I wasn\u2019t a poor writer, making word salad with a careless handful of commas tossed in; I\u2019d been admitted to a graduate program in English Language and Literature. And I didn\u2019t know how to begin to fix this problem. At this point, the finer points of punctuation seemed mysterious and probably unlearnable.<\/p>\n
As an English as an Additional Language Specialist at UVic\u2019s Centre for Academic Communication<\/a> and as an instructor, I meet a lot of students experiencing this same frustration. Writers who learned English as an additional language may be at an advantage: for the most part, they have been \u201ctaught\u201d a lot of what they need to know to be able to master the use of commas and other fun and useful things like colons and semicolons with relative ease. In order to know whether you need a comma in any given situation, you need a functional range of metalanguage: relative clause, dependent clause, conjunctive adverb, etc. Native English speakers under a certain age, however, were mostly just told to throw a comma in when they \u201cfelt like they needed a pause,\u201d which, unfortunately, isn\u2019t a real rule of comma usage. As adults pursuing graduate degrees, not having been taught real rules isn\u2019t doing us any good now. In fact, it\u2019s kind of embarrassing.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat am I supposed to do about it now?\u201d you might be wondering. Here\u2019s Learning the \u201cright way\u201d to use punctuation (and the correct lyrics to all my favourite 80s and 90s songs) clearly took time and the kind of dedication that may not be available to you when your literature review is due next week. Thankfully, there are other options available. First, get a diagnosis from someone who knows a lot about these things. Maybe you\u2019re guilty of conjunctive adverb abuse because you\u2019ve got them confused with subordinating conjunctions. Maybe you\u2019ve never thought about restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. Half the battle is just knowing what to Google.<\/p>\n It may seem painful at first, but picture yourself at some point in the future when it pays off: your perfectly punctuated cover letter just got you your dream job. You didn\u2019t have to hire an editor before you submitted your article for publication. You\u2019ve met the girl of your dreams online; her profile said she only dated people who texted with correct punctuation, and she really meant it. Good punctuation matters to a lot of people, more than you might think, but at the end of the day it\u2019s up to you how accurate you need your writing to be and how much you are prepared to invest in your writing practice. Like doing yoga or learning how to knit a sweater, it takes time and dedication to develop the skills and ability you need in order to have a practice you\u2019re satisfied with. A good practice requires a good instructor that you trust, clear instructions, the ability to detect errors, the skills to be able to fix them, the confidence to take risks, and the humility to ask for help when you\u2019re not sure what you\u2019re doing. Who can you ask? The CAC. We\u2019re here to help!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Gillian Saunders It wasn\u2019t so long ago when I found out that I didn\u2019t really know how to use a comma. I mean, I knew how, but I didn\u2019t really, really know. I could put them in the right place about 95% of the time, but not explain why I was adding them or … Continue reading Comma chameleon: Transforming punctuation and grammar in your writing<\/span> ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/gradwriters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2029\/2017\/03\/comma-photo-400x300.jpg\")
<\/a> the abridged version of how I\u2019ve filled my own vacancies in the punctuation and grammar puzzle: first and foremost, my education is in a very reading- and writing-heavy field. I studied writing and linguistics with some very inspiring and knowledgeable instructors, and then I started teaching grammar and composition myself. At that point, I had to learn everything there was to know, or else risk being shown up by students who had mastered not only their own first languages, but mine as well, and better than I had. I completed a Certificate in Editing by distance. I read books like Michael Swan\u2019s Practical English Usage<\/em>, Strunk and White\u2019s classic The Elements of Style<\/em>, and everything by Kate Turabian and Diana Hacker. I Googled. A lot. \u201cWhich vs. that?\u201d \u201cWhat is an appositive?\u201d I tugged at the knots of obscure grammar forum threads until I was satisfied that I could explain when and why you need a comma before \u201csuch as.\u201d I started reading my work, and the work I edited, aloud, with verbalized punctuation: \u201cThe semicolon has two main uses COLON<\/em> it separates long items in a list COMMA<\/em> which may also contain commas COMMA<\/em> and it joins two independent clauses that are closely related PERIOD<\/em>.\u201d I questioned my identity as a writer, as a native English speaker, and in other areas of my life. Had I also been singing the wrong words to my favourite songs at the top of my lungs in the car all along? (I had.)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/gradwriters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2029\/2017\/03\/photo-kitteh-263x300.jpg\")
<\/a><\/em>Gillian is an English as an Additional Language Specialist and Business English and Communications instructor at UVic, and has taught in Canada and South Korea. In her spare time she can be found reading about grammar and English language teaching and patting herself on the back for not pointing out every single writing error she encounters during her day.<\/em><\/p>\n