Periods are now substituted for several of the student’s commas. That writer had confused these two marks, the comma and the full stop. Such an error may be called, for mere convenience, the comma fault. It is readily seen that of all possible mistakes in punctuation, the comma fault is the most serious and elementary. To begin a new sentence after a comma is an infallible sign of illiteracy.
Oral Exercise.—In the following passages, correct the comma fault wherever it appears. Change the sentences in other ways to give a more mature tone to them.
1. I don’t know what to do in such a case, it is too hard to decide. [Change comma to semicolon.]
2. Romeo fell in love at once, he couldn’t help himself, he had never seen any person so lovable.
3. So they also started for the forest of Arden disguised as a countryman and woman, when they got there they bought a house that was to be sold at auction, once while wandering around they met Orlando and Rosalind asked him if it was he that was spoiling the trees by carving love sentences on them, and he said it was, so she said he could pretend that she was Rosalind, so he came there every day until one day he was detained by seeing a lioness just going to spring on Oliver.
Theme.—Write a paragraph of six to ten short sentences. Let the first state the whole event in brief. Let the others give the steps of the action tersely, rapidly, emphatically. Revise for spelling and punctuation. Suggested topics:—
- 1. Shooting the rapids.
- 2. How the water comes down at the falls.
- 3. How the accident happened.
- 4. How a log-jam is broken.
- 5. The way to shoot a glass ball.
- 6. Down a hill on a wheel.
- 7. Sights from a car window.
- 8. A fall on the ice.
- 9. Shooting the “Chutes.”
- 10. A runaway.
- 11. A flash-light photograph.
- 12. How the bird (or game) escaped.
- 13. Paul Revere’s ride.
- 14. An exciting moment.
II. Unity of Substance by Including all the Parts of an Idea.—It has already been said that a paragraph may be composed of several very short sentences, each one a main step of the paragraph, each one a unit. For example:—
A great silence made itself felt. Then, on a sudden, a dry sound cracked in the air. The viscount had slapped his adversary’s face. Every one rose to interfere. Cards were exchanged between the two.