Greetings,

After months of procrastinating, I have finally set up my own domain (you may cheer uncontrollably now, ... or not ... the choice is yours).

The next challenge is to revamp my whole site ('...a simple task', I hear you say, 'nothing to it') Well, no, not if you know what you're doing. I'm learning how to use FP 2000, so it may be some time till you notice any changes!

Let's pause for a moment to reflect on the role of punctuation ...

Without those little dots and squiggles, the above passage probably doesn't make a great deal of sense, but add the punctuation and it's easy to understand:

Punctuation marks provide cues and clues to the meaning of sentences. Quotation marks cue us that we should expect conversation, so we're ready to "hear" colloquial speech patterns, instead of straight language.

The punctuation marks at the end of each sentence tell us how to read that sentence:

• A full stop (period) indicates a falling inflection, marking the end of a thought.
• An exclamation mark indicates an increase in volume - this is something that needs to be emphasised!
• A question mark indicates a rising inflection and we're led to expect a response to the query.

Capital letters are used to tell us that a new thought has started (the beginning of a sentence) or that something important is being discussed. So we use capital letters for all proper nouns (names of people, places, titles of books, films, ships, houses etc, important events and special times).

Note that you don't use capitals for the seasons of the year, nor with points of the compass (except where abbreviations are used). So it''s:

However, you DO use capitals for directions when you're referring to the name of a region:

A capital letter also occurs to mark the first word of direct speech:

If you tend to wax lyrical about life in general, and are wont to exclaim, "O, the glory of toast and vegemite is food for the soul!" and, "I love a spring morning, but O nothing compares to an open fire in winter!" etc, then you always use a capital letter for "O".

Full stops are used to mark abbreviations, as well as marking the end of a sentence:

However, where the last letter of the abbreviation is also the last letter of the word, a full stop is no longer required:

Full stops are generally used after letters of abbreviations printed in capitals:

Modern usage is leaning more and more to leaving out the full stop, even in the above examples.

Colons are used to indicate a long pause in the following ways:

• To separate two sentences which present contrasting ideas

• To introduce a statement which explains, enlarges or summarises the one that precedes it

• To introduce a list of items

• Before direct speech or quotations

More punctuation later - it's one of those topics that tends to become tiresome very quickly!

Match up the simple word with its corresponding long word:

I've mentioned before the incredible richness of our language, and the way we squander these riches. Exercise those little grey cells, and match up the correct term for each "little bit" below:

OXYMORON OF THE WEEK: diet ice cream (don't you just love that one?)

This week's Latin phrase goes with the ice cream:

(Give me a hamburger, french fries and a thick shake.)

By now, you should be starting to see just how many of our words have come from Latin! It's possible to work out the meaning by searching for similar English words - try it.

Regards,

Jennifer

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