Blog Post 4

1.     Dashes

As I read both chapters of Grammar Alive and the Christiansen article, I found myself both heartily agreeing—and disagreeing—with what was being said. (English 326:Blog Post number 2, September 2015)

In this example, the dash is being used as a parenthetical. Dashes used in place of parentheses or commas are really good at making sure to show that what is in the dashes are separate from the sentence but also integral. These are more of an aside, the writers feelings, as opposed to extra information that is typically supplied with the use of commas.

“…[S]he did not emphasize her feminine qualities. Though her features were strong, she was not unattractive and might have been quite stunning had she taken even a mild interest in clothing. This she did not. There was never lipstick to contrast with her strait black hair, while at the age of thirty-one her dresses showed all the imagination of English adolescents… Unfortunately… There was no denying she had a good brain.”

—James D. Watson. The Double Helix. 1968

(English 298: Final Research Paper. Fall 2014)

In this particular example, the dash is used to show an attribution. This is a quote I used in my final research paper a few semesters back and I used it to start my entire paper. Because of the size of the quote, and that fact that it needs to stand alone, apart from the rest of the paper, a simple parenthetical citation will not suffice. In cases like this you use dashes to show who gave the quote.

Honestly it can get annoying—but I digress. (English 326: Blog Post 2. September 2015)

Similar to the first example, dashes set apart the authors personal thoughts. It can also show a change in mood. If you are writing a piece that is generally serious, but want to add something to change the mood briefly, a dash is a good way to go. It can be used to add additional information that is either important to the sentence, or just a fun aside.

2.     Semicolons

In 1953, Franklin produced the photograph that changed the world’s view of DNA; the “B” form image of a section of DNA, proving its double helical structure. (English 298: Final Research Paper. Fall 2014)

This is an example of how not to use a semicolon. Originally I had used a colon here but Word thought it needed to be a semicolon. Listening to Word’s suggestions is not always the best choice. Semicolons are meant to join two full sentences, not sentence fragments. Because what follows the semicolon is not a complete sentence, it cannot be used here.

English is the world’s dominant language right now; it’s also one of the most versatile. English 326: Blog Post 2. September 2015)

This is a classic example of a semicolon connecting to clauses that can easily stand alone. The rhetoric behind the use of a semicolon vs. a period is to show that, while these two sentences are separate, they also are linked together. If you were to use a period here instead, then it wouldn’t flow the same.

But getting in was the easy part; once in the school you chose a career path, Architecture or Medical Studies. (Honors 280: Final Short Story. Spring 2015)

This is from a creative short story I wrote last semester for one of my Honors classes. Similar to the last example, the rhetoric behind this is that the two separate clauses are actually linked. It shows that what comes after the semicolon explains more what comes before. Because this was a creative piece, the clause before the semicolon is not a full clause, it builds off the sentence before it.

3.     Brainstorming

For my final portfolio I was thinking about doing something along the lines of a poster or a scrapbook, or a flip-book. As for my ultimate audience, I am thinking high school, though to be honest I am still not sure.