By Colons, Punctuation

Hi Tuongvan, you have continuing problems with spacing around punctuation. You do not need spaces before question marks: Who could have broken it ? -- incorrect (or non-standard) Who could have broken it? -- correct When you use a full stop, comma, colon or semicolon, put a single space...

Hello PCM, The key to your question is "too much." Too much of anything is unnatural. Even ice cream. (Although, happily, I haven't found that point yet when it comes to ice cream.) Colons are really not often used. Your example is a good one. Use them before a list. Until you...

Hi, Here are a few brief additional comments. Dashes - Don't get into the habit of using them a lot, because they can sometimes lead to lazy punctuation and poor sentence stircture (eg Instead of taking the time to figure out how to make my meaning clear, I'll just use a dash here and...

A few examples from Google. My guess is that it means "bring about". This is the first I've ever heard of "ultimate" as a verb....but uses modern punctuation (the colon) to ultimate the caesura of Old English alliterative verse. ... strategy to be applied in order...

Mister Micawber is right. Also, use a semicolon in the first sentence only if you don't change the text. Thus it would be: "He usually has a shower; then he has a shave and brushes his teeth."~R

.He usually has a shower, and then he has a shave and brushes his teeth.He usually has a shower; then, he has a shave and brushes his teeth.This is a mundane description of a daily activity. The semicolon and subsequent comma in the second sentence break the sentence into formal segments that do...

Hello Mister Micawber,I appreciate your kind reply. Here, I would like to point out the second sentence that has two independent clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb is required to be separated by a semicolon. Further, a comma is then needed after the conjunctive adverb 'then'. I have...

Hi,Could I be able to use what I call "elaborate" punctuation in emails, like using semicolons and dashes?? Can you correct this?eg,I was expecting your email, Jane; I am glad to receive it. I have one question though: did you decide on your wedding date? Are you marrying the dashing...

Thanks Goodman! Could anyone tell me, in descriptive writing what tense usually writer choose. And Guys please reply my 2nd post last two sentenses as well. And explain we can separate verb and subject i.e mirror and curtain, by using comma for emphasis like Feebs did? Third sentence, I have...

Hi, Sorry that I can't give you an example but I have seen some cases where a comma is used before the phrase 'so that'. Why is that? I thought almost always, if not always, a comma is not used when the phrase 'so that' is used. Generally speaking, it depends on the length...