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| But if "you" don't actually "exist," who's to know about the bucket? |
Although we’re only at the end of the second week of term, I feel like I’m already getting a better handle on grammar and punctuation. I always felt I was pretty good with punctuation, especially apostrophes, but now I feel as if I can already explain their usage and rules better, and certain rules that nobody really explained to me before were cleared up.
For example, I always used to have the tendency to write:
... rather than just writing a-apostrophe-s and forgoing the quotation marks around a. I also never learned the “Socrates’” rule for indicating possession, although that may be more because it’s no longer as popular as just putting an apostrophe after any noun ending in -s.
I’m not sure I would have ever thought to teach someone the difference between “its” and “it’s” the way that Barbara explained with her anecdote. For people who understand grammar, or who use it correctly enough to not have too many problems, explaining grammar’s in’s and out’s seems like it could be tricky. This is something I want to remember during this class (and beyond). How to teach grammar in language that people who understand grammar less than I do can grasp onto. It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s something that could easily be forgotten, as a teacher.
(Something else I learned: you pluralize words by italicizing them and adding an apostrophe+s. I never knew it had to be italicized.)
I loved the “Exercises in Rhetorical Punctuation” handout we worked with. The Eats, Shoots, and Leaves example was used in my seventh grade grammar class that I mentioned in the last post. Another of my favorite examples for how commas work is this:
For example, I always used to have the tendency to write:
“Grammar” is spelled with two “a”s.
... rather than just writing a-apostrophe-s and forgoing the quotation marks around a. I also never learned the “Socrates’” rule for indicating possession, although that may be more because it’s no longer as popular as just putting an apostrophe after any noun ending in -s.
I’m not sure I would have ever thought to teach someone the difference between “its” and “it’s” the way that Barbara explained with her anecdote. For people who understand grammar, or who use it correctly enough to not have too many problems, explaining grammar’s in’s and out’s seems like it could be tricky. This is something I want to remember during this class (and beyond). How to teach grammar in language that people who understand grammar less than I do can grasp onto. It seems like a no-brainer, but it’s something that could easily be forgotten, as a teacher.
(Something else I learned: you pluralize words by italicizing them and adding an apostrophe+s. I never knew it had to be italicized.)
I loved the “Exercises in Rhetorical Punctuation” handout we worked with. The Eats, Shoots, and Leaves example was used in my seventh grade grammar class that I mentioned in the last post. Another of my favorite examples for how commas work is this:
I might have laughed for a minute straight when I saw that the first time. It’s interesting how a single comma can change the meaning and attribution of a sentence.
I guess one thing that still confuses me is the difference between letters in all-caps and letters in lowercase. Something I was taught (not by a teacher, which is why I suspect its correctness) is that for acronyms written in all-caps, you don’t need periods between the letters, but if they are all lowercase, you do. So you would write either “ATM” or “a.t.m.” but not “A.T.M.” Does anybody know if this is correct? I think that most people just write things in all-caps, but what do you think?
As for the pattern of the week, I offer this: THE WIND IS BLOWING, SHRIEKING, WHISPERING.
I guess one thing that still confuses me is the difference between letters in all-caps and letters in lowercase. Something I was taught (not by a teacher, which is why I suspect its correctness) is that for acronyms written in all-caps, you don’t need periods between the letters, but if they are all lowercase, you do. So you would write either “ATM” or “a.t.m.” but not “A.T.M.” Does anybody know if this is correct? I think that most people just write things in all-caps, but what do you think?
As for the pattern of the week, I offer this: THE WIND IS BLOWING, SHRIEKING, WHISPERING.
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ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, I think we have to look at a few aspects including initialism, acronym, proper and common noun. Acronym is a made up word from both common and proper nouns. “A.t.m.” is a made up word for an “automated-teller machine”, which are from the common nouns, and therefore written in lowercase. We placed a dot after each letter (a.t.m.) to distinguish the initialism from a word (atm, in case such word exists). When ATM is capitalized, we obviously know that its initial letters represent a phrase, and there is no confusion with a word (atm, if such word exists). Therefore, we do not need to place the dots after the capitalized letters.
ReplyDeleteI hope I am on the right track. Please feel free to comment, and thank you for reading.
hmmm... I'm not sure this person is in our class? Anyway, about your lowercase rule: I've never heard that one. I'd toss it as a rule.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love that your visuals!
Also, you did imitate the pattern-of-the-week, but you needed to incorporate it into your actual writing, making it fit your own context. Try that next week, okay?
Me? Or the commenter? I am definitely in the class! haha
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure what the deal with the pattern was. I will do that next week.
Thanks, Barbara :)