A topic that can sometimes intimidate students (or their teacher or parents!) is how to use quotation marks in a sentence. Everything seems fine till you need to combine quotation marks with other kinds of punctuation marks, like periods and commas. Does the final period go inside or outside the quotation marks? Here’s our answer.
Marie and I have both long believed that grammar can enhance creativity. We’re therefore particularly delighted to share a poem written by one of Cozy Grammar’s students, Miguel Gonzalez Del Castillo. Miguel wrote the following poem in response to a creative writing assignment in the Basic Cozy Grammar Course.
Do you remember the first time you discovered exclamation marks? How powerful! And how fun! These marks can serve powerfully, especially when used adeptly. But using exclamation marks adeptly can take some practice. That’s why we wanted to share two free excerpts from our Basic Cozy Punctuation Course.
We have a chock-full newsletter for you this month, with an announcement of an early-bird special, an introduction to our free Learning Treasure Trove, a surprising way to win a free lifetime subscription to our Basic Cozy Grammar and Punctuation Combo, and a mini-lesson from me and Marie about hyphens.
In our most recent Ask Cozy Grammar Q & A session, a participant asked, “Why are commas so confusing? There’s so many different rules. How do I begin understanding them?” Here’s an answer from Thomas about getting started with commas as well as a free excerpt from Marie’s lesson on commas from the Basic Cozy Punctuation Course.
Join Marie and Thomas for an exploration of sentences and sense. In an except from Lesson 1 of the Basic Cozy Punctuation Course, Marie shows us how to use periods at the ends of sentences. Then, in a supplementary video from the Basic Cozy Punctuation Course, Thomas shows the importance of periods in seeing the sense of our sentences.
Did you know there are four basic kinds of sentences? Watch a free excerpt from Lesson 1 of the Basic Cozy Grammar Course where Marie uses clear and concrete examples from life in her cozy beach cottage to illustrate the four kinds of sentences: assertive, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory.
Sometimes knowing a little history can go a long way in helping us understand a subject. Exploring the story of where punctuation comes from is not only interesting but can also help us learn to use the dots, lines, and squiggles of punctuation easily, freely, and joyfully.
Punctuation can often seem intimidating. Everywhere we look, there appear to be different and contradictory rules about how we’re supposed to use all these dots, lines, and squiggles in our writing. But as Marie explains, punctuation is simply a tool to clarify meaning and prevent misunderstanding.