KISS Level 1. 7. Focus on Punctuation
and Capitalization
There is much more difficulty in pointing,
than people are generally aware of. —In effect, there is scarce any thing
in the province of the grammarians so little fixed and ascertained as this.
The rules usually laid down are impertinent, dark, and defective; and the
practice, at present, perfectly capricious, authors varying not only from
one another, but from themselves, too. . . .
-- Ephraim Chambers [Quoted by Joseph M. Williams at the beginning
of Chapter Ten (on punctuation) in Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity ? Grace.
Scott, Foresman and Company, 1981. p. 184.] |
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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 |
Ex.
# 1 - The Importance of Punctuation |
Another
Perspective of the Psycholinguistic Model:
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. |
Ex.
# 2 - Punctuating Sentences |
Ex.
# 4 - Commas in a Series |
Ex.
# 5 - Commas in Addresses and Dates |
For Post Level Three
[These are exercises that can be used after students
get into Level 3, Clauses]
Ex.
# 7 - Apostrophes in Contractions |
For Post Level Three
[These are exercises that can be used after students
get into Level 3, Clauses]
Ex.
# 8 - Quotation Marks |
Ex.
# 9 - Replacing Lost Punctuation and Capitalization |
Many more of these are in "Level
6.1 - Punctuation" for the Practice/Applicatoin Sections |
Ex.
# 10 - Creating an Exercise
[This exercise is the same in every grade level.] |
Select a short passage
from a book. Remove all the capitalization and punctuation to make a punctuation
exercise for your classmates. Do at least one of your classmates' exercises. |
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