Thus Far and for the Future

The most important lesson that I have learned thus far is that grammar is not something to drill into students’ heads but is something that they will eventually pick up. This wasn’t an idea that I had ever heard before but I do like it. I do not know the ins-and-outs of grammar and have felt a little unprepared for a career in teaching because of this. So it was a comforting thought to know that as student that was okay. I do not feel like it has been a huge hindrance to my writing a well written paper but I know that with this knowledge I am likely to be an even more successful writer and teacher.

Some specific things that I have learned lately include how to make words plural and the use of apostrophes. Although I have known for sometime to add an apostrophe to a singular noun ending in -s to show possession, I now have it more solidified in my mind. However, I hadn’t ever heard to add –es to a family name like Jones to make it plural. That is really interesting to me because in the past I would have just added an apostrophe. It has been good to go over these things because they seem simple but then again many people just don’t know how to do these seemingly “simple” things.

The pronoun was another thing made clearer to me in English 326. I had learned about “its” versus “it’s” a short time ago but it is rather confusing and I know that it was never explained to me in high school. On the purple sheet we were given there are also examples of other possessive pronouns. I don’t remember having ever before seen them written out and remember times that I have been writing a word like “whose” and have wondered whether or not I need to add an apostrophe to make “who’s.”

I have learned a lot so far, but I hope to learn more about things like semi-colons, dashes, and even commas. I use commas way too often in my writing and though we have gone over them a little hopefully as the class progresses I become better at knowing when and when not to use them.

Semi-colons and dashes are two types of punctuation I just never use. I think it would help my writing to know how to use them because punctuation can help to make a strong statement, or paper, stronger. I don’t really know the first thing about them, although I am more likely to attempt a semi-colon rather than a dash. My belief is that a dash can be used to set a statement apart for emphasis, but I have never looked it up.

Question: What is the purpose of a dash and how might I use one in a sentence?