The importance of punctuation Dashes and hyphens, inverted commas

January 13th, 2011 | Author: thecreativegenie

Topics: Effective
writing
Tags: dashes, Em
dash, En
dash, hyphens, punctuation, quotation
marks, writing
The appendixes to Effective Writing provides a succinct list of common
writing errors. It is not a complete list but rather a compilation of some of
those I come across most frequently as an editor.
Dashes and hyphens
There are commonly three types of hyphens and dashes used in
punctuation. These are the straight hyphen (?) plus the extended hyphens:
the Em dash () and the En dash ().
The hyphen is used in spelling to link compound words, form prefixes and
compound adjectives. It is also used to define syntax within sentences by
forming compounds needed to keep words together as in the the soon-tobe prime minister Compound family names are also separated with a
hyphen as in Barbara Smith-Jones and in printing it is used to split words
that do not fit at the end of the line although this should be avoided if at all
possible and there are rules as to how to split words when there is no other
option.
An Em dash is used in much the same way as a colon or parenthetic
expressions (in place of brackets). It is often associated with the less formal
writing styles and in formal writing a colon or bracket would be used as
appropriate.
The En dash is used to denote sequence or range as in 20082009;
module 2 can be found on pages 3655 or module 2 can be found from
page 36 to page 55. A spaced En dash can also be used in place of
an Em dash which generally does not take spaces.
The free and fair elections if you can call them such will be held in May
of this year.
The free and fair electionsif you can call them suchwill be held in May
of this year.

Word 2007 shows a distinct preference for the former and will automatically
replace a spaced hyphen with a spaced En dash as you type.
Sadly, if you prefer Em dashes (as I do) then you have to place them
manually. You can also do this via a global Find and Replace. Some
companies and organisations use a Spaced Em dash rather than an
unspaced one, so check the preferred style of the organisation for which
you are writing.
Inverted commas
Quotation marks are inverted commas but not all inverted commas are
quotation marks. They are a form of punctuation that separates out a group
of words from the surrounding text and can be single ( _ ) or double ( _ ).
Inverted commas can be used (i) to identify direct speech, (ii) to identify the
titles of literary works (but see comment on italics below), (iii) to draw
attention to a particular word or a word used in an unusual context or (iv) to
indicate that the writer does not necessarily agree with the proposition
being put forward.
Whether to use single or double quotation marks is a common problem for
authors and again there is no one rule for all occasions. In Britain, single
commas are more prevalent than double while in the United States the
reverse is true. In Australia, the Australian Government style is to use
single quotation marks.
There are some easy rules to apply and which are widely practised by
writers. These are a few suggestions:
1.

Use double marks for inline quotations and direct speech

2. Use single marks for specific words and for quotations WITHIN
quotations
3.

Use italics to identify titles and avoid inverted commas altogether.

As in other areas, in the absence of firm rules being set down for you, what
matters most is consistency in your use

Hyphen (-)
Hyphens are used to link words and parts of words. They are not as common today
as they used to be, but there are three main cases where you should use them:
in compound words

to join prefixes to other words

to show word breaks

Hyphens in compound words
Hyphens are used in many compound words to show that the component words
have a combined meaning (e.g. a pick-me-up, mother-in-law, good-hearted) or that
there is a relationship between the words that make up the compound: for
example, rock-forming minerals are minerals that form rocks. But you dont need
to use them in every type of compound word.

Compound adjectives
Compound adjectives are made up of a noun + an adjective, a noun + a participle,
or an adjective + a participle. Many compound adjectives should be hyphenated.
Here are some examples:
adjective +
noun + adjective noun + participle participle
accident-prone

computer-aided

good-looking

sugar-free

power-driven

quick-thinking

carbon-neutral

user-generated

bad-tempered

sport-mad

custom-built

fair-haired

camera-ready

muddle-headed

open-mouthed

With compound adjectives formed from the adverb well and a participle (e.g. wellknown), or from a phrase (e.g. up-to-date), you should use a hyphen when the
compound comes before the noun:
well-known brands of coffee

an up-to-date account
but not when the compound comes after the noun:
His music was also well known in England.
Their figures are up to date.
Its important to use hyphens in compound adjectives describing ages and lengths
of time: leaving them out can make the meaning ambiguous. For example, 250year-old trees clearly refers to trees that are 250 years old, while 250 year old
trees could equally refer to 250 trees that are all one year old.
Compound verbs
Use a hyphen when a compound formed from two nouns is made into a verb, for
example:
noun
an ice skate

verb
to ice-skate

a booby trap

to booby-trap

a spot check

to spot-check

a court martial to court-martial

Phrasal verbs
You should NOT put a hyphen within phrasal verbs - verbs made up of a main verb
and an adverb or preposition. For example:
Phrasal verb Example
build up
You should continue to build up your pension.
break in

They broke in by forcing a lock on the door.

stop of

We stopped off in Hawaii on the way home.

If a phrasal verb is made into a noun, though, you SHOULD use a hyphen:

Noun Example
build-up There was a build-up of traffic on the ring road.
breakThe house was unoccupied at the time of the break-in.
in
stopof

We knew there would be a stop-off in Singapore for refuelling.

Compound nouns
A compound noun is one consisting of two component nouns. In principle, such
nouns can be written in one of three different ways:
one word two words hyphenated
aircrew air crew
air-crew
playgroup play group play-group
chatroom chat room

chat-room

In the past, these sorts of compounds were usually hyphenated, but the situation is
different today. The tendency is now to write them as either one word or two
separate words. However, the most important thing to note is that you should
choose one style and stick to it within a piece of writing. Dont refer to
a playgroup in one paragraph and a play-group in another.
Hyphens joining prefixes to other words
Hyphens can be used to join a prefix to another word, especially if the prefix ends
in a vowel and the other word also begins with one (e.g. pre-eminent or co-own).
This use is less common than it used to be, though, and one-word forms are
becoming more usual (e.g. prearrange or cooperate).
Use a hyphen to separate a prefix from a name or date, e.g. postAristotelian or pre-1900.
Use a hyphen to avoid confusion with another word: for example, to
distinguish re-cover (= provide something with a new cover) from recover (= get
well again).
Hyphens showing word breaks
Hyphens can also be used to divide words that are not usually hyphenated.

They show where a word is to be divided at the end of a line of writing. Always try
to split the word in a sensible place, so that the first part does not mislead the
reader: for example, hel-met not he-lmet; dis-abled not disa-bled.
Hyphens are also used to stand for a common second element in all but the last
word of a list, e.g.:
You may see a yield that is two-, three-, or fourfold.
You can read more about when to use hyphens on the Oxford Dictionaries blog.
Here you will find helpful tips on when to use hyphens and examples of when they
should not be used.
Back to punctuation.
You may also be interested in
Exclamation mark (!)
Question mark (?)
Dash ()
Hyphen and Dash
This section is concerned with the two punctuation marks hyphen (-) and
dash (). Even though they look rather similar, they have different
functions, as the rules and examples below are intended to illustrate.
On the use of hyphens
We know that sometimes words contain hyphens. There is considerable
variation in this area (that is, not everyone agrees on the proper use of
hyphens), but there are a number of cases in which hyphens are used that
we must bear in mind. Also always try to be consistent, so that you do not
write the same word in different ways in the same text.
At the end of a line of writing

If possible, put the hyphen between two parts of a compound word

(eg. motor- at the end of one line and cycle at the beginning of the
next one).
Otherwise, put the hyphen before a suffix (understand -ably, instead
of understa -ndably) or after a prefix (mono- transitive, instead
of monot- ransitive).
Words that are not compounds and which do not contain affixes are
normally not long enough to have to be divided at the end of a line.

In compounds
Generally speaking, compounds can be written in three different ways in
English, namely as one word, as two words with a space between them, or
with a hyphen between the first and the second part of the word.
In many cases, there is variation among writers, and writing conventions
change over time, so always consult a recent and trusted dictionary when
in doubt. However, the following general rules and advice should be useful:
Compound adjectives are often (but not always) written with a hyphen. A
compound adjective is typically an adjective that consists of an adjective +
a participle (e.g. long-lasting and short-natured), a noun + a participle
(thought-provoking and data-driven), or a noun + an adjective (cameraready, lead-free).
It is extra important to use a hyphen when not using one could lead to
ambiguity. For instance, we should not write ten year old children if we
mean ten-year-old children, since ten year old children could equally well
refer to ten children that are one year old (i.e. ten year-old children).
Generally speaking, compound premodifying adjectives, that is, adjectives
that precede and modify the head of a noun phrase, are more often written
with a hyphen than compound adjectives functioning as predicatives. This
is especially important to remember when the compound adjective contains
the adverb well. For example, even though we could very well write as in
(1), we have to use the hyphen in (2):
(1) I find this paper well written.
(2) This is really a well-written paper.
Similarly, we have to use hyphens if a premodifying adjective is formed
from a phrase (3), even though we may leave out the hyphen when such a
compound adjective functions as predicative (4):
(3) A new state-of-the-art laboratory on Deeside marks a big step ahead in
Wales' drive for economic renewal and green jobs.
(4) This document is part of a series of reviews of the state of the art in
cognitive systems.
Compound numbers less than 100 are spellt with a hyphen (e.g. seventysix, thirty-five).

Phrasal verbs have no hyphens when they are verbs (5), but when they are
used as nouns, they get a hyphen, as in (6) below.
(5) Long queues started to build up at these security checkpoints.
(6) There was a build-up of fluid in the inner ear, and the doctors drained
the fluid out so the child could hear.
After a prefix
We insert a hyphen between a prefix and a number or a proper noun
(name):
(7) This is a pre-2004 phenomenon.
(8) This would reduce the risk of the further deterioration of Iraq into
a post-Yugoslavia type of situation.
We also include a hyphen in order to avoid words getting mixed up, so, for
instance, we write re-cover, if we do not meanrecover, as in (9):
(9) I would like to know how to re-cover dining-room chairs.
It is (or used to be) common practice in British English to insert a hyphen
between a prefix ending in a vowel and a word starting with a vowel, as in
(10), but this use appears to be losing ground, so we also frequently find
such words written as one word without a hyphen, as in (11):
(10) Nato and Russia have made a historic agreement to co-operate over
the creation of a missile defence shield protecting more than one billion
people in a move aimed at bolstering the reset in relations between
Moscow and the west.
(11) Although the duty to cooperate would render it more difficult for local
authorities to refuse a transfer outright, it did not override their discretion
when deciding whether this would be compatible with other of their
statutory duties or whether they could fulfil the terms of an offender's
licence conditions.
There are also a number of prefixes that are always suppused to be
followed by a hyphen, for instance all-, cross-, ex-, self-,half-, and anti-, as
in (12) to (17):
(12) In principle this could be done by an all-knowing central planner.
(13) Cross-Cultural Research (CCR) publishes peer-reviewed articles that
describe cross-cultural and comparative studies in all human sciences.

(14) After a year or so, my friend and ex-colleague John. Murray VII
offered help again.
(15) Self-esteem has to do with how one sees and experiences oneself.
(16) There is no way anyone in attendance left this show thinking it
was half-hearted.
(17) To illustrate what types of behaviour are anti-social, below are
examples of ASB.
Finally, please remember the practice of spelling premodifying compunds
with hyphens, as illustrated in some of the examples above.
The dash
A dash is the punctuation mark , which is used to separate parts of a
sentence. Dashes look like hyphens (which are used, for instance, to
connect two or more words, as in a two-year-old child) but are longer.
There are two forms of dashes in English language print:
en dash (en rule) This is the shorter dash, preceded and followed by a
blank space (as illustrated).
em dash (em rule)This is the longer, unspaced dash (as illustrated).
Dashes can be used instead of commas to set off a parenthetical element
in a sentence:
(1) Driving at nightespecially in the raincan be dangerous and
requires more attention than daytime driving.
Note the difference between British and American publishers: most British
publishers (except Oxford UP), use the en dash, whereas the em dash with
no blank spaces is preferred by most American publishers (and by Oxford
UP) (Ritter, 2003, p. 141).

Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes

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Punctuation marks: terribly powerful in the right hands. Punctuation marks
are silent allies, and you can train yourself to exploit them as such.
Punctuation marks do not just indicate sound patternsthey are symbols
that clarify grammatical structure and sentence meaning. And, as I

demonstrate in the writing of this paragraph, punctuation marks showcase

your facility with the language. What follows are some basics about three of
the most powerful and most commonly misused punctuation marks.
The Semicolon
The semicolon is often misused in technical writing; in fact, it is often
confused with the colon. Grammatically, the semicolon almost always
functions as an equal sign; it says that the two parts being joined are
relatively equal in their length and have the same grammatical structure.
Also, the semicolon helps you to link two things whose interdependancy
you wish to establish. The sentence parts on either side of the semicolon
tend to depend on each other for complete meaning. Use the semicolon
when you wish to create or emphasize a generally equal or even
interdependent relationship between two things. Note the interdependent
relationship of the two sentence parts linked by the semicolon in this
example:
The sonde presently used is located in the center of the borehole; this
location enables the engineer to reduce microphonics and standoff
sensitivity.
Here, we see how the second half of the sentence helps to explain a key
detail (the sonde location) of the first half. The semicolon, along with the
repetition of the word location, helps to draw our attention to the
explanation.
The semicolon is also handy for linking a series of parallel items that could
otherwise be confused with each other. One savvy student used the
semicolon in a job description on her resume as follows:
As an engineering assistant, I had a variety of duties: participating in
pressure ventilation surveys; drafting, surveying, and data compilation;
acting as a company representative during a roof-bolt pull test.
The Colon
The colon: well-loved but, oh, so misunderstood. The colon is not just used
to introduce a list; it is far more flexible. The colon can be used after the
first word of a sentence or just before the final word of a sentence. The

colon can also be used to introduce a grammatically independent sentence.

Thus, I call it the most powerful of punctuation marks.
The colon is like a sign on the highway, announcing that something
important is coming. It acts as an arrow pointing forward, telling you to read
on for important information. A common analogy used to explain the colon
is that it acts like a flare in the road, signaling that something meaningful
lies ahead.
Use the colon when you wish to provide pithy emphasis.
To address this problem, we must turn to one of the biologists most
fundamental tools: the Petri dish.
Use the colon to introduce material that explains, amplifies, or summaries
what has preceded it.
The Petri dish: one of the biologists most fundamental tools.
In low carbon steels, banding tends to affect two properties in particular:
tensile ductility and yield strength.
The colon is also commonly used to present a list or series, which comes in
handy when there is a lot of similar material to join:
A compost facility may not be located as follows: within 300 feet of an
exceptional-value wetland; within 100 feet of a perennial stream; within 50
feet of a property line.
The Dash
The dashwhich is typically typed as two hyphens or as one long bar
(available on your word processors symbol map)functions almost as a
colon does in that it adds to the preceding material, but with extra
emphasis. Like a caesura (a timely pause) in music, a dash indicates a
strong pause, then gives emphasis to material following the pause. In
effect, a dash allows you to redefine what was just written, making it more
explicit. You can also use a dash as it is used in the first sentence of this
paragraph: to frame an interruptive or parenthetical-type comment that you
do not want to de-emphasize.

Jill Emery confirms that Muslim populations have typically been ruled by
non-Muslimsspecifically Americans, Russians, Israelis, and the French.
The dissolution took 20 minutesmuch longer than anticipatedbut
measurements were begun as soon as the process was completed.
Finally, the dash we typically use is technically called the em dash, and it
is significantly longer than the hyphen. There is also an en dashwhose
length is between that of the hyphen and the em dash, and its best usage
is to indicate inclusive dates and numbers:
July 6September 17

pp. 4856.

Like the em dash, the en dash is typically available on your word

processors symbol map, or it may even be inserted automatically by your
word processor when you type inclusive numbers or dates with a hyphen
between them. When you type the hyphen, en dash, and em dash, no
spaces should appear on either side of the punctuation mark.
BEFORE considering any of the aims and purposes of poetry, or any of its 1
essential characteristics, it will be helpful to consider it in its place, as one
of the fine arts. If we then ask ourselves what the fine arts are to do for us,
what place they are to hold in a civilized nation, we shall perhaps be able
to look at poetry in a broader way than we otherwise could; we shall be
able to think of it, not merely as a pleasant and amusing diversion, but as
one of the potent factors in history.
If we try to find a place for the fine arts among our various human 2
activities, we might begin by making a rough classification of our subject
in this way: the most primitive and necessary occupations we engage in,
such as fishing and agriculture, trading, navigating, hunting, etc., we call
industries. These marked the earliest stage of mans career in civilization.
Then he comes to other occupations, requiring more skill and ingenuity; he
weaves fabrics, he makes himself houses, he fashions all sorts of
implements for the household and the chase. He becomes a builder, a
potter, a metal worker, an inventor. He has added thought to work and
made the work easier. And these new occupations which he has discovered
for himself differ from his earlier ones, chiefly in this, that they result in
numerous objects of more or less permanence, cunningly contrived and
aptly fitted to use. They are objects of useful or industrial art.
We must note two things about this step forward which man has taken 3

toward civilization: in the first place he had to have some leisure to do

these things, and in the second place the objects he has made reveal his
ingenuity and forethought. They are records of his life. And it will happen
that, as his leisure increases, his implements will become more and more
elaborate and ornate. Every workman will have his own way of fashioning
them, using his own device and designs, so that they will become
something more than rude relics of one historic age or another: they will
tell us something of the artificer himself; they will embody some
intentional expression of human life, and come to have an art value. In so
far as they can do this, they contain the essential quality of the fine arts.
And the more freely the workman can deal with his craft, the more
perfectly he can make it characteristic of himself, the greater will its
artistic quality become.
The only purpose of the primitive industries was a utilitarian one. The 4
prime object of the industrial arts is also a utilitarian one; but they have a
secondary object as well, they aim at beauty too. They not only serve the
practical end for which they were intended; they serve also as a means of
expression for the workmen. Now just as we passed from the industries to
the industrial arts, by the addition of this secondary interest, this human
artistic expressional quality, so by making this quality paramount, we may
pass from the industrial arts to the fine arts, where expression is all
important and utility is almost lost sight of. It is the distinguishing mark of
the fine arts that they give us a means of expressing ourselves in terms of
intelligible beauty.
I have made this distinction between the fine and the industrial merely for 5
the sake of clarifying our ideas, and getting a notion of what is the essence
of all art. But really the difference is not important and, having served its
turn, may be forgotten. There is an element of art, of course, in everything
that we do; the manner of the doing, that is the art. The quality of art
which we should appreciate and respect may quite as truly be present in a
Japanese tobacco box as in a Greek Tragedy. The Japanese, indeed, offer
an instance of a people who have raised the handicrafts quite to the level
of the fine arts. All those fascinating objects of beauty, which they contrive
with so much skill, are often, one may guess, only as many excuses for the
workman to exhibit his deftness and his taste. This black oak cabinet inlaid
with pearl, or that lacquer bowl, may perhaps be counted useful objects;
but I fancy that before all else they were just so many opportunities for the
artist; and when he fashioned them he had in mind only the creation of
something beautiful, and thought very little of the use to which they might

be put. He was bent on giving play to his imagination, and you may be
very sure he was glad in the work of his hands and wrought all those
intricate effects with loving care. Surely the result is much more deserving
of respect than a mediocre epic or a second-rate painting. It is not what we
do that counts, but how well we do it. There is no saying one kind of work
is art, and another kind is not art. Anything that is well done is art;
anything that is badly done is rotten.
I do not wish, either, to confine the word useful, in its application, to 6
our material needs. Everything we do ought to be useful, and so it is, if it
is done well. Tables and chairs are useful; but so are pictures and
cathedrals and lyrics and the theatre. If we allow ourselves only what are
called the necessities of life, we are only keeping alive one-third of being;
the other two-thirds of our manhood may be starving to death. The mind
and the soul have their necessities, as well as the body. And we are to seek
these things, not only for our future salvation, but for our salvation here
and now, that our lives may be helpful and sane and happy.
It is often easy to see how a fine art may grow from some more necessary 7
and commonplace undertaking. The fine art of painting, for instance, arose
of course from the use of ornamental lines and figures, drawn on pottery,
or on the walls of a skin tent, where it served only to enhance the value of
the craftsmans work, and please his fancy. Gradually, through stages of
mural decoration, perhaps, where ever-increasing freedom of execution
was given the artist, its first ornamental purpose was forgotten, and it came
to serve only as a means of expressing the artists imaginative ideals. So
too of sculpture and architecture, of dancing and acting. It is an easy
transition from the light-hearted superfluous skip of a child as it runs, to
the more formal dance-step, as the child keeps time to music and gives
vent to its gayety of spirit. It is an easy transition from gesture and signlanguage, employed as a useful means of communication, to their more
elaborate use in the art of acting, where they serve merely to create an
illusion. So, too, whenever a piece of information is conveyed by word of
mouth, and the teller of the tale elaborates it with zest and interest, making
it more memorable and vivid, the fine art of letters is born.
We may notice again that the quality of art begins to appear in all our 8
occupations, as the dire stress of existence is relieved and mans spirit
begins to have free play. Art is an indication of health and happy
exuberance of life; it is as instinctive and spontaneous in its origin as
childs play. To produce it naturally the artist must be free, for the time
being at least,free from all doubt or hesitation about the truth, free from

all material entanglements, free from all dejection and sadness of heart. So
that the primitive industries mark the first grade in the human story, when
we were barely escaping from the necessity for unremitting hand-to-hand
physical struggle for life; and the second grade in our progress is marked
by the appearance of the industrial arts; while we may look on the fine arts
as an index of the highest development, as we pass from savagery and
barbarism to civilization. And perhaps we shall not go very far astray, in
our comparative estimate of nations, and their greatness on the earth, if we
rank them in the order of their proficiency in the arts.
The fine arts, having thus had their rise in the free play of the human 9
spirit, as it went about its work in the world and busied itself with the
concerns of life, became a natural vehicle for giving expression to all
mens aspirations and thoughts about life. Indeed it was this very simple
elemental need for self-expression, as a trait in human character, which
helped to determine what the fine arts should be. To communicate our
feelings, to transmit knowledge, to amuse ourselves by creating a mimic
world with imaginative shapes of beauty, these were fundamental
cravings, lurking deep in the spirit of man, and demanding satisfaction,
almost as imperiously as the desires of the body. If hunger and cold made
us industrious humans, no less certainly love of companionship and need
for self-expression moulded our breath into articulate speech.
Since therefore the fine arts are so truly a creation of man, we may expect 1
to find in them a trustworthy image of himself. Whatever is human will be 0
there. All our thoughts, all our emotions, all our sensations and hopes and
fears. They will reveal and embody in themselves all the traits of our
complex nature. Art is that lovely corporeal body with which man
endowers the spirit of goodness and the thought of truth. For there are in
man these three great principles,a capacity for finding out the truth and
distinguishing it from error, a capacity for perceiving goodness and
knowing it from evil, and a capacity for discriminating between what is
ugly and what is fair. By virtue of the first of these powers, man has
sought knowledge,has become the philosopher and scientist; by virtue
of the second, he has evolved religions and laws, and social order and
advancement; while by virtue of the third he has become an artist. Yet we
must be careful not to suppose that either one of these powers ever comes
into play entirely alone; for man has not three separate natures, but one
nature with three different phases. When therefore man finds expression
for his complete personality in the fine arts, you may always expect to find
there, not only creations of beauty, but monuments of wisdom and religion

as well. Art can no more exist without having a moral bearing, than a body
can exist without a soul. Its influence may be for good or for bad, but it is
there and it is inevitable. In the same way no art can exist without an
underlying philosophy, any more than man can exist without a mind. The
philosophy may be trivial or profound, but it is always present.
Art, therefore, is enlisted beyond escape, both in the service of science
and in the service of religion. Great art appears wherever the heart of man
has been able to manifest itself in a perfectly beautiful guise, informed by
thoughts of radiant truth, and inspired by emotions of limitless goodness.
Any piece of art which does not fulfill its obligations to truth and
goodness, as well as to beauty, is necessarily faulty and incomplete.
At first thought perhaps you might not be quite ready to admit such a
canon of criticism as this; for truth is the object of all science, and
goodness is the object of all morality, and some persons have been
accustomed to say that art has nothing whatever to do with either morality
or science, but exists for its own sake alone, for the increase and
perpetuation of pleasure. But art cannot give us complete pleasure, if it
appeals only to our senses, and leaves unsatisfied our natural curiosity and
wonder,our need for understanding, and our need for loving. That is to
say, our reason and our emotion must always be appealed to, as well as our
sense of beauty.
For instance, I am to be entranced by the beautiful diction and cadence of
the poem; at the same time, its conception of life and universe may be
patently false and puerile, and from that point of view it would not please
me at all; it would disgust me. Or it might show a just estimate of life, it
might be true to philosophy and science, and yet celebrate some mean or
base or ignoble or cruel incident in a way that would be revolting to my
spirit. In other words, while it satisfied my sense of beauty, it might fail
utterly to satisfy my sense of right or my desire for truth. To be wholly
pleasing, the fine arts must satisfy the mind with its insatiable curiosity,
and the soul with its love of justice, quite as thoroughly as they satisfy the
needs of the senses.
To my mind the great pre-eminence of Browning as a poet does not rest
on any profound philosophy to be found in his work, nor in his superior
craftsmanship, not yet in his generous uplifting impulse and the way with
which he arouses our feelings, but rather on the fact that he possessed all
these three requirements of a poet in an equally marked degree. The work
of Poe or of William Morris, on the other hand, does not exhibit this fine

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balance of strength, intellectuality, and passion. On its sensuous side, it is

wonderfully beautiful; and yet it is not wholly satisfying, since it fails to
give us enough to think about. Its mentality is too slight. Neither of these
poets, to judge from his poetry alone, had any large and firm grasp of the
thought of the world, such as Browning possessed, and that is why the
wizardry of Poe and the luring charm of Morris are not more effective. An
artist must be also a thinker and a prophet, if his creations are to have the
breath of life. And again, poetry may easily fail by being overladen with
this same requisite of mentality. It may have more thought than it can
carry. Browning himself, in several of his later books, like the Inn
Album, quite loses the fine poise of his powers, and almost ceases to be a
poet, in his desire to be a philosopher.
All this is so fundamentally important, that we cannot have it too clearly
in mind. It is the one great central truth, which must illumine all criticism,
and help our understanding of life, as well as of art.
When we say however that it is the business of art to give pleasure, in all
three of these possible ways, of course we must not suppose that the arts
do not differ one from another, in their ability to meet such demand. The
art of music cannot satisfy my reason as completely as the art of poetry,
for example; because it cannot transmit a logical statement of fact. It may
appeal to my senses more charmingly than poetry can; it may arouse my
emotions profoundly; but it cannot appeal to my mind in the way poetry
does. On the other hand poetry itself is less strictly rational than prose
literature; it does not attempt to satisfy our curiosity as completely as
prose does, though it pleases our sthetic sense more. There need be no
question of one art being greater or less than another; we need only
remember the way in which they vary, and how each has a different
proportion of the three requirements which are necessary to them all.
To speak quite simply, then, art is concerned first of all in the creation of
beauty. At the same time it is closely related to science on one side and
religion on the other. But how? I suppose we may say (to speak again quite
roughly) that science is all we know about things, and religion is all we
feel about them. Naturally therefore every artistic conception to which we
give expression will betray something both of our philosophy and of our
morality. It cannot be otherwise. In the case of literature the human spirit
is finding expression for itself through the medium of human speech; and
speech is the most exact means we have for conveying definite thought,
and narrating facts. So that every literature contains a great body of work
which is almost pure science. In De Quinceys useful phrase, There is a

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literature of knowledge and a literature of power. Euclids Geometry,

Newtons Principia, Darwins Origin of Species, are works of science
rather than of letters. They appeal solely to our reason, and do not attempt
to please our sense of the beautiful by their literary structure and the
arrangement of verbal sounds, nor to work upon our emotions in any way.
Euclid does not care whether you like his XLVIII. proposition or not, so
long as he can convince you that it is true. Neither does Darwin care
whether his theory pleases you or not. He is only interested in getting at
the truth. How that truth may affect our feeling is quite another matter. It is
so too of the theological and philosophic writers, like Spinoza and Kant;
they are primarily scientists, not artists. But when you pass from these
austere reasoners to a work like Platos Dialogues, you perceive that two
new elements have entered into the making of the book. Plato is not only
interested in finding out the truth, and convincing you of its
reasonableness; he wishes at the same time to make the truth seem
pleasant and good; he tries to enlist your feelings on his side; and also to
satisfy your sense of beauty with his form of words. He has added a
religious value and an art value to the theme of pure philosophy. He has
made his book a piece of literature.
And as literature is related to science on one hand, it is related to religion 1
on the other. A book of meditation or of hymns may be extremely devout 8
in sentiment, without possessing any value as literature. Because, very
often it takes a certain set of ideas for granted, without caring very much
whether they are the largest and truest ideas or not; and also because it
makes no effort to be fine and distinguished in its diction. It may be
entirely worthy in the fervor of its sentiment, and yet be quite unworthy in
an artistic way. With great religious books this is not so. Works like the
Psalms or passages of Isaiah, or the poetry of Job, or Tennysons
Crossing the Bar, are first of all religious in their intention,they are
meant to play upon our emotional nature: but they do not stop there; they
are cast in a form of words so perfect and fresh that it arrests us at once,
and satisfies our love of beauty. At the same time they accord with the
most profound and fundamental ideas about life and nature that humanity
has been capable of. They satisfy our mind and our sthetic sense, as well
as our spiritual need. It is because of this three-fold completeness, that we
class them as pieces of literature, and not merely as records of religious
enthusiasm. Depth of religious feeling alone would not have been
sufficient to make them literature, any more than clear thinking and
accurate reason alone could have made Platos book a piece of literature.

We must remember, too, how vapid the artistic quality is, when it exists
by itself without adequate intelligence and underlying purpose. Think how
much of modern art is characterized by nothing but form, how devoid it is
of ideas, how lacking in anything like passionate enthusiasm. I believe this
is to some extent due to our failure to realize that these components of
which I have been speaking are absolutely requisite in all art. We forget
that there is laid upon art any obligation except to be beautiful; we forget
that it must embody the truest thought man has been able to reach, and
enshrine the noblest impulses he has entertained. This is not so much a
duty for art to undertake, as an inescapable destiny and natural function.
It is a sad day for a people when their art becomes divorced from the
current of their life, when it comes to be looked on as something precious
but unimportant, having nothing at all to do with their social structure,
their education, their political ideas, their faith or their daily vocations. But
I fear that we ourselves are living in just such a time. Fine arts may be
patronized even liberally, but you could not say they have any hold on us
as a people; we have no wide feelings for them, no profound conviction of
their importance.
There may be many reasons for this, and it is a question with which we
are not directly concerned here. One reason there is, however, it seems to
me, which is too important not to be referred to. The fine arts, as I tried to
show a few pages back, are an outgrowth and finer development of the
industrial arts. One would expect them to flourish only in a nation where
the industrial arts flourish; only in such a nation would the great body of
the people be infused with the popular love of beauty, and a feeling for art,
which could create a stimulating, artistic atmosphere, and out of which
great artists could be born. So much will be readily admitted. But under
modern industrial and commercial conditions, the industrial arts are dead;
they have been killed by the exigencies of our business processes. The
industrial artist has become the factory-hand. To produce anything worth
while, either in the fine or in the industrial arts, it is necessary that the
worker should not be hurried, and should have some freedom to do his
work in his own way, according to his own delight and fancy. The modern
workman, on the contrary, is a slave to his conditions; he can earn his
bread only by working with a maximum of speed, and a minimum of
conscientiousness. He can have neither pleasure nor pride in his work; and
consequently that work can have no artistic value whatever. The result is,
that not only have we almost no industrial arts, properly speaking, but the
modern workman is losing all natural taste and love of beauty, through

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being denied all exercise of that faculty. If you allow me to learn the art of
a book-binder, or a potter, or a rug-maker, and to follow it for myself as
best I can, my perception and love of what is beautiful will grow with my
growing skill. But if you put me to work in a modern factory, where such
things, or rather where hideous imitations of those things, are produced, I
should not be able to exercise my creative talent at all, and whatever love
of beauty I may have had will perish for lack of use. Thus it happens that
the average man today has so little appreciation of beauty, so little
instinctive taste, and that art and letters occupy so small a place in our
regard. Before we can reinstate them in that position of honor which they
have hitherto held among civilized nations, we shall have to find some
solution for our industrial difficulties.
It may seem at a superficial glance that the arts are all very well as a
pass-time, for the enjoyment of the few, but can have no imperative call
for busy men and women in active modern life. And if we should be told
that, as a nation, we have no widespread love of beauty, no popular taste in
artistic matters, we would not take the accusation very much to heart. We
should probably admit it, and turn with pride to point to our wonderful
material success, our achievements in the realm of trade and commerce,
our unmatched prosperity and wealth. But that answer will not do. You
may lead me through the streets of our great cities, and fill my ears with
stories of our uncounted millions of money, our unrivalled advance among
the nations; but that will not divert my soul from horror at a state of
society where municipal government is a venial farce, where there is little
reverence for law, where Mammon is a real God, and where every week
there are instances of mob violence, as revolting as any that ever stained
the history of the Emperors of degenerate Rome. We may brag our loudest
to ourselves, but the soul is not deceived. She sits at the centre of the
being, judging severely our violence, our folly, and our crime. And when
at last we come to our senses, and perceive to what a condition of shame
we have fallen from our high estate as a freedom-loving people, we may
be able to restore some of those ideals which we have lost,ideals of
common honesty, of civic liberty, of simple unostentatious life, of social
order and law and security.
All this of course goes almost without saying. But the point I wish to
make is, that this decay in moral standards goes hand in hand with our loss
of taste. Our sense of beauty and our sense of goodness are so closely
related, that any injury to the one means an injury to the other. You cannot
expect the nation which cares nothing at all for art to care very much for

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justice or righteousness. You cannot expect a man who does not care how
hideous his surroundings are to care very much about his moral
obligations. And we shall never reach that national position of true
greatness, which many Americans have dreamed of; we shall lose entirely
those personal traits of dignity, honor, and kindliness, which many oldfashioned Americans still retain, unless we recognize the vital need of
moral standards, and sthetic ideals, and set ourselves to secure them. The
two must go hand in hand.
If you ask me why America is producing for the most part only that
which is mediocre in art and literature, I am forced to reply, that it is
because the average man among us has so little respect for moral ideals. In
a restless age we may resort to all kinds of reform, but no scheme of social
betterment will take the place of personal obligation and integrity. It all
comes back to the man at last. We dont need socialism or imperialism, or
free trade, or public ownership of monopolies, or state control of trusts, as
much as we need honest men, men in public life and private enterprise
who have some standard of conduct higher than insatiable self-interest.
Such ideals of conduct, in the widest sense, it is the aim of art to supply,
and education to inculcate. And education like art has its three-fold object.
It has to set itself not only to train our minds, in a desire for the truth, but
at the same time to train our spirits to love only what is good, and our
bodies to take pleasure only in what is beautiful and wholesome; and the
work of education in any one of these directions must always be intimately
related with its work in the other two. Emersons wise phrase is
profoundly true here
All are needed by each one.
Nothing is fair or good alone.
An education which does not quicken the conscience, and stimulate and
refine all our senses, and instincts, along with the growing reason, must
still remain a faulty education at best.
I am sure we cannot lay too much stress on this philosophic conception
of man, and the three aspects of his nature. I believe it will be found a
helpful solvent of many difficulties in education, in art, in life, in social
and political aims. I believe that without it, all our endeavors for
advancement in civilization will be sadly hampered and retarded, if not
frustrated altogether. For the simple reason that art and civilization and
social order exist for man; and they must therefore be adapted to the three
differing kinds of requirements in his make-up. His intellectual needs and

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capacities must be trained and provided for; his great emotional and
spiritual needs and powers must be given exercise; his sensitive physical
instincts must be guided and developed.
With this notion in mind, we may turn for a few minutes to consider what
tasks literature must set itself, and what it may be expected to do for a
people. In the first place, it is the business of literature, as of all the arts, to
create an illusion,to project upon the imagination a mimic world, true to
life, as we say, and at the same time more goodly and fair than the actual
one we know. For, unless the world of art be in some way more delightful
than the world of our every-day experience, why should we ever visit it?
We turn in sympathy to art, to music or reading, or objects of lovely color
and shape, for recreation and refreshment, for solace and inspiration. We
ask to find in it, ready to hand, these helpful and pleasant qualities which
are so hard to find in real life. And the art which does not give them to us
is disappointing, however clever it may be. It is this necessity for finding
the beautiful, this necessity for providing an immediate pleasure, that
makes pure realism unsatisfying in art. Realism is necessary, but not
sufficient.
For instance, you bring me a photograph of a beautiful elm-shaded street
in an old New England town. It fills my eye instantly with a delightful
scene. But by and by something in it begins to offend me, and I see that
the telegraph pole is too obtrusive, and spoils the composition and balance
of the picture. The photograph loses its value, as a pleasure-giving piece of
realism. Now a painter in reproducing the same scene would probably
have left out the telegraph pole. That is the difference. And that is why
photography, as usually practised, is not one of the fine arts. It is said by
those who contend for realism, for the photographic in literature, that art
must be true to nature: and so it must to a certain extent; but there are other
things besides the physical fact, to which it must conform. Your
photograph was true to nature, but it was not true to my memory of the
scene. The painters reproduction was truer to that; he preserved for me the
delightful impression I carried away on that wonderful June morning,
when I visited the spot. For me his picture is more accurate than the
photograph. When I was there, I probably did not see the telegraph pole at
all. It is therefore right that literature and art should attempt something
more than the exact reproduction of things as they are, and should give us
a city more charming and a country more delectable to dwell in than any
our feet have ever trod, and should people that world with characters,
varied and fascinating as in real life, but more satisfying than any we have

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ever known.
There is another reason why art must be more than photographic; as time
goes by and the earth grows old, man himself develops, however slowly,
in nobleness and understanding. His life becomes different from what it
was. He gradually brings it into conformity with certain ideals and
aspirations which have occurred to him. These new ideals and aspirations
have always made their first appearance in art and literature, before they
were realized in actual life. Imagination is our lamp upon the difficult path
of progress. So that, even in its outward aspect, art must differ from
nature. The world is by no means perfect, but it is always tending toward
perfection, and it is our business to help that tendency. We must make our
lives more and more beautiful, simply because by so doing we make
ourselves more healthy and happy. To this end, art supplies us with
standards, and keeps us constantly in mind of what perfection is. If we live
much under the influence of good art, ugliness becomes impossible. As
long as we are satisfied with the photograph we are content to have the
telegraph pole. And we shall continue to be satisfied with them both until
the artist comes and shows us the blemish. As soon as we perceive the
fault, we begin to want the telegraph pole removed. This is what a clever
writer meant when he said that art does not follow nature, but nature
follows art.
I lay so much stress on this point, because we have somewhat lost the
conviction that literature and art must be more beautiful than life. We
readily admit that they must be sincere servants of truth, and exemplars of
noble sentiment, but there is an idea abroad that, in its form and substance,
art need only copy nature. This, I believe, is what our grandfathers might
have called a pestilent heresy.
If art and literature are devoted to the service of beauty, no less are they
dedicated to the service of truth and goodness. In the phrase which Arnold
used to quote, it is their business to make reason and the will of God
prevail. So that while literature must fulfill the obligations laid upon it to
be delightful,to charm and entertain us, with perennial pleasure,quite
as scrupulously must it meet our demands for knowledge, and satisfy our
spiritual needs. To meet the first of these demands, of course it is not
necessary for literature to treat of scientific subjects; it must however be
enlightened by the soundest philosophy at its command, and informed
with all the knowledge of its time. It may not deal directly with the
thought of its age, but it must never be at variance with truth. There can be
no quarrel between science and art, for art sooner or later makes use of all

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knowledge, all discoveries, all new ideas. It is the business of art to

assimilate new knowledge, and make it a power; for knowledge is not
power, so long as it remains mere knowledge, and does not pass from the
mind into the domain of the will.
In a scientific age like our own, when the limits of knowledge are being
extended so rapidly, prose is a more acceptable medium of expression than
poetry because it can keep much nearer to science than poetry can; though
poetry in the long run has quite as much need of accurate wide information
as prose has.
It is only that they make different use of the same material. Prose serves
to bring us definite reports of science, it appeals to our reason, our
curiosity. But poetry has another motive as well; it wishes to emphasize its
subject, so that we can not only know it more clearly, but feel about it
more deeply. Of course prose has this aim in view also, though to a less
extent; and it invades the dominion of poetry whenever this aim becomes
paramount. So that in literature we must never too dogmatically try to
separate prose from poetry.
The attempt which literature makes to deepen our feeling about a subject,
is the spiritual purpose of art. And this spiritual or moral influence is
always present in all literature, whether apparent or not. Art has its
religious value, not because it deals directly with religious themes, but
because it plays upon our moral nature, and then enhances our emotions.
How intrinsically incumbent it is upon art, therefore, to stimulate our
generous and kindly feelings, rather than our cruel or violent or selfish
impulses!
It may often be necessary for art and literature to deal with human crime
and depravity and moral obliquity, but it must never dwell upon them
exclusively, nor make them seem to prevail. For evil does not rule the
world; however powerful it may seem for the moment, in the long run it is
overcome by the good. There is a tendency in modern letters to deal with
repulsive themes, and depict for us the frailty and sorry short-comings of
human nature, and to do this with an almost scientific accuracy. Some
people praise this sort of thing, as being true to life; while others call it
immoral, because it touches upon such subjects at all. A juster view of the
matter may perhaps lead us to a different opinion. Since it is the prime
duty of art to make us happy, to give us encouragement and joy, to urge
and support our spirits, to ennoble and enrich our lives, surely the one way
in which art can be most immoral, is to leave us depressed, and sad, and

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uncertain of the final issue between sorrow and gladness.

I have not said much about the technic of poetry, because I wished to
indicate, if I could, a scope and destiny for poetic art more significant than
we are accustomed to grant it. If we assure ourselves of the vital
importance of art to a nation, if we set ourselves resolutely to change the
tenor of public sentiment in regard to it, if we turn from the absorbing and
ridiculous worship of unnecessary possessions, and devote ourselves
generously to the cause of beauty and kindliness, the specific development
of poetry may be left to take care of itself.
STYLISTIC PUNCTUATION OF PROMOTIONAL TEXTS

The article deals with promotional texts as the genre of advertising allows
disclosing the methods that its creators use in seeking to attract the addressee's
attention and persuade them to purchase an item under consideration. Promotional
texts are closely related to the style of public media, i.e. that functional style which
due to its greater persuasive character acquires the features of all other functional
styles, including punctuation. Applying the analytical and the descriptive methods,
this article aims at exploring to what extent the semantics of punctuation has
developed in advertising and how punctuation marks are used to effectively create
information
with
an
emotional
and
expressive
quality.
Promotional texts contain no neutral punctuation marks. They have one
main function, i.e. an emotional-expressive function. Even when they perform
other functions, at the same time they also convey a certain emotional shade of
meaning. The exclamation mark, question-mark and ellipsis in advertising mark
the greatest number of emotion shades, create suspension, an impression of
emotion swings, make the addressee think, evaluate and fill the gaps that have been
left. When an advertisement makes use of suspense which is eventually broken and
leads to a positive ending, its creators use a combination of several punctuation
marks.
The semantics of the dash in advertising has also acquired new shades of
meaning. A dash gives rise to unexpected nuances of thought, dynamics of text, it
marks an emotional pause, burst of feelings; yet, when a dash performs the
emotional-expressive function its effect is strengthened by the usage of an
exclamation
mark.

The period, which is traditionally a neutral mark, in advertising is not

entirely neutral: in a slogan it occupies the position of an exclamation mark and
therefore it obtains emotional character. When performing a compositional
function, it gives more flexibility to emphasise different semantic foci; it highlights
segmentation,
addition
(pridrimas)
and
distribution
(parceliacija).
The comma in advertising may be neutral but it can also mark emotional
pauses. It performs the expressive function when it separates parentheses, additive
clauses
or
when
it
highlights
rhetorical
figures.
One of the principles of advertising is its compactness, therefore neither the
colon, nor the semi-colon are commonly used in texts of advertising.
The usage of several punctuation marks helps an author of an advertisement
create
a
certain
mood,
suspense,
natural
conversational
flow.
Zero punctuation in promotional texts is not random but it creates a
graphical figure the aim of which is to intrigue the addressee, activate their
memory, feelings and imagination. This manner of punctuation and nonpunctuation brings promotional texts closer to artistic texts.

Stylistic Punctuation
Parentheses, dashes, brackets, and ellipsis marks are a form of
stylistic writing that can often be placed where a comma could be
used
Parentheses

1. Set of distantly related information -- not part of the main

statement.
i.e. Beulaville is located in Duplin Conty, about 4 miles
(6.4 kilometers) from Kenansville.
2.You should use full parentheses for numbers/letters to list items
or to insure accuracy.
i.e . (1) name (2) date; (A) name (B)
date
i.e. thirty-two (32)
3. Punctuation:
complete sentence in parentheses within a sentence -- do
not capitalize first word of use end mark.
i.e. They debated which layer of the excavation
(nine diferent cities were built on the side) was Troy.
complete sentence in parentheses outside a sentence -capitalize first wor and use end mark.
i.e. John had been a student of Homer. (In fact, he
knew the verses by heart.)
parenthetical note at the end of the sentence -- end mark on
the outside.

comma, semi-colon, and colon go outside after the last

parenthesis.

question mark and exclamation mark go inside if they are

part of the parenthetical note--still do not capitalize first
word; they go outside if part of the sentence.

Most common mistakes: punctuating incorrectly

Dashes

1. Dashes are used to set apart abrupt breaks in thought.

i.e. Mary told me -- would you believe it? -- that she liked
school.
2.Used to set of a heavily punctuated appositive or parenthetical
element.
i.e. His roommates -- Josh, Caleb, Alex, and Michael -- are
going with him.

Most common mistakes: using hyphens instead of dashes

Ellipses Marks

1. Ellipses marks are used when omitting words, phrases, lines,

paragraphs, or more from a directly quoted passage.
2.Use a space after each ellipsis dot whether at the beginning,
middle, or end of the sentence.
i.e. " . . . Our fathers brought a nation."
i.e. "Ask not what you . . ."
3.If a period must be used, place period and conitue with the
ellipsis dots as in an other sentence.
i.e. "All men are created equal. . . ."
Most common mistakes: overuse.

Brackets

1.Follow the same rules as parentheses, except they are used

within quoted material; they never go outside of quoted material.
2. Brackets are used to include explanitory words or phrases
added within quoted language.
i.e. "He [Buck] stood in the doorway."
3. Enclose [sic] to show blunders or typos are a part of quotation
after the blunder or typo.
i.e. "Tony and I went went [sic] to the game." said Sue.

Most common mistakes: using parentheses instead of brackets.

The Stylish
Semicolon: Teaching
Choice. English Journal (forthcoming).

Punctuation

as

Rhetorical

Return to Scholarly Publications and Presentations Home

When taught as stylistic or rhetorical choice, the semicolon reveals to
students that punctuation and grammar are more than rules in
textbooks. Thoughtful analysis and use of the semicolon enables students to
understand the words of other authors and to communicate better with their
own readers.
I have a confession to make. I am a grammar addict. Yes, its true. I can
spend hours reading handbooks that outline the intricacies of English grammar and
its related topics of punctuation, usage, and mechanics. I enjoy discerning the
difference between restrictive and non-restrictive phrases. I am proud when I can

figure out whether to use or omit a comma between two independent clauses. Of
course, my addiction may be a lonely one.
Consider, for example, the following words: grammar,
punctuation, mechanics, usage. These four words can strike terror
into the hearts of the most steadfast lovers of English. According
to Ron Featheringill, these words call up the horrible specter of
English grammar for students and instructors alike (85). Anyone
who has taught subject/verb agreement or the uses of the comma
can attest to the glazed expressions that cross students faces as
soon

as

subjects,

predicates,

and

comma

splices

are

mentioned. Teachers themselves are not immune to grammars

power to induce boredom and frustration. Addicts excepted,
Featheringill asserts that he has seldom met a teacher who
enjoys teaching grammar in the traditional manner (85). This
aversion to grammar manifests itself among English instructors in
various ways. For example, researching this article, I found few
works on grammar and related topics in the top journals in
English, composition, and reading. However, I did recognize the
specter of grammar in articles like Gregory Shafers, which
adamantly rejects discrete rules of competence . . . prescribed
rules

and

formats

and

monolithic

ideas

of

writing

or

correctness in writing programs (10).

Given this resistance, what is a grammar addict to do,
especially in the classroom? Ironically, Featheringill ofers a
solution, suggesting that the problem with grammar is not the
subject itself but the traditional manner in which the topic has

been taughtthrough the rigid rules and formats that Shafer

rejects. For this reason, I propose a form of instruction that
departs from these methods, one that captures my own reasons
for becoming a grammar addict. Specifically, when teaching
grammar, punctuation, usage, and mechanics, instructors can
introduce these topics as more than discrete rules, void of
context. Rather, they can introduce these subjects as what
Devan Cook calls purposeful rhetorical moves (154). In this
way, students discover that grammar and its related topics are
not

ancillary

to

language

but

represent

language

in

action. Students realize that these patterns for use form the
backbone or skeleton of language, that they are part and parcel
of, according to I.A. Richards, the way that words work (23), not
in isolation but rhetorically and in context, in the give and take
between author and reader.
What follows is just one example illustrating how teachers
can create reading and writing activities that emphasize how
words work through grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and
usage. Specifically, I describe a workshop that highlights a single
punctuation mark: the semicolon. More rhetorical or stylistic
choice than grammatical requirement, the semicolon defies rigid
rules for use and is therefore ideally suited for instruction that
defies traditional ways of teaching grammar. When introduced as
a matter of choice, the semicolon brings the patterns of language
to life for students, whether that language is the students own

text or the work of another author, and even when that language
is tied to the horrible specter of grammar.

Theoretical

Rationale:

Why

Teach

the

Semicolon

as

Rhetorical Choice?
Addressing the teaching of grammar, Sonja Launspach and
Martha Wetterhall Thomas observe that what students and
instructors often understand to be grammar represents a
group of language features that includes spelling, punctuation,
and mechanics as well as . . . grammar (233). Thus, although
more precisely a matter of punctuation, the semicolon is often
subsumed under the larger category grammar. Grammar nuts
notwithstanding, Tina Good and Leanne Warshauer correctly
identify this area of instruction as one of the more painful parts
of teaching and learning language (xi). Nevertheless, no matter
how we define grammar or how painful it is, this aspect of
language profoundly influences teaching and research in areas
such

as

reading,

writing,

and

language

arts. Grammar

instruction, moreover, remains a highly controversial topic in

these disciplines.
For example, Patrick Hartwell argues that the grammar
issue has dominated composition scholarship for the last
seventy-five years (320). Hartwell adds that despite these years
of research, grammar remains complicated and controversial,
papers regularly appearing that either attack or defend the
teaching

of

grammar,

especially

traditional

or

formal

instructional methods (318). Recent developments in language

studies reveal that this seventy-five-year preoccupationand
controversycontinues. My own state of Texas, for instance,
mandates assessment in grammar, punctuation, usage, and
mechanics at every level of the state standardized test or
TAAS. So prevalent are these tests and their emphasis on
grammar

that

growing

number

of

language

scholars

(McClaskey; Nelson; Thomas) bemoan the nations increasing

interest in standardized testing and the traditional, drill-and-kill
grammar instruction that these tests sometimes encourage.
If we judge from this continuing obsession with grammar, it
seems that grammar instruction is here to stay, and despite valid
concerns, this preoccupation is not necessarily a bad thing. In
fact, Judith Cape Craigs survey of employees in occupations from
entry-level to professional illustrates how highly these individuals
value the correct use of language. Eighty-four percent of
Craigs

respondents

cited

correct

spelling,

grammar,

and

mechanics as very important, Craig adding that not one

respondent identified these abilities as unimportant in their line
of work (48). Grammar, punctuation, usage, and mechanics:
these form the foundations of communication, and echoing
Craigs

respondents,

Sean

McDowell

sums

up

grammars

importance to our students: Without fairly sound technical

expertise, even the most brilliant students cannot express their
ideas completely or efectively. If teachers do not add to
students expressive resources, they perform a disservice

(254). An expressive resource, grammar is indeed here to stay,

and teachers have an obligation to help students navigate the
patterns of use that enable communication with others.
But how can students best learn these patterns? As Deborah
Dean observes, years of research and anecdotal evidence
demonstrate that traditional methods of grammar instruction
simply do not work. In trying to figure out what does work, a
number of scholars, many of them teachers, have ofered several
approaches. These approaches range from methods grounded in
linguistics (Hartwell; Launspach and Thomas), rhetorical theory
(Cook; Dawkins; Kolln), the teaching of editing and revision (Cook;
Harris and Rowan), and the recognition of patterns of error
(Shaughnessy) to streamlined approaches that tackle students
most common grammatical problems (Featheringill; McDowell;
Sitler) and playful methods that teach students grammar without
their knowing its grammar (Dean). Each of these methods has
merit, but the one informing my work with semicolons is
rhetorical.
Specifically, the workshop that I will describe introduces
students to the semicolon not through sets of rules but as a
matter of style: the thoughtful choice of the semicolon to create
rhetorical efect in an audience. One of the most prominent
twentieth-century rhetoricians, Kenneth Burke describes language
as the Scramble, the Wrangle of the Market Place, the flurries
and flare-ups of the Human Barnyard (23). Burkes image takes
languageand students and instructors of languagefar beyond

the dry rules and contextless examples that have permeated

grammar

instruction. His

comments

inform

the

workshop

outlined in the following section, a workshop that illustrates how

words, even semicolons, work and help us to negotiate this
human barnyard.

The Semicolon: More Rhetoric Than Rule

Among marks of punctuation, the semicolon is something of
an oddity. Variable as they are, punctuation marks suggest
certaintythe required use of the mark in specific situationsand
handbooks present punctuation in this way. Each punctuation
mark has exceptions, but marks such as the comma, period, and
apostrophe

are

required

to

make

meaning

clear

to

reader. Without these marks, most strings of words will simply

not make sense.
Semicolons, on the other hand, are more akin to other
oddballs in the world of punctuationcolons and dashes, for
example. These marks are useful and increase readability, but for
the most part they are not essential to creating meaning. While
commas and periods are required to mark beginnings, endings,
and transitions, most sentences that employ semicolons, colons,
or dashes could be rewritten to eliminate the mark and still make
sense. In the semicolons case, this mark could be eliminated
entirely from the English language and the language would
remain comprehensible, though far less rich. In the end, marks

like the semicolon signal matters of choice and, therefore, are

more issues of style and rhetorical efect than precision and
correctness.
Handbooks hint at the semicolons stylish place among its
fellow marks of punctuation. For example, like many handbooks,
Andrea Lunsfords Everyday Writer presents the semicolon as
weaker than a period but stronger than a comma and lists the
following guidelines for using this punctuation mark:
o

Use semicolons to link closely related independent

clauses.

Use semicolons to link independent clauses joined by

conjunctive adverbs or transitional phrases.

Use semicolons to separate items in a series containing

other punctuation. (326-27)

In each of these cases, the semicolon is useful but not essential. Independent
clauses, including those joined by adverbs or phrases, could just as easily be linked
by a period or comma plus conjunction. Moreover, determining whether two
clauses are closely related remains a matter of opinion and not grammatical fact,
this decision based on the authors sense that the clauses are related or the desire to
link the clauses in the readers mind. As for using semicolons in series, even this
guideline is more choice than requirement. Semicolons certainly render series
more readable, but commas in series are just as technically correct as their more
understandable counterpart. Lunsford and other handbook authors suggest
inserting semicolons to increase coherence and clarity; once again, though, these
decisions stem from choice, not grammatical absolutes.

When writers must make decisions about their language, they leave behind
rules and enter that rather nebulous arena called style. Difficult to define, style
often signifies the amorphous area of writing made up of word choices, sentence
structures and rhythm, tone, voice, verb tenses, and other features not easily
reduced to rules in textbooks. William Strunk and E.B. White, for example, define
style loosely as what is distinguished and distinguishing in language. In fact,
Strunk and White caution readers that their famous text Elements of Style enters
areas of high mystery where there is no satisfactory explanation of style, no
infallible guide to good writing. For these authors, style is the Self escaping into
the open through idiosyncratic language choices (66-67). Another arbiter of style,
Richard Lanham agrees, adding that our style or writing choices enhance and
expand the self, allow it to try out new possibilities. According to Lanham, a
properly chosen style clarifies, strengthens, and energizes an authors language
and renders these words rich, full, and social (98).
Never absolutely necessary or bound by hard-and-fast rules, the semicolon
belongs to this mysterious arena called style. And, as an issue of style, the
semicolon emerges as profoundly rhetorical, one of the available means of
persuasion that, according to Aristotle, speakers and writers use to move an
audience. Indeed, for all his talk of self and style, Lanham positions style outside
the self, as rhetorical or in the relation between author and audience and in the
authors ability to take the position of the reader (98). When writers must make
stylistic choices that will reach their audience, they enter this realm of rhetoric, the
barnyard of language where words work to connect readers and writers. Part of
this mystery, the semicolon encompasses more than the rules that try to fix its use,
and a semicolon workshop can introduce students to this mystery.

The Stylish Semicolon: A Workshop

One common complaint about grammar instruction stems
from its lack of contextits reliance, for example, on abstract
rules and bare examples. While these stark examples clarify
grammatical ideas, they fail to capture language, including its
grammar and punctuation, in action, in the real-life texts that
surround us. For this reason, the workshop that I propose
incorporates the actual texts that students read or compose on
their own.
The text that my students and I use for our semicolon
workshop is Martin Luther King, Jr.s Letter from Birmingham
Jail. Frequently anthologized, this popular text appears in many
student textbooks and readers, and typically, instructors use
Kings letter to spark discussions of equality, race, U.S. history,
political activism, and civil disobedience. However, Kings text
also teaches students about the semicolon and one authors use
of a seemingly insignificant punctuation mark to express ideas.
The workshop begins after students have read Kings letter
and discussed its ideas and historical context. I then ask
students, now familiar with the letters content, to work either
alone or in small groups to search out as many semicolons in the
text as they can find. Owing to diferent editors, the copies of
Kings letter included in anthologies exhibit slightly diferent
punctuation and phrasing. Nevertheless, these varied texts
demonstrate

fairly

consistent

punctuation,

including

semicolons. Taken from an edition that my classes use, the

following are examples of semicolons that my students frequently

cite:

We know through painful experience that freedom is

never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be
demanded by the oppressed. (King 157)

Is not segregation an existential expression of mans

tragic separation, his awful estrangement, his terrible
sinfulness? Thus it is that I can urge men to obey the
1954 decision of the Supreme Court, for it is morally
right; and I can urge them to disobey segregation
ordinances, for they are morally wrong. (159)

There was a time when the church was very powerful

in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being
deemed worthy to sufer for what they believed. In those
days the church was not merely a thermometer that
recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it
was

thermostat

that

transformed

the

mores

of

society. (166)

Abused and scorned though we may be, our destiny is

tied up with Americas destiny. Before the pilgrims landed
at Plymouth, we were here. Before the pen of Jeferson
etched

the

majestic

words

of

the

Declaration

of

Independence across the pages of history, we were

here. For more than two centuries our forebears labored
in

this

country

without

wages; they

made

cotton

king; they built the homes of their masters while sufering

gross injustice and shameful humiliationand yet out of a
bottomless

vitality

they

continued

to

thrive

and

develop. (167)
Although powerful on their own, these isolated examples risk seeming as void of
context as the examples in handbooks. However, these samples differ from those
in handbooks in that students have read and discussed Kings entire letter. In other
words, they analyze Kings punctuation in context, as the rhetorical work of an
author trying to connect with an audience that may or may not agree with his
political protest. One subtle stylistic device that King uses to reach this audience is
the semicolon, and examining Kings semicolons leads to rich discussions about
this punctuation mark.
As Cook points out, these discussions ask students to read in a new way,
focusing on stylistic effects and how they are achieved (155). Most students have
never read punctuation in this way, and for the first time perhaps, they must ask
questions like: Why did King use a semicolon here instead of the stronger period or
weaker comma? How does this semicolon shape the meaning of its sentence, its
paragraph, the work as a whole? Does this semicolon help King to reach his
audience? Why or why not? Questions such as these can spur useful
conversations about areas of grammar and writing related to semicolon usefor
example, parallelism, repetition, and contrast. Just as important, these questions
introduce students to punctuation as an integral part of writing, requiring as much
thought and care as any other stylistic or rhetorical device.
For example, my students and I often consider the following excerpt from
Kings letter:

I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if
you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent
Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if
you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here
in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro
women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old
Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on
two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our
grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police
department. (167)

Complex and powerful, these lines represent style at its best. When asked to read
at the level of style (words, syntax, punctuation), most students quickly point out
the repetition of I doubt in the first and second sentences. Here, Kings words
pound home his point, the repetition grabbingand holdingthe readers
attention.
In addition, students note the three semicolons that link the subordinate
clauses (if . . .) in the second sentence. Instead of writing two or three short
sentences, King wrote one long sentence, the clauses running on and on, as though
the grievances described overwhelm and cannot be contained. My students have
observed, though, that King cuts short these abuses with his direct final sentence:
I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department. To the
point and dominated by one-syllable words, this sentence serves as Kings line in
the sand, declaring that the racial abuses, once so overwhelming, stop
here. However, powerful as it is, this short sentences effect depends on its
contrast to the longer sentence that precedes it and, thus, on the semicolons that
extend the previous sentence. Kings style

semicolons alternating with periods, short sentences alternating with longgives

his lines their power, and this rhetorical force hinges on the authors punctuation.
Beginning writers cannot learn to use semicolons in this way
from

the

guidelines

and

examples

that

many

textbooks

ofer. Only by exploring language in context, written for a

particular time and place, can students discern the subtle ways
that punctuation afects meaning. And, once students understand
these stylistic choices in others writing, they can make these
choices in their own texts. For example, once my students and I
finish analyzing the semicolons in Kings text, we turn to their own
decisions about when to use this punctuation mark. First, I ask
students to search once again through Kings text, this time
looking for instances in which King does not employ the mark. I
ask students to imagine that they are the letters authors and to
identify places in the text where they might insert a semicolon.
One passage that students often highlight concerns Kings
discussion of just and unjust laws:

How does one determine whether a law is just or

unjust? A just law is a manmade code that squares with
the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code
that is out of harmony with the moral law. To put it in the
terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: an unjust law is a human
law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law. Any
law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that
degrades human personality is unjust. (159)

When asked where they would insert semicolons, my students

typically respond that they would add a semicolon either between
the two sentences beginning with A just law and An unjust law
or between the pair that begins with Any law. My students
argue that the two clauses in each pair are closely related and
that a semicolon would strengthen the contrast (a just law; an
unjust law) or more efectively drive home the point made
through repetition (any law; any law).
Exercises like this one encourage students to engage with
another authors text on two levels. First, as readers, students
must ask themselves why King selected periods rather than
semicolons in these lines. Why did he make this stylistic
choice? Next, as potential writers, students must consider what
they are trying to accomplish rhetorically by choosing semicolons
instead of periods. The decision to use semicolons must spring
from more than a vague sense that the clauses could be
related. Why are they related? What rhetorical advantage does
the author gain by linking the clauses in the readers mind? What
rhetorical advantage does the writer lose by abandoning the
short, abrupt stops that periods create? Students participating in
this semicolon workshop have not yet applied what they are
learning to their own texts. Nevertheless, experimenting with
another authors text will help students to consider more carefully
the stylistic choices that they make when they sit down to write.
After all, this semicolon workshop aims to help students
become not just better readers but better writers. For this reason,

a semicolon workshop can continue well into the semester. For

instance, like Cook, I ask students to carry what they have
learned about the semicolons rhetorical power into the writing
that they do all semester. Echoing Cook, I encourage students to
find one or two places in their drafts where they could insert a
semicolon. If students can select these semicolons thoughtfully,
then they will understand how they can use this or any mark of
punctuation to reach out to their audiences.

Conclusion: Semicolons, Words, and Work

Richards states correctly that words work. Through words,
we shape and make sense of the world. Through words, we
express our thoughts and ideas. Words connect speakers and
writers to their audiences and enable these audiences to respond,
becoming

speakers

and

writers

themselves. According

to

Richards, the study of how words work is called rhetoric, a field

that explores the diferent choices that language-users make and
the consequences that these decisions bring. For too long,
punctuation, grammar, and related topics have been perceived as
beyond

words

textbooks. Kings

and

choice,

Letter

mere

from

rules

Birmingham

memorized
Jail,

from

however,

demonstrates that even the smallest punctuation mark signals a

stylistic decision, distinguishing one writer from another and
enabling an author to move an audience. Only when we, as
teachers, present grammar and punctuation as matters of style
and rhetorical choice will students truly understand just how

powerful words are, even when these words are the dots, dashes,
and curves that make up punctuation.

Works Cited
Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. 1950. Berkeley: U of
California P, 1969.
Cook, Devan. Revising Editing. Teaching English in the TwoYear College 29.2 (2001): 154-161.
Craig, Judith Cape. The Missing Link between School and Work:
Knowing

the

Demands

of

the

Workplace. English

Journal 91.2 (2001): 46-50.

Dawkins,

John. Teaching

Punctuation

as

Rhetorical

Tool. College Composition and Communication 46.4 (1995):

533-548.
Dean,

Deborah. Grammar

without

Grammar:

Just

Playing

Around, Writing. English Journal 91.2 (2001): 86-89.

Featheringill, Ron. Ideas Plus: A Collection of Practical Teaching
Ideas, Book Eighteen. Urbana, IL: NCTE, 2000.
Good, Tina Lavonne, and Leanne B. Warshauer, eds. In Our Own
Voice: Graduate Students Teach Writing. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 2000.
Harris, Muriel, and Katherine E. Rowan. Explaining Grammatical
Concepts. The Allyn and Bacon Sourcebook for College

Writing Teachers. 2nd ed.

Ed. James C. McDonald. Boston:

Allyn and Bacon, 2000. 345-364.

Hartwell, Patrick. Grammar, Grammars, and the Teaching of
Grammar. The Allyn and Bacon Sourcebook for College
Writing Teachers. 2nd ed.

Ed. James C. McDonald. Boston:

Allyn and Bacon, 2000. 318-344.

King, Martin Luther, Jr. Letter from Birmingham Jail. 1963. A
World

of

Ideas:

Essential

Readings

for

College

Writers. 5th ed. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. Boston: Bedford Books,

1998. 153-169.
Kolln,

Martha. Rhetorical

Grammar:

Grammatical

Choices,

Rhetorical Effects. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1999.

Lanham, Richard A. Revising Prose. 3rd ed. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon, 1992.
Launspach, Sonja, and Martha Wetterhall Thomas. Beyond
Grammar: Linguistics in the Composition Classroom. Good
and Warshauer 232-241.
Lunsford,

Andrea

A. The

Everyday

Writer. 2nd ed. Boston:

Bedford/St. Martins, 2001.

McClaskey, Janet. Whos Afraid of the Big, Bad TAAS? Rethinking
Our Response to Standardized Testing. English Journal 91.1
(2001): 88-95.

McDowell, Sean. To Grammar, or Not to Grammar? The Question

and an Answer. Good and Warshauer 251-261.
Nelson, G. Lynn. Writing beyond Testing: The Word as an
Instrument of Creation. English Journal 91.1 (2001): 57-61.
Richards, I.A. The Philosophy of Rhetoric. New York: Oxford UP,
1936.
Shafer, Gregory. The Process of Change in a Community College
Writing

Program. Teaching

English

in

the

Two-Year

College 29.1 (2001): 7-15.

Shaughnessy, Mina P. Errors and Expectations. New York: Oxford
UP, 1977.
Sitler, Helen Collins. Solutions to Mechanical Errors in Writing:
Usage Scans and Fix-It Pages. Teaching English in the TwoYear College 29.1 (2001): 72-76.
Strunk,

William,

and

E.B.

White. The

Elements

of

Style. 4th ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2000.

Thomas, P.L. Standards, Standards Everywhere, and Not a Spot
to Think. English Journal 91.1 (2001): 63-67.

Alliteration: e.g. The silken ship sailed silently through the sea. (Here the "s"
sound is helping to reinforce the silence and the smooth grace of
the ship's passage through the sea.) Poets are very fond of
alliteration but look out for it also in newspaper headlines.
Allusion:
a reference, sometimes indirect, to a person, place, theory etc.

Anecdote:
Analogy:
Audience:

which the reader is assumed to have some knowledge of. e.g. a

Biblical allusion with which the reader is assumed to be
familiar.
a short story used to illustrate a point, often used by writers as a
way of introducing their topic.
a parallel case with one or more points of resemblance. This is
often used by writers to help the reader to understand a complex
or abstract point
the readership whom the writer is addressing, the people who
are being targeted by the article. e.g. young people, the elderly,
an intelligent, sophisticated and articulate readership etc.

Top

Bathos:

Brackets:

anti-climax,
designed
to
shock
or
amuse.
e.g.
" The Queen stepped graciously out of her gleaming limousine,
walked up the red carpet in suitably regal style--then gave a
huge yawn, bored with the day's proceedings." (The reader has
been built up to expect one type of serious, ceremonial
atmosphere but this anticipation is deflated with reference to the
yawn.)
these are for extra information (an aside, sometimes humorous
etc.) which is clearly not part of the main statement. They are
used for the same purpose as a pair of commas but are more
decisive.

Top

Cliche:

a stereotyped expression which is overused e.g. "the dawn of a

new era".
an
to invent a new word or phrase to suit the context.

Coin
expression:
Colloquialism: word or phrase chiefly found in everyday speech, as opposed to
writing. The use of colloquialism is one of the hallmarks of an
informal style of writing. e.g. "kids" for children or "magic" for

wonderful.
Colon:
separates two clauses/sentence structures that are of equal
importance
and
are
related
to
each
other.
e.g.
Spring
is
green:
Autumn
is
gold.
It is used after a general statement before a list of examples: e.g.
The world is full of challenges: climbing mountains, exploring
the oceans, discovering new ideas.
Command:
This gives a sense of urgency, requiring action from others. e.g.
Do this!
Comma:
this cuts off one clause from another. It separates items on a
list.. As a pair, it acts as parenthesis, separating added
information, asides, non essential extras etc. from the main
sentence. The placement of a comma can alter the emphasis
placed on a word or phrase.
Connotation: the various secondary meanings and overtones of a word: what
associations it carries.
Top

Dashes:

often used for the same purpose as brackets (parenthesis). One

dash may be used to indicate a pause in thinking before speech.
Denotation: the dictionary meaning of a word, what it literally denotes.
Top

Emotive
Language:

language deliberately designed to arouse the emotions. (often to

be found in tabloid newspapers) e.g. murderers described as
"beasts" or people who might have unusual views on something
being described as "raving lunatics" etc.
Emphatic
words being used for the purpose of emphasis: e.g. even; so;
Words:
too; indeed; only; most; all (as in "all too clear")
Euphemism: a deliberate softening of a harsh truth. e.g. The old man passed
away. (rather than "died")
Exclamation: This gives a sense of astonishment, anger or urgency. e.g. Do
that!

Top
Hyberbole: use of intentional exaggeration to create an effect. e.g. In her
excited state she imagined she heard thousands of fans beating
on the doors, ready to die if they did not set eyes on their idol.
Top

Imagery:
Inverted
Commas:

Inverted
Sentence
Structure:
Irony:

figurative or descriptive language which builds a mental picture

of a person, place or idea.
The most common use of inverted commas is to indicate direct
speech or a quote from someone. Other key uses are: To indicate
a foreign word that has been imported into the English
Language e.g. "glasnost". To enclose a title of a film, play etc.
To show the deliberate use of a slang or colloquial expression in
an otherwise formal piece of writing. e.g. "a dead ringer". To
indicate an expression from which the writer wishes to
disassociate himself. e.g. He was a so-called member of the
"ruling classes".
A sentence in which the normal grammatical order of subject,
verb, object has been inverted, usually to place emphasis on the
initial or end word(s).
a device where words conveying a meaning different from the
apparent meaning are used, sometimes to emphasise a point or a
situation. Dramatic irony occurs when an audience is given
privileged information which is unknown to the relevant
character(s). e.g. Spoken by a dying man who is unaware of his
condition; "I think the future is a bright and beautiful time
which I shall enter into with all my energies."

Top

Layout
Text:

ofe.g. in columns usually indicates a newspaper article; divided

into clearly marked sections with sub-headings usually indicates
some kind of instruction manual or official report. Font Style,

Litotes:

Size of lettering, use of Italics, Bold Type, Block Capitals,

Underlining, Framing, Use of Illustration, Centring of text:
These are all useful techniques used to attract the reader's
attention to a particular piece of writing.
a deliberate understatement, often designed to create a comic or
sarcastic effect. e.g. In the middle of a furious argument, a third
party might enter and say, "Did I detect a slight difference of
opinion here?"

Top

Metaphor: a comparison but this time one thing becomes another in every
sense, except the literal. There is no "like" or "as" acting as
links. e.g. The man was a mountain. The wind was a knife,
cutting through outer garments to attack the defenceless body.
Top

Onomatopoeia: a device whereby the sound of the word accords with the
meaning. e.g. splash! bang! splinter! whoosh! etc.
Oxymoron:
the technical term for a paradox which is expressed in two
contradictory words. e.g. bitter sweet; love hate; bitter laughter.
Top

Paradox:

an apparent contradiction. e.g. Riches make men miserable.

(One would normally assume that wealth would bring
happiness, rather than misery.)
Parody:
a humorous imitation of a literary work or style. e.g. a serious
news report written in the style of a disc jockey's script could be
described as a parody.
Personification: a device whereby an inanimate object is given a human quality.

Pun:

Punctuation:
Purpose:

e.g. The coals settled comfortably in the fireplace. (Coal is

normally regarded as inanimate/lifeless but here it is seen as
settling like a human might settle into a chair.)
a deliberate playing on two possible meanings of one word. e.g.
arms (as in limbs on the body ) and arms (as in
weapons) or meet (as in coming together with someone socially
and meat (as in flesh) This device is usually used to create a
comic effect. It is very popular with newspaper headline writers.
a system of marking written text to illustrate pauses or logical
relationships
e.g. brackets; comma; colon; dashes; inverted
commas; semi-colon.
The reason(s) for which the text has been written. Some of the
main purposes of writing are: to inform; to persuade; to
entertain; to convey a personal experience; to rouse to action.

Top

Register:

Rhetorical
Question:

This is a technical term for words, phrases or sentence structures

which are associated with a particular group of writers or
professionals. e.g.legal, medical, pop musical, computer
magazine, specialised instruction manuals etc. These will all use
a particular type of specialised language or jargon which is
peculiar to their genre.
This is a literary device used to indicate a question to which no
answer is expected: the answer is implied in the question. e.g. Is
there such a thing as evil in the human child?

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Semi-colon: The semi-colon separates clauses that form part of a list. It also
separates a statement from further development of that
statement, perhaps in the form of an expansion or explanation.
Sentence
the ways in which sentences are organised. The most common is
Structures: the short, simple sentence, often used very effectively to shock
the reader or to heighten tension. e.g. The result was disastrous.

Simile:

Slang:
Style:
Symbol:
Syntax:

The next two types are called complex or compound-complex.

These are characterised by length and by number of secondary
clauses. They are often used to convey complex ideas or to
develop a basic point into a more elaborate one. The effect of
these sentences can sometimes be to create a very detailed and
even, sometimes, a long winded style. Other sentence structures
include:command or imperative; exclamation; inverted sentence
structure;rhetorical question; verbless "sentences".
a literary device whereby two things or actions are compared to
each other, linked by the words "as" or "like". e.g. The litter
drifted round the playground like tattered butterflies lost in
flight.
a more extreme form of colloquialism of a racy, offensive or
abusive nature. e.g.referring to the police as "pigs".
There are a number of features that would go under the
collective heading of style: e.g.see register/tone/language
(colloquial,emotive,jargon)
refers to something that stands for or represents something else.
e.g. a nation's flag is literally a piece of cloth with a distinctive
design but it is also a symbol of that country's identity.
This means the relationship between the word order within a
sentence. The normal word order within a sentence would
follow the pattern: Subject, Verb, Object. e.g. The boy borrowed
the rubber. ("boy" is the subject of the sentence, "borrowed" is
the verb and "rubber" is the object)

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Tenses:

These are three main tenses: the Present, Past and Future. If a
writer suddenly switches tenses, he is doing so for a particular
reason. If, for example, he changes from the past to the present,
he may be trying to convey a sense of immediacy, of the event
happening NOW. There are THREE past tenses in English: the
Simple Past to indicate something that has happened in the
immediate past, the Continuous Past to show an incomplete
action and the Past Pefect where you want to indicate an event
that is over and done with in the more distant past. For example:

Yesterday he went to the shops to gaze at the array of new

bicycles.
(Simple)
He was examining the elaborate gear system when the salesman
intervened.
(Continuous)
The previous week he had indicated to his parents that he would
like a new bicycle for Christmas. (Past Perfect)
Tone:
this is the emotional feel of the passage, the unspoken voice of
the writer. e.g. amused, mocking, angry, indignant, sympathetic,
approving, cynical, scathing, indifferent. (N.B. a tone can also
be neutral, as in an informative passage where the writer is not
conveying any particular point of view)
Typography: This term relates to the way in which a passage is set down
visually on the page. Some of the features to be aware of are
listed under Layout.