PUNCTUATION

ANSWER KEYS

1. Read the following sentences carefully and add missing punctuation:

a) The new regulations will prove to be to everyones disadvantage.

b) All of these books are to be catalogued the ones on geology natural history philosophy and
scientific method.
c) As well as being an excellent basketball player the girl was also a member of the winning
squash team.
d) The point is according to my understanding that we should move quickly.
e) Instead Chambers 1988 suggests the importance of the genetic influence in determining the
antecedents.
f) It was found however that most of the liquid could not be absorbed.
g) The miner his face covered in mud climbed slowly out.
h) The trend toward specialization is very clear particularly in the professions see Table 2.
i) Once daylight came we thought we were safe however this was not to be.
j) Keats poem ‘To Autumn’ is possibly the greatest evocation of that season ever written.
k) After their long walk the boys noses were red with cold.
l) Its not easy to isolate its cause but we think its due to the torrential rain we had recently.
m) The car left the road rolled down the bank turned over several times hit a free and then burst
into flames.
n) Gourmets and arent we all gourmets will particularly enjoy the marinated quail.
o) It was a rather hit or miss affair we found to our horror that we were expected to provide the
entertainment as well.

ANSWER

a) The new regulations will prove to be to everyone’s disadvantage.

b) All of these books are to be catalogued: the ones on geology, natural history, philosophy and
scientific method.
c) As well as being an excellent basketball player, the girl was also a member of the winning
squash team.
d) The point is, according to my understanding that we should move quickly.
e) Instead, Chambers (1988) suggests the importance of the genetic influence in determining the
antecedents.
f) It was found, however, that most of the liquid could not be absorbed.
g) The miner, his face covered in mud, climbed slowly out of the pit.
h) The trend toward specialization is very dear — particularly in the professions (see Table 2).
i) Once daylight came we thought we were safe; however, this was not to be.
j) Keats’ poem ‘To Autumn’ is possibly the greatest evocation of that season ever written.
k) After their long walk the boys’ noses were red with cold.
l) It’s not easy to isolate its cause, but we think it’s due to the torrential rain we had recently.
m) The car left the road, rolled down the bank, turned over several times, hit a tree, and then burst
into flames.
n) Gourmets (and aren’t we all gourmets?) will particularly enjoy the marinated quail.
o) It was a rather hit-or-miss affair; we found to our horror that we were expected to provide the
entertainment as well!
 2. Read the paragraphs and add any needed commas.

My Friend's Visit

Jenny my best friend from summer camp is coming for a visit this weekend. Although she is from a
big city with a lot of exciting things to do I am sure she will enjoy visiting our farm. She will enjoy
swimming in our pond riding horses and picking berries for pies. My brother is afraid she will get
bored on our farm but I think she will love it here. With all of the things Mom and I have planned
she won't have time to be bored. I'm afraid she will however be very tired each night. Maybe this
visit will be so much fun she will want to come back again next summer.

Amazing Ice Cream

If you want to know where to buy the most amazing ice cream in the state of Texas I can tell you.
Amy's ice cream owned by my cousin has the creamiest most flavorful ice cream in the South. She
offers some really exotic flavors like stinky fruit swirl and chocolate covered grasshopper delight, but
she also offers normal flavors like chocolate vanilla strawberry etc. This variety is what makes her
shop so popular. If you are ever in Houston you need to be sure and stop in for a taste. She is located
at 298 Wesson Avenue Houston Texas. You won't be disappointed.

ANSWER

My Friend's Visit

Jenny, my best friend from summer camp, is coming for a visit this weekend. Although she is from
a big city with a lot of exciting things to do, I am sure she will enjoy visiting our farm. She will enjoy
swimming in our pond, riding horses, and picking berries for pies. My brother is afraid she will get
bored on our farm, but I think she will love it here. With all of the things Mom and I have planned,
she won't have time to be bored. I'm afraid she will, however, be very tired each night. Maybe this
visit will be so much fun she will want to come back again next summer.

Amazing Ice Cream

If you want to know where to buy the most amazing ice cream in the state of Texas, I can tell you.
Amy's ice cream, owned by my cousin, has the creamiest, most flavorful ice cream in the South. She
offers some really exotic flavors like stinky fruit swirl and chocolate covered grasshopper delight, but
she also offers normal flavors like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, etc. This variety is what makes her
shop so popular. If you are ever in Houston, you need to be sure and stop in for a taste. She is located
at 298 Wesson Avenue, Houston, Texas. You won't be disappointed.

3. Add correct punctuation (periods and commas) to the following paragraph:

Mark loves to travel but Amy doesn’t so they often argue about where to spend their vacation time
one summer they decided to try something different Mark went to Thailand but Amy stayed home
Mark’s brother, Alex, and sister-in-law, Jennifer, went with him they knew that they could only spend
one week in Thailand so they had to decide what to do they could all go scuba diving in Southern
Thailand or Mark could go by himself on an elephant trek in Northern Thailand and Alex and Jennifer
could meet him later in Bangkok Mark chose the elephant trek and he had an exciting time Amy was
also having a good time back home sometimes she went out with her friends at night and sometimes
her mother would visit her during the day she also liked to spend time by herself practicing her piano
Mark and Amy learned that they could spent their vacations separately yet they both could have a
good time

ANSWER

Mark loves to travel, but Amy doesn’t, so they often argue about where to spend their vacation time.
One summer, they decided to try something different. Mark went to Thailand, but Amy stayed home.
Mark’s brother, Alex, and sister-in-law, Jennifer, went with him. They knew that they could only
spend one week in Thailand, so they had to decide what to do. They could all go scuba diving in
Southern Thailand, or Mark could go by himself on an elephant trek in Northern Thailand, and Alex
and Jennifer could meet him later in Bangkok. Mark chose the elephant trek, and he had an exciting
time. Amy was also having a good time back home. Sometimes she went out with her friends at
night, and sometimes her mother would visit her during the day. She also liked to spend time by
herself practicing her piano. Mark and Amy learned that they could spent their vacations separately,
yet they both could have a good time.

4. Add missing punctuation, paying special attention not only to correctness

but to ensuring that the meaning is as clear as possible.

Scientists and philosophers of science tend to speak as if “scientific language” were intrinsically
precise as if those who use it must understand one another’s meaning even if they disagree / but in
fact scientific language is not as different from ordinary language as is commonly believed / it too is
subject to imprecision and ambiguity and hence to imperfect understanding / moreover new theories
or arguments are rarely if ever constructed by way of clear-cut steps of induction deduction and
verification or falsification / neither are they defended rejected or accepted in so straightforward a
manner / in practice scientists combine the rules of scientific methodology with a generous admixture
of intuition aesthetics and philosophical commitment / the importance of what are sometimes called
extra-rational or extra-logical components of thought in the discovery of a new principle or law is
generally acknowledged / …but the role of these extra-logical components in persuasion and
acceptance in making an argument convincing is less frequently discussed partly because they are
less visible / the ways in which the credibility or effectiveness of an argument depends on the realm
of common experiences on extensive practice in communicating those experiences in a common
language are hard to see precisely because such commonalities are taken for granted / only when we
step out of such a “consensual domain” when we can stand out on the periphery of a community with
a common language do we begin to become aware of the unarticulated premises mutual
understandings and assumed practices of the group even in those subjects that lend themselves most
readily to quantification / discourse depends heavily on conventions and interpretation conventions
that are acquired over years of practice and participation in a community.

ANSWER

Scientists and philosophers of science tend to speak as if “scientific language” were intrinsically
precise [:] [–] [,] as if those who use it must understand one another’s meaning [,] even if they disagree
[.] But1 [,] in fact [,] scientific language is not as different from ordinary language as is commonly
believed [.] It [,] too [,]2 is subject to imprecision and ambiguity [, optional] and hence to imperfect
understanding [.]3 [M]oreover [,]new theories or arguments are rarely [,] if ever [,] constructed by
way of clear-cut steps of deduction and verification or falsification [;]4 neither are they defended [,]
rejected [,] or accepted in so straightforward a manner [.] In practice [,] scientists combine the rules
of scientific methodology with a generous admixture of intuition [,] aesthetics [,] and philosophical
commitment [;]5 the importance of what are sometimes called extra-rational or extra-logical
components of thought in the discovery of a new principle or law is generally acknowledged [.] . . .
but the role of these extra logical components in persuasion and acceptance in making an argument
convincing is less frequently discussed [,] partly because they are less visible [.] The ways in which
the credibility or effectiveness of an argument depends on the realm of common experiences [--] on
extensive practice in communicating those experiences in a common language [--] are hard to see [,]
precisely because such commonalities are taken for granted [.] Only when we step out of such a
“consensual domain” [,] [--] when we can stand out on the periphery of a community with a common
language [,] [--] do we begin to become aware of the unarticulated premises [,] mutual understandings
[,] and assumed practices of a group [--] [:]6 even in those subjects that lend themselves most readily
to quantification [.] Discourse depends heavily on conventions and interpretation [;] [-] conventions
that are acquired over years of practice and participation in a community.

5. Please add necessary punctuation to the following business letter:

Dear Mr. Lopez

I recently received the order that you place on November 30, 2018 for new cacuum. When you
ordered your new Whoosh vacuum you requested a set of attachments as well. We do have the
vacuum that you want in stock unfortunately our company has sold out of the specific set of
attachments that you ordered. We regret that we cannot fill your order however we do have an
alternative for you. If you like our company would be happy to send you a different vacuum Whoosh
Model 1234 which comes with a set of attachments in its purchase price. Mr Lope I think that you
will find this vacuum equally efficient and I believe that you will be pleased with this model. The
price is a little higher but is still an excellent value. If this is a satisfactory substitution please send
the attached postcard to my office at 3434 Smith Stree Sylmalj California 91342 as soon as possible.

I hope Mr Lopez that you will continue to choose Polk's Electronics whenever you need new
appliances. Thank you for your patronage we hope to serve you in the future.

Sincerely

Susan Polk
ANSWER