Forgo Facebook for 15 Minutes and Practice Your Commas!
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By Jay Busse, Writing Center Tutor
Trying to balance family, work, and education, almost all college students are monumentally busy, but how about a little comma practice? You could be forgiven if wanted to take a break and surf the Internet for nothing in particular. That said, if you are reading this blog, you are also highly motivated! Why not take that time and focus on improving an aspect of your writing?
Ready to never again mistake let’s eat Grandpa and let’s eat, Grandpa? Just follow these links, and you can learn more about an often-confusing subject. When you proceed in an organized fashion, it is so much the easier.
- First, follow this link to a five minute Youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOwcovqtkGY
It contains an overview for all things comma related.
- Prefer a hard copy? Try here:
http://www.slideshare.net/Angelica930719/comma-use-15-rules-and-quick-rules
Think of this as your cheat sheet.
- Next, in a new window, follow this link. It’s the Guide to Grammar and Writing page for some interactive practice:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/cgi-shl/quiz.pl/run-ons_add1.htm
- If you would prefer some interactive games at this point instead, go to Quia and try you luck with this Who Wants to be a Millionaire type game:
http://www.quia.com/rr/82028.html
- By now, your 15 minutes is probably almost up. Dig deep and try this quiz on Grammarbook.com:
https://www.grammarbook.com/grammar_quiz/commas_1.asp
That’s it! In less time than it takes to polish off a bag of microwave kettle corn, you have forever improved your understanding of a confusing topic. Finding out about those status updates or viewing those multitude cat videos can wait. Take just a little bit of time to follow these web resources. You’ll be so glad you did.
