When I found out there was a whole class about grammar, I freaked out. I know that this class will be both a blessing and a curse in that I will learn a lot, but the road to that point will be challenging and frustrating. There are quite a few issues that I am concerned about when it comes to the mechanics of grammar. Sometimes the simplest thing such as what to capitalize in a title throws me for a loop. Also, the idea of commas. Although the exclamation point happens to be my favorite punctuation, the comma is a close second in that I get extremely happy when it comes to using them, even when they are not appropriate. I need help in identifying what area of a sentence needs a comma. I heard when using the comma you should, “when in doubt, leave it out,” but I never thought that way until I heard that quote. So now I am in an awkward position and feel like I should never use the comma, even when I am 99% sure it should be included in a sentence.
Another issue that I really want to master is the prefixes of words, and identifying them to figure out a meaning. For example, I always wanted to be one of those people who was asked a silly trivia question about the origin of a word. To specify, a question along the lines of, “a person who is blahblahblah is said to fear what?” Now if it was something like arachnophobia, obviously I could figure that one out, but for some words that I don’t know, I would like to have an idea of what the word may mean, based on its prefix. This would be a lot easier to explain in person, but what I am trying to get at is the fact that I want to improve my vocabulary, by knowing prefixes of words, to help figure out what the whole word may mean.
Lastly, I want to know how to improve my writing when it comes to the flow of my paper. I love to write and have good ideas when it comes to researching a piece and then coming up with ideas for a paper, but I want to further that with having my paper flow smoothly and getting the words in my head on paper and making sense. I think that these three areas will drastically help my writing if I can improve them.
Question: What is the easiest way to remember when to use a comma, and when to leave it out? Also, has the semicolon completely disappeared? I feel like it’s hardly used anymore and has lost its purpose!
