Punctuation: Commas and Apostrophes

Academic Skills Advice

This workshop will:

− Refresh your understanding of commas and apostrophes

− Provide tips for the appropriate use of commas and apostrophes

− Provide practice and follow-on activities for you to be able continue to improve your use of punctuation

Teaching points:

1. 7 ways to use commas 2. Commas and clauses 3. Commas and ends of sentences 4. Using pairs of commas 5. Comma practice 6. Jobs apostrophes do 7. “Its/it’s” and “there/they’re/their” 8. Where to place apostrophes with plural nouns

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1. 7 ways to use commas

Let’s start with what commas don’t do – they do not show you where to take a breath! A comma is just one type of punctuation which play their part in the grammatical construction of a sentence.

Below is a list of what commas do with examples, and we will then look at some in more detail.

Rule Example A To separate the clauses in a sentence Society depends on its traditions, and the authority of the written text is one of those. B To separate the introductory element of a After the death of his wife, Hardy went sentence from the main part (or subject) of it in to a deep depression. C To separate an additional and final part of a The sea is calm tonight, yet it raged sentence from the opening and main part (or fiercely all day. subject) of it D To separate out essential/useful information Charles Handy, in his book The Empty from the main part (subject) of the sentence Raincoat, has argued that federalism is a way of making sense of large organizations. E To separate out nonessential words from the There is, however, one mistake that remainder of the sentence. The word many students make. ‘however’ is used as a signal to suggest a change of direction or to stress an exception to the rule F To separate commands or interjections from Stop, or I’ll shoot the remainder of the sentence G To separate out a) adjectives, or b) list of a) It was a fine, dry and sunny day in items in a sentence my home town. b) Raspberries, blackberries, strawberries and gooseberries are all traditional English fruits

2. Clauses and commas (A above)

Quick note about clauses:

 A clause is a group of words that may or may not have a complete meaning on their own.  Clauses are building blocks of sentences with each one adding to the overall detail of a sentence.  A sentence may contain more than one clause, but must have one main clause.

The example above is broken down into two clauses as follows…

Society depends on its traditions, and the authority of the written text is one of those.

Clause Clause

The above could be written as:

Society depends on its traditions. Authority of the written text is a tradition of society.

To bring them together to produce both the appropriate academic style and as there is an obvious link, we use the ‘and’ to link them but need the comma as they are two different clauses.

Society depends on its traditions, and the authority of the written text is one of those.

If using a conjunction (a short word that links two clauses, e.g. and, but, so), the comma always goes before the conjunction.

Let’s create longer sentences from the pairs below and insert commas appropriately. We may also have to add a conjunction. a)

David wants to attend the University of Bradford. David has had trouble meeting the academic requirements to attend the University of Bradford.

Joey lost a fortune in the stock market. Joey seems to be able to live quite comfortably.

School is still open for another nine weeks. You had better learn all you can over the next few weeks at school. 3. Commas and ends of sentences (C above)

Use a comma near the end of a sentence to separate contrasts, shifts or additional information. The comma always goes before the addition.

The sea is calm tonight, yet it raged fiercely all day.

This is the main subject This is the additional element

Together we will look at the following parts of a sentence and draw lines to connect them. In the space below, write the full sentence out and insert commas appropriately.

The chimpanzee seemed not yours reflective Some say the world will almost human end in ice That is my money not fire

4. Using pairs of commas (D and E above)

You may wish to include additional information, whether essential, useful or nonessential, within a sentence rather than at the end. For this, you need to use a pair of commas: one at the beginning of your additional information and one at the end. This arrangement is helpful, as if you want to check your addition has not affected the overall meaning of the sentence, the commas act as ‘handles’ for you to pull it out and re-read the main information.

Using the example from the table above…

Charles Handy, in his book The Empty Raincoat, has argued that federalism is a way of making sense of large organizations.

If we take out the additional words within the sentence, we get…

Charles Handy has argued that federalism is a way of making sense of large organizations.

Hooray, this still makes sense, so we can put them back in (if you want to).

We will read the following sentences, decide where additional information could be placed, and place the commas in the appropriate places. Try to think of what information could be placed there.

Smith’s ambition is within his reach. The man was caught today. One famous sportsman won many trophies during his career.

5. Comma practice

Activity 1: Comma exercise Read the paragraph below and add commas where appropriate. Consult with one neighbour and check each other’s work, and then check with the other neighbour.

On July 20th 1969 having stepped onto the Moon’s surface Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words ‘One small step for man one giant leap for mankind.’ Although it had been hoped that the moon landing would lead to significant advances in space travel some of which may soon become a reality the scientific progress has generally been slow. However space research has done much to unite nations. The establishment of the International Space Station the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Telescope illustrates how much easier and more profitable it is for nations to work as a team rather than in isolation.

1. Jobs apostrophes do

Many people are confused about how to use apostrophes – when to use them and where they go. Does an apostrophe go before or after an ‘s’? If a word ends in ‘s’, do you another ‘s’ and an apostrophe? Are there different rules for plurals? Which word has the apostrophe?

They do two jobs:

7. Its/it’s’ and ‘there/they’re/their’

Remember - an apostrophe acts as either a substitute or to show possession.

Its and it’s

Quick reminder: there are exceptions to the rule of using an apostrophe for possession in relation to personal pronouns (as shown at the beginning of the first section). This means ‘it’s’ is a contraction so should be written as ‘it is’ unless using a quotation. This may mean confusion over which to use is reduced.

One of these sentences is right and the other should have an apostrophe.

A. In the current conflict its uncertain whose borders they are contesting.

B. In the current conflict it’s uncertain whose borders they are contesting.

Which is which? One tip is use expansion and see which makes sense.

A. In the current conflict it is uncertain whose borders they are contesting.

This makes sense, so as the apostrophe is substituting for the ‘i’ in ‘is’ the answer is

B. In the current conflict it’s uncertain whose borders they are contesting.

*However, whilst this is grammatically correct, when you are writing academic purposes, you would have to write it out in full.

Let’s try another one:

A. Discussing its function to the patient proved difficult due to his age.

B. Discussing it’s function to the patient proved difficult due to his age.

We use the same technique – expansion – to see which to use.

Discussing it is function to the patient proved difficult due to his age.

This time it does not make any sense and there is no substitution so this time the answer is without an apostrophe.

A.Discussing its function to the patient proved difficult due to his age.

a)their b)there c)they’re

I use this system to work out which one to use. b) ‘there’ is to do with space or time – a Doctor Who word. It contains another word which reminds you of that: ‘here’. So, if you have sentences like the following..

Results showed there was little use of the new evening surgery hours

The participant stated: “there wasn’t enough people to keep conversations going” think that they relate to space and time just like ‘here’ does, so the spelling must be ‘there’. c) they’re. You can use the expanding tip again.

There/they’re/their developing a new computer programme to assist people with sight impairment

7 www.brad.ac.uk/academic-skills Academic Skills Advice becomes…

‘They are developing a new computer programme to assist people with sight impairment’ so we are back to the apostrophe being about substitution for the letter ‘a’ in ‘are’.

*However, don’t forget contractions are not appropriate for academic writing unless quoting a source. a) Use the process of elimination, i.e., if it’s not ‘there’ and not ‘they’re’, it must be ‘their’ – one of those pesky possession words without an apostrophe.

Its/it’s; they’re/their/there: let’s fill the gaps together. Write answer on the mini- whiteboards

1.My friends cannot find jackets.

2.The dog licked paw.

3. always late to every event.

4. are four squirrels in the yard.

5.My sister is always complaining that too hot in Spain

Activity 1: Its/it’s and they’re/their/there

Read the text below and with a neighbour decide whether the word provided is correct and if not, choose the correct option. One option may be used more than once. There are also some other mistakes in here which are not covered above but you can solve by using the methods we have discussed. There are 10 mistakes altogether.

One of the problems that arises when your paying for something over the internet is that you never see whose receiving your details at the other end. We like to think that their trustworthy but it’s impossible to know whether that is the case. As anyone who’s been the victim of credit card fraud will know, it can very difficult to regain you’re faith in online shopping once your identity has been stolen. Shops and restaurants may seem safer but just as much fraud goes on they’re as it does on the web. These days, customers need reassurance that their transactions are safe and

banks need to raise there game with regard to financial security. For all it’s advantages, the online world can certainly have its downside. Adapted directly from Harrison, Jakeman and Paterson (2012: 115)

2. Where to place apostrophes with plural nouns

The short answer to the problem of where to put the apostrophe for plurals is if there is one ‘thing’, the apostrophe is before the ‘s’, if more than one, after the ‘s’. This problem is all about where you put an apostrophe for plurals when you want to show possession, although they are really about substitution. Oh no, I hear you say!

Bear with me.

A.The cat’s collar is red. Expand it: The cat has a collar (that) is red.

In this one, ‘has’ is between ‘cat’ and ‘collar’ and you are substituting the letters ‘ha’ for an apostrophe, so it goes before the ‘s’.

B.The cats’s collars are red. Expand it: The cats have collars (that) are red.

In this one, ‘have’ goes after ‘cats’ and you are substituting all of ‘have’ which is after ‘cats’ so the apostrophe goes after the ‘s’ in ‘cats’.

The census of opinion for plurals ending in ‘s’ is not to write another ‘s’ after the apostrophe although you may see this construction in various texts.

‘The collars of the cats are red’ becomes ‘the cats’ collars are red’

‘The colours of the irises were fading’ becomes ‘the iris’ colours were fading’

That’s all very well, I hear you say, but what about words that are plurals but do not end in ‘s’: words like ‘children’, or ‘geese’.

Easy – you treat them just like a singular word, ie ‘cat’, because they that word describes one group of whatever it is. You put an apostrophe and then the ‘s’.

The four classes of children’s coats were on the floor.

We spotted eight pairs of geese’s nests next to the lake.

Let’s try to pick the right words as a group

A.The beneficial effect of Vitamin D on childrens/children’s/childrenses health has been noted in recent research findings.

B.Apparently Ferrari’s/Ferraris latest supercar can reach speeds of over 200 miles per hour.

C.The development of teenager’s/teenagers’/teenageres identities is heavily influenced by their peers’s/peeress/peers’ behaviour.

D.People have enjoyed Beethoven’s/Beethovens music for more than two hundred years.

E.I’ve always believed that a designers’/designer’s most successful approach is to follow his intuition, rather than pander to clientses/clients’s/clients’ ideas.

Adapted directly from Harrison, Jakeman and Paterson (2012: 47)

Suggested websites for more information and activities: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/ and search for the commas you want http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/languageartsworksheets/punctuationworksheet s/ and search for commas you want.

You can also visit The Language Centre at the University of Bradford who will be able to provided additional support on a 1:2:1 or group basis for ALL students: http://www.brad.ac.uk/study/languages/international-study-centre/

References

Clip art –question

Capital Community College. (2014) Conjunctions. Hartford, Capital Community College. http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm#but Accessed 8 December 2014.

Drawingcoach.com (2010) Drawing a Friendly Cartoon Panda. http://www.drawingcoach.com/cartoon-panda.html Accessed 2 July 2014.

Driscoll, D. and Brizee, A. (2014) Extended rules for using commas. West Lafayette, Purdue University. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/607/ Accessed 8 December 2014.

Harrison, M., Jakeman, V. and Paterson, K. (2012) Improve your grammar. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

How Stuff Works. (2012) 10 completely wrong ways to use a comma. http://howstuffworks.tumblr.com/post/24471189949/10-completely-wrong-ways-to- use-commas-commas-are Accessed 2 July 2014.

Picture for Coloring. (2014) Panda on walk. Montreal, Picture for Colouring. http://picturesforcoloring.com/2012/04/printable-panda-coloring-pages-for-cute- kids/ Accessed 8 December 2014.

Schwartz, B (2013) Search Engine Roundtable. http://www.seroundtable.com/google-panda-advice-17354.html Accessed 2 July 2014.

Straus, J. (2014) Commas. Grammarbook.com http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp Accessed 8 December 2014.

University of Bristol. (2012) Using the comma. Bristol, University of Bristol. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_45.htm Accessed 16 June 2014.

Answers

Creating longer sentences a) David wants to attend the University of Bradford, but he has had trouble meeting the academic requirements. b) Joey lost a fortune in the stock market, but he still seems able to live quite comfortably. c) School is still open for another nine weeks, so you better try to learn all you can.

Commas at ends of sentences

The chimpanzee seemed reflective, almost human. That is my money, not yours. Some say the world will end in ice, not fire.

Commas as handles

Smith’s ambition, to become a qualified dentist, is within his reach. The man, who robbed the bank, was caught today. One famous sportsman, Ryan Giggs, won many trophies during his career.

Activity 1: Comma exercise

On July 20th, 1969, having stepped onto the surface of the Moon’s surface, Neil Armstrong uttered the famous words, ‘One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’ Although it had been hoped that the moon landing would lead to significant advances in space travel, some of which may soon become a reality, the scientific progress has generally been slow. However, space research has done much to unite nations. The establishment of the International Space Station, the Space Shuttle and the Hubble Telescope illustrates how much easier and more profitable it is for nations to work as a team, rather than in isolation.

Its/it’s; they’re/their/there

1.My friends cannot find their jackets. 2.The dog licked its paw. 3.They’re always late to every event. 4.There are four squirrels in the yard. 5.My sister is always complaining that it’s too hot in Spain

Activity 2: Its/it’s and they’re/their/there

One of the problems that arises when you’re or you are paying for something over the internet is that you never see who’s or who is receiving your details at the other end. We like to think that they’re or they are trustworthy but it’s or it is impossible to know whether that is the case. As anyone who’s or who is been the victim of credit card fraud will know, it can very difficult to regain your faith in online shopping once your identity has been stolen. Shops and restaurants may seem safer but just as much fraud goes on there as it does on the web. These days, customers need reassurance that their transactions are safe and banks need to raise their game with regard to financial security. For all its advantages, the online world can certainly have its downside

Plural possessives

A.The beneficial effect of Vitamin D on children’s health has been noted in recent research findings.

B.Apparently Ferrari’s latest supercar can reach speeds of over 200 miles per hour.

C.The development of teenagers’ identities is heavily influenced by their peers’s behaviour.

D.People have enjoyed Beethoven’s music for more than two hundred years.

E.I’ve always believed that a designer’s most successful approach is to follow his intuition, rather than pander to clients’ ideas.

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