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I'll cover ellipses right away, Amanda. Maybe today... I need to correct my OWN statement above. Use dashes to add "afterthoughts." SHOULD read Use dashes to add "afterthoughts". In this case, the quotation marks go INSIDE the terminal punctuation. It is linked to the quoted or s...

Jan, I don't know if you are going to cover this, or if you did, but I think the idea of a story being "contrived" comes under the topic of "Predictability" or "in the box." I think writing with a "Christian" group adds to our tendency to contrive our plots / ...

But I'm not sure what you mean by 'starting with a clause'--and both of your sentences have action at the beginning. If you were talking about starting with -ing verbs, I'm totally on board with you there. It's not stricty ungrammatical (although it can lead to problems--see below), but it's often ...

Principle Parts of a Verb - And How to Use Them Properly I been wanting to do a lesson on Verbs since I joined FW, but after I met my cowboy and after writing “The Wrote-Off Writer,” I wanted to do this lesson even more... so here it is. I do understand that using the wrong verb tense is sometimes ...

Check Commas (Part Three). Commas with conjunctions are explained there.

Read away and post or PM any suggestions.

I've been a little slack here for a couple of weeks... it's an Extraordinarily Busy time here at the ranch. Not a minute for anything extra.

But I'll be back at 'er here shortly.

Hyphens Hyphens are easy...and confusing. I’ll try to cover the basic rules, but after that, you have to do your homework--use your dictionary. Part of the reason for the confusion is that English is always changing; a compound word that began its “career” as two words, may progress to a hyphenated...

Why did Ursula leave a space between words and dashes—is this a European version? Are you referring to MY preference--designating a dash by needing to use two hyphens--or the space I've left -- for clarity -- between the dash and the fore and aft words? I guess it's your preference, then. The CMOS ...

choosingjoy wrote: Also good to be reminded, because it's easy for me to confuse hyphens and dashes, thus I left spaces.

Once we cover hyphens, you won't be confused again. Two entirely different functions.

I have a question: you said dashes were used to set off a parenthetical comment -- why or when would one use dashes instead of parentheses? If you've read the previous comma lessons, then you know that commas are also used to set off parenthetical material. It's a matter of emphasis to determine wh...

The angry mob came nearer - not a familiar face among them - as Ed backed inside and latched the door. (Correct) Benson - leader of the uprising - and his friends, Jake, Slim, and Ron. (Incorrect) There isn't another exit; you'll have to wait patiently in line. (correct) He didn't like what I said;...

Why did Ursula leave a space between words and dashes—is this a European version? Are you referring to MY preference--designating a dash by needing to use two hyphens--or the space I've left -- for clarity -- between the dash and the fore and aft words? Ursula doesn't do that; she has a nice long d...

I love bread, all kinds of bread: wheat, white, rye, and even whole grain. (Maybe this is CORRECT, but I wouldn't have thought it was. Yep, this is correct. The clause is a complete sentence, and the list follows the colon. Correct. Everything else is correct and incorrect... um... correctly incorr...

You did exactly what I wanted you to do... you analyzed the sentences.... came up with reasons for the punctuation used. It seems to me that the dashes are used when it is something added that is not a necessary part of the sentence, perhaps for descriptive information. The semi-colons are used when...

Semicolons, Colons, and Dashes I’m currently reading Ursula Hegi’s The Vision of Emma Blau . Hegi is a master at using dashes, colons, and semicolons, so I am going to use excerpts from her books. Then YOU tell ME what you think the pattern is for using dashes, colons, and semicolons. (I would rath...