Essay Punctuation Tips

Pay attention to punctuation rules when writing an essay

You should never start an essay with such words as because, if. It will be an adverb clause and won’t have a complete thought. You should watch your fragments and ensure they have a subject verb and a completed thought.

Another thing that many students make a mistake of is run-ons. Run-ons are two sentences that run together without proper punctuation. Proper punctuation is putting a comma (,) after and, but, for, nor, yet, or. If you have two sentences running together and you just use a comma, it’s a run-on. You must only use a comma after and, but, for, nor, yet, or. Or you may use a semicolon (;) with such as however, therefore, nevertheless, etc. Many high-school teachers and college professors will give you an “F” if you have one run-on sentence. Therefore, make sure and check that. Sometimes it won’t work on your speller or grammar check on your computer. You need to learn how to do this yourself or ask a professional to assist you.

Categories: Writing Tips   Tags: essay, punctuation, punctuation rules