Comma Rules and Notes on the Paper 1 Re-Write

The Comma

1.

A comma separates items in a list.
--I invited Sean, John, and Don to the party.

2.

A comma comes after an introductory clause or word.
When I was young, I was always sick. However, I still had good school attendance.

3.

A comma precedes a coordinating conjunction.
--John is very strong, yet he is not very aggressive.

4.

A comma separates an appositive from the rest of the sentence.
--Sean, my teacher, thinks he is funny and smart and handsome.
--NTU, a major University in Taiwan, is located near Gongguan station in Taipei City.

5.

A comma separates the addressee from the rest of the sentence.
--Did you know, Steve, that there is a basketball game tonight?
--“Comma splice”: A mistake in which you use a comma when you should use a period.
--Ted is very funny, he is always telling jokes.
“then” “and then”
-He went to the movies, then to the grocery store. <--Okay (Should be, “He went to the movies, and then he went to the grocery store.”)

Next Week: Paper 1 Rewrite

--Turn in the entire paper 1.
--Do not expect a lot of corrections from me.
--If your rewrite grade is better than your previous grades, you will get the new grade. If your rewrite grade is not better, you will keep the original grade.


--Do not commit these errors:
Mislabeling titles
--Awkward spacing. Format 12 font, double space.
--An introduction that is a list instead of a paragraph.

The director is Mike Nichols. The stars are Jay Chou and The Rock. (Yes!)

Director: Mike Nichols
Cast: Jay Chou
The Rock (No!)

Have a clear thesis statement at the end of the introduction.

Evaluative language, Evidence in Support of an Idea: Show why you make a claim. If you claim something is sad, say how it is sad.

--“This is one of the greatest movies of all time.” <--Too vague
--“I highly recommend this to anyone who likes action movies.” <--Better but still vague

--The audience expects the main character to be successful, so when the main character dies unexpectedly at the end of the movie, the audience cannot help but shed tears. <> (This explains that the movie is sad because we expected the character to succeed, but instead he dies. So this evaluation answers the "how" and "why" question well.)