Punctuation, Part 1

In this post I will reflect on the reading I did in Rules for Writers about punctuation. The three sections I chose to write on are the semicolon, the colon, and other punctuation marks.

Semicolon: 

I'm someone who loves using commas, so I thought that reading about using semicolons would be good. I learned that it's good to use a semicolon in a series containing internal punctuation. I use these types of sentences a lot in my writing, so I think I will start to mix up my sentence formatting bby using semicolons.

Colon: 

I tend to avoid using colons because I ever know the proper time to use them. In the past, I have been tempted to use a colon after the words "for example," but I just learned that this is a common misuse of the colon. I don't typically see them used when quoting, but this is something that I will now to try to incorporate to switch up my formatting. 

Other Punctuation: 

The dash can also be used to introduce a list. I find it interesting how many ways there are to introduce lists but often times I notice that people tend to stick with one format that they are comfortable with.


Reflection:

Revising others' drafts really help me see how even others have a hard time with these things as well. I was able to see these punctuation marks put in use, in ways I would not normally use them. This helped me think about how I can improve my work by broadening my scope of punctuation. As silly as that sounds, repetitive sentence structure is boring to read, so it's important to diversify.

I revised Alex's draft. Below is an example of a great use of a colon.

The authors explain this more in depth when they say: “We should permit drugs that are safe, and continue to ban and monitor drugs that are unsafe.

I also revised Michael's draft. Below is an example where is was alright to use a semicolon, but it would have better to use a period.

Those who manage hedge-funds are frowned upon by the general population due to negative exposure in the media; consequently, Barro is capitalizing on this by saying that Trump denounced them and is now letting them benefit.