Last Wednesday was something I very much enjoyed. The “fish bowls” are so much fun! It’s like a friendly debate. I had forgotten about the fish bowls and how helpful they can be. With people who do not speak much, fish bowls allow for them to get a word in. With people who speak a lot, fish bowls allow for them to restrain giving others a chance. I was able to feed off of other people and hear other views on a subject. Although I made not have agreed with what was said, everyone sees things differently and has had different experiences towards their understanding and it was crucial for me to have heard everyone’s point of view. Also, everyone’s mind is getting involved and dissecting the topic at hand. A simple story about Dora was taken to personal experiences, understanding her step by step progress, and coming up with ideas about reasons why things happened with Dora the way they did. I really think fish bowls are a good idea in interacting with peers and using prior knowledge to critically think about the topic of discussion. I am going to remember about fish bowls now and use it in my classroom!
Also, the FANBOYS were a nice insight. I have always stuck myself with “and”. Remembering the meanings behind FANBOYS has given me a better word choice when placing two sentences together. In fact, those posters Barbra put up in the classroom have helped me in remembering certain structures a lot. I forgot how technical sentences can get. However, I have never really practiced putting a comma before “and” when putting two sentences together. I have always thought that the whole point of “and” is what takes the place of a comma; therefore a comma is unnecessary in that situation.
The question I have is I have always been writing where there is no comma before the word “and” regardless of putting two sentences together. In a grammar “test” would I be wrong or marked off for not having a comma before “and” when putting two sentences together?
I do the exact thing and I have never been marked incorrectly. The comma being placed before the 'and' is just an alternative way of saying multiple things. Although I am not sure, I believe that you would not be marked off if you placed a comma before the 'and'. We talked about this in class briefly and Barbara said that you can put a comma before the 'and' because its up to you. Everyone writes in their own ways and placing a comma before the 'and' is just another reason that makes your writing unique from other writers.
ReplyDeleteI think that if you are referring to multiple sentences and you decide to put them all in one lengthy sentence then placing a comma before the 'and' would be a proper puncutuation at this point.
I would love to hear what other people think about this question as well.
well, technically, yes, leaving out the commas in a compound sentence is an error. But it's an unstigmatized error (unlike comma splices and run-ons), so that's why, Kyle, you've never had these marked and pointed out to you. Maybe. Another possible reason: perhaps the teacher/professor had bigger fish to fry? like addressing your content? That's my guess.
ReplyDeleteSo, no, punctuation isn't only up the writer. But not all errors are created equal.
Kasie--it's okay to disagree (re: your remarks about fishbowl). In fact, this week I'm going to encourage the class to disagree.
ReplyDeleteAlso, great point about FANBOYS opening up new ways of saying "and." I've never heard that. Thanks for that insight.