I continually struggle with understanding the use of a semicolon; even after reading chapter eight. It's possible I just incorrectly used a semicolon. However, as I was reading about the semicolon I thought to myself: "The semicolon is like a yield sign in traffic, whereas a period would be a stop sign." I could be wrong and the semicolon would be more like a school zone and the comma would be the yield sign.
When it comes to commas, I tend to overdue it. When it comes to the serial comma (Oxford Comma) I tend to favor it, though journalistic styles don't use it. I've actually been lectured for using it.
On quotations: I learned a you don't always have to capitalize the first word within the quotes, also, punctuation does not always go inside the quotes. Exclamation and question marks go outside the quotes, unless they are part of the quote itself.
I hope I've properly applied what was covered in chapter eight and the notes. If you do see anything amiss, please feel free to bring it to my attention. I know I'll have to go back and re-read this chapter, not just for this class but for other classes. I'm curious as to others' thoughts. Do you agree or disagree on anything I have said? Why?
I love the analogy! I've never really understood the use of a semicolon, and because of that, I just never use them. I'm going to remember the comparison to a yield sign from now on though and I think that will help me going forward.
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