Punctuation Explained

Gr 7 Up—As the video opens, a man is wandering about on his way to the library, picking up pieces of paper with punctuation marks on them. Along the way, he discusses colons, semicolons, dashes, parenthesis, and ellipsis. Each punctuation mark has a catchphrase, such as "bridging the gap" for colons and "more than half as good" for semicolons. In each section, the narrator discusses the purpose of the particular punctuation mark and how to use it properly to enhance the quality of one's writing. Activities throughout the video give students the opportunity to correct sentences by replacing or removing the punctuation. Examples of correct and incorrect usage are shown in various sentences. These activities and examples move very quickly, and students may need to hit the pause button to read them carefully. Each section includes a summary that recaps the preceding content and reviews how to use that punctuation mark. At the end of the video, the man arrives at the library. Aside from playing into some of the sample sentences, the library has no apparent connection to the lessons and the man's attempts at zany humor are not a good fit with the video's content. While this program provides some useful tips on punctuation, a more straightforward presentation would have been preferable.—Amy Pickett, Ridley High School, Folsom, PA