|
i look at commas as like breathing spots. this isn't strict (so if you make a clause that functions as an adjective you might have to use them to separate it from what it modifies even if you wouldn't pause for breath there were you reading it aloud).
colons link together sentences: semi colons link sentence to fragment. that's the rule i think.
once you figure out the basic game, you can mess around with it--for example if you decide to play with cadences, you can use commas to manipulate them.
but really, it depends on what you're writing. in a critical essay, for example, i have found that folk get in trouble with commas because they're using passive voice. so when i taught writing i would go after the use of verbs. make the sentences active and you'll have to keep them shorter. keeping them shorter simplifies them, structurally speaking. mostly this erases questions about how to use punctuation to string together elements that would be simple to deal with in a separate sentences.
that's my tip, really. use active sentences. use more passive or complicated constructions for particular reasons. know why you're doing it, in other words.
well, there are two tips. the other one is write alot. just do it. it's like any other craft: there's no substitute for doing stuff.
__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
|