When it comes to writing, punctuation (especially commas) probably worries many good writers more than anything else. We need to realize, however, that the "rules" of punctuation are not essentially about etiquette -- although too many people think they are. The rules are about helping the reader understand what words go with what other words in a sentence. Put differently, punctuation lets readers understand which words chunk to which other words. (Remember the KISS Psycholinguistic Model.) In speech, this is easily handled by intonation and pauses. Readers do not have access to intonation and pauses, and written sentences are often longer and more complex than are spoken sentences. As Chambers (above) observed, many textbooks present "impertinent, dark, and defective" rules. They do so in part because many people want the "rules," so that is what textbooks give them. But rules without context are often meaningless.

     The rules in most textbooks are often meaningless because they focus almost exclusively on the simple, easily understood rules. Most students easily and quickly learn to begin a sentence with a capital letter, to use capital letters for the names of specific people and places, to use commas in a sentence, and even to use quotation marks to set off the words spoken by someone. Apostrophes give many students problems, but those problems probably result from the fact that most textbooks do not teach students how to identify adjectives and subjects and verbs. (Possessive nouns always function as adjectives; contractions almost always contract some part of a subject/verb pattern.) These simple rules are what KISS Level 1.7 is primarily about. In essence, it is a basic introduction.

     In the KISS sequence, the most important instruction about punctuation appears as part of the study of specific constructions. For example, the punctuation of main clauses (a major problem for some students) is a focus of KISS Level 3.1. There the exercises go beyond what you will find in most textbooks because KISS first teaches students how to identify main clauses, and then shows them how punctuation (including semicolons, colons, and dashes) can be used to suggest the logical relationships between those clauses. The use of the comma for restrictive and non-restrictive punctuation is introduced in KISS Level 3.1.2 -- Subordinate Clauses. Similarly, the various ways in which appositives can be set off is a focus of KISS Level 5.4. (Note that in the on-line books, punctuation exercises have a yellow background.)

      The primary KISS punctuation exercises are in the "Practice/Application" sections. There you will find exercises based on short passages from which the punctuation and capitalization have been stripped. Students are asked to "fix" them, and then to compare their versions with the original. Also indexed in Level 6.1 are exercises about "Bending and Breaking the Rules." (Exercise Nine is this book is an example; most of these exercises are indexed in KISS Level 6.1) 

An Overview of the Exercises in KISS Level 1.7

     Note: Most of the exercises in KISS Level 1.7 either include, or can be adapted to include, analytical directions (prepositional phrases and S/V/C patterns). These can, of course, be ignored, or the students can follow them to improve their analytical ability. Most of the analysis keys include a complete analysis of all the sentences.

     Exercise # 1 is a study in the importance of Punctuation. Students are given a passage to punctuate. After doing it, the class should discuss how the punctuation affects the meaning of the passage. These are not easy to do, but that is the point--punctuation clarifies meaning.

     Exercise # 2 presents students will relatively simple sentences that lack final punctuation marks. Students are asked to use a period, exclamation point, or question mark to complete the punctuation. 

     Exercise # 3 addresses the use of capital letters.

     Exercise # 4 explores the use of commas in a series.

     Exercise # 5 focuses on  the use of commas in addresses and dates.

     Exercise # 6 addresses  the use of apostrophes to show possession.

     Exercise # 7 addresses  the use of apostrophes in contractions.

     Exercise # 8 asks students to identify the words that were said by placing them in quotation marks “  ”. 

     Exercise # 9 is an introduction to most of the punctuation exercises that students will meet in later KISS Levels, especially in the Practice/Application booklets. As noted above, students are given a short passage from which the punctuation and capitalization have been  "lost." They are asked to fix it. These exercises are most effective if students discuss their "fixes" with their classmates.

     Exercise # 10 invites students to make an exercise like the one above. Students can then do one another's exercise and discuss the results.
 

Exercises in KISS Level 1.7

Another Perspective of the Psycholinguistic Model: The Purpose of Punctuation  Overhead #1 Overhead #2 Overhead #3 Two Men, members . . . . AK          Because this "exercise" involves three semi-reduced clauses, I was going to put it in Practice/Application for Level 3.2 in grades five through eleven. Then I remembered 1.) that some teachers will not like it because the men want to smoke, 2.) the effectiveness of the "exercise" depends on showing students first "Overhead # 1," then "#2" and finally "#3." (This won't work if everything is in their printable book.) Finally, 3.) reprinting it in each of the books would require a lot of space. I therefore include it here for anyone who wishes to use it.     Note that, in part, the initial ambiguity in the text depends on which main clause "while walking in the garden" chunks to.