Self Eval

For this semester, I am really hoping to accomplish how to properly use a comma. I tend to over use the comma or do not know exactly where to put them. For example, I tend to put “…,however,...” because when I say the sentence, I pause in both places . The two commas I have been told are unnecessary or are necessary. I tend to not understand the semi colon as well. I get confused on exactly what the semi colon is used for. I have been told that it combines two sentences or ideas, but I also have been told otherwise. I am not sure if the semi colon can be replaced by a comma or even if the semi colon is appropriate and a comma can be used instead. For example, “I have seen the movie twice; just enough to understand.” I am not positive if a semi colon is needed or if a comma would suffice.

I do not fully understand the work of a hyphen. For example, “cross section” and “cross-section.” I do not know the difference really between the two. I do know that the hyphen adds a different understanding to the two words that are placed together. Also, I tend to create many short sentences instead of combining them successfully. For example, “I saw Kim. She came over yesterday. We talked about cars.” I am worried that the sentences will become runons and therefore try to shorten them as much as possible. Therefore, I would like to learn how to combine the sentences correctly without being too short and being too long.

Redundancies tend to be a great problem that I have. For example, “a distance of ten yards” or “an actual fact.” I would like to focus on bettering my word choice and excluding the redundancies. Also, clichés tend to lure me in. For example, “busy as a bee” or “crystal clear,” as well as others. I want to be able to be more creative and have a wider variety of word choice so I do not have to use clichés. Furthermore, I tend to catch myself not using the right word in a situation when it comes to “affect” and “effect.” Overall I would like to be able to strengthen my word vocabulary enough to not have the problems that I do with redundancies and clichés.

Lastly, I am not sure as to when to spell out numbers and when to leave them in number form. I have heard many times that spelling them out ends at 100 and anything above that are put into number form. Also, I have heard that numbers above 10 are to be written out in the number form. I would like to finally learn which is actually correct.