Special Punctuation

Creative Writing for Beginners: How to Write Prose Creative Writing For Beginners: How To Write Prose
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Transcript

In this lecture, we're going to talk about punctuation marks. Not all punctuation marks, because it's a very broad subject. But there are some punctuation that we use again and again, and very often the new writer doesn't use them in the correct way. Most students understand the basic use of full stops, periods and commas in a basic sentence, but some usage of colons semicolons, and similar punctuation marks are not fully understood. In this lecture, you will learn how to use these common punctuation marks in the correct way, which will aid the readers understanding and improve the flow of your prose. The punctuation marks you're going to learn about the colon, the semi colon, the hyphen, the M dash, the M dash And the ellipses.

Don't worry if you don't fully understand these terms at the moment, it will become clear later on. Let's begin with the colon. The colon is very useful if used in the right way. It's commonly used to connect a sentence together with a list. In this example, have to unpack in my suitcase, I found a lot of items I didn't need. And then the list begins.

So we add a colon. When socks, suntan oil, and umbrella and the dictionary in this example, have to unpack in my suitcase. I found a lot of unwanted items. Now we use a colon to separate the sentence from the list of items. It makes it easier for the reader to sort things out In this mind, particularly if there are many items, and it helps the prose to flow. The colon can also be used to accentuate a noun and to emphasize how important it is.

In this sentence, the noun at the end of the sentence, darkness is very important, it's a great fear. So add a colon at the end of the sentence before the noun to make the reader understand how important it is, we emphasize it. Colon can also introduce a quotation after an introductory sentence in this way. If you have two sentences, and the second one explains or elaborates on the first one, then you could also join them With a colon. The first sentence makes a statement. This person finds the man hideous.

The second sentence explains why he's hideous. Now the semi colon is slightly different. It can be used to link closely related sentences. In this example, john couldn't get comfortable because he'd eaten too much for dinner. We use a semicolon here because the sentences are related. But not only that, the second sentence gives the reason for the first.

He couldn't get comfortable because his stomach was too full. He didn't too much for dinner. As with the colon, the second sentence should begin with a lowercase letter. Normally, a comment is used to separate items in a list. But sometimes, if a list is complicated, it's better to use a semi colon so that the reader understands it easier. In this example, we have three items in our list, but it's not simply three items, there are added explanations about the items, so it's a little bit more complicated than a simple list.

In this particular case, we'll use a semicolon to separate the items and their descriptions. We can use a semi colon to link sentences with a conjunctive adverb. What is a conjunctive adverb? These are some examples. Words like however, besides Finally, and therefore. This example, it isn't usually my kind of place to eat, however, So before however, which is a conjunctive adverb, we add the semi colon.

Semi colons are also used with transitional phrases to move fluidly from one sentence to the next. Some examples of transitional phrases are, in other words, moreover, in addition, and here's an example of how the semicolon is used in this way. In this section, we look at three common dashes used in prose, the hyphen, the N dash, and the M dash. hyphens are the most familiar and the hyphens are used to join the words in a compound adjective, as in this example, They can also be used to join the woods in a compound no Noun. A compound adjective is simply one that uses two words instead of one. And the compound noun just uses two words instead of one, the need to be joined.

It forms one particular item. The highest and can also be used to join prefixes to words, as in the example shown. The main purpose of the hyphen is to show that the join words belong together, they're a single adjective or a signal now, hyphens also help to avoid ambiguity. For example, it makes it clear that if we describe if we write paperclip is the clip used to join sheets of paper and not a clip made of paper. If you're not sure whether to use a hyphen between two words or Write it out both ways. Now read it.

Does it make sense? If in doubt, use a hyphen. In this example, using the phrase small business grant. If we use a hyphen between small and business, it's obviously a grant for a small business. Although the ground could be quite large. If we don't use a hyphen, small business grant, it isn't clear.

If it's the business or the grant that is cool. So the hyphen makes it much clearer. Then dash and the M dash are probably the two most popular dashes used in prose. So how to use them and what is the difference. Create the end dash by holding down the Alt key and typing 0150 For M dash, you hold down the Alt key and type 0151. Note that this must be the numeric keypad on your computer keyboard, not on the numbered keys that are above the letters.

The N dash is so cold because the dash is as wide as the letter N and the M dash is wider. Normally the M dash has a space either side and the M dash does not. The M dash is used to separate phrases within a sentence that interrupt the flow of that sentence. In this example, we can see that there's a phrase inside of the sentence. That is not really the point of the sentence. It's an aside So we separate this with an M dash either side.

Some modern writers feel that this is too cluttered because there's no space. So they prefer to use the N dash which has a space on either side, as shown here. It's largely a matter of preference, and the standards tend to be different between the US and Europe. The M dash is also used in dialogue, when the sentence is certainly cut off. as in this example, one person is speaking and then the other man suddenly interrupts. So his sentence cuts off as shown by the M dash.

The M dash can also be used in the place with too when including a range of numbers. For example, In this case, there are no spaces either side of the dash. For example, if you say pages 16 to 19, or the years 1939 to 1945, you could use the end dash in the place of two. An ellipses is a series of three dots or periods. The ellipses can be used in place of text inside a long quotation For example, when you have a long quotation, but you don't particularly want to write all of the quotation, you only want the reader to understand certain parts of it. In this case, we take some of the text away and add an ellipsis.

It could also be used when someone is speaking and they lose their train of thought, because something distracts them as you can see, in this case, Example. someone's talking about certain subject, sees another thing and becomes distracted, so changes the subject of the sentence. We also use ellipses when someone can't finish the sentence, or is lost the words. In this example, the person is so angry, he can't speak, he just has to stop. If we're writing a well known saying that absolutely everybody in the world knows and has heard, then we don't really need to write the whole thing. These examples show what I mean.

When in Rome, we use three dots to denote that the phrase the full phrase is, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. It never rains, but it pours. Everybody knows the ending to this phrase. So add the ellipsis the three periods

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