COMMAS NOT COMAS! Try My Own PERIOD PYRAMID & and the COMMA COMA is CURED!

The key to my PERIOD PYRAMID is, can EACH SIDE stand alone where you find a COMMA or a CONJUNCTION. If a PERIOD can go there, so can ANY of the things in the PERIOD PYRAMID. Click to the next slide to see more…

Makes it TOO easy, doesn’t it? Just remember, if a period can go there, a simple COMMA or a CONJUNCTION isn’t enough. CHOOSE something from the PERIOD PYRAMID. My tool – but it helps!

Need more – let’s try some together… The horse ran across the pasture and the others ran behind him. See the AND (conjunction)? Can the words on each side stand alone? Can they operate as complete sentences? If so, they are (fancy word) INDEPENDENT CLAUSES. Honestly, you don’t need to care about that – just know that you need something from the PYRAMID to FIX it. Not just AND, but COMMA AND.

WRONG: The horse ran across the pasture and the others ran behind him. RIGHT: The horse ran across the pasture, and the others ran behind him.

WRONG: The horse ran across the pasture and the others ran behind him. ALSO RIGHT: The horse ran across the pasture ; the others ran behind him. ALSO RIGHT: The horse ran across the pasture ; however, the others ran behind him. Of course, you’ll notice that the last doesn’t sounds as well, so I wouldn’t use it!

The POINT is that if: EACH SIDE CAN STAND ALONE you can use ANYTHING in the PERIOD PYRAMID. Here are some more examples…

The dogs ran down the street and my son ran after them. QUESTION: Can the parts on each side of the AND (conjunction) STAND ALONE? They need a SUBJECT and a VERB to do so…

The dogs ran down the street and my son ran after them. ANSWER: The dogs ran down the street. – Yes. My son ran after them. – Yes. SO I need something from the PYRAMID. Any will do: The dogs ran down the street; my son ran after them. The dogs ran down the street, and my son ran after them. The dogs ran down the street; therefore, my son ran after them.

This brings us to a closer look at the bottom of the PYRAMID. You can use: ; however, ; therefore, ; moreover, ; moreover, Or any other “lawyerly word” you’d like. When I was a paralegal, I was told that we had to write fancy so we could charge a lot to write contracts. My boss wasn’t kidding – so I call these “lawyerly words”. They look fancy and work well – but most often it is better to simply speak/write clearly. What’s wrong with, and, but or even, however …. That said, use what YOU want – as long as it makes sense and sounds well to YOU!

Now it’s time to practice with a couple of PRACTICE QUIZZES. You will see these again when studying for QUIZ THREE, but it is WELL worth taking a peek at them now. It will CERTAINLY raise up your QUIZ and ESSAY grades… Try these practice quizzes: COMPOUND COMPLEX-COMPOUND. You’ll find them below this link…

One final hint… Treat CONJUNCTIONS as flares. Each time you see one, ask yourself if each side can stand alone. If SO, add a COMMA before. One warning – if it’s grocery listing/items in a series (Go to the store and buy cheese, ham, eggs, and bread.) ALSO add a COMMA before the and. Otherwise, NO COMMA.

OK… Take a minute to peek at those quizzes. You don’t have to spend an eternity – just take a peek! You’ll be amazed at what you learn… and GRATEFUL to YOURSELF later that you did!