@Sack-a-Doo! - hold shift+alt (option if you're on a Mac) and then hit the hyphen/underline key. It works on a Mac, although I'm not sure about a PC keyboard. It's such a common mark of punctuation, I'm surprised it's so hidden. Surely now that the underline option is so commonly available as a style choice, they could dump the _ and replace it with the — ?
Technically, those wouldn't be comma splices, but commas quite properly marking off a series of actions. But you'd want an "and" after the last one.
In WordPerfect, at least, you can get the em-dash by hitting the hyphen three times and following it with a space. It doesn't seem to work here on WF, though. Let's see: --- Nope. But here's one pasted in for yinz! — And if you really want ellipses, and don't want them getting separated at the line break, hit CTRL-space, period, CTRL-space, period, CTRL-space, period, and a final CTRL-space, if there's a word after it. That'll keep it all together, and the ellipsis and the word before it will migrate to the next line. In WordPerfect, that is. In Word your mileage may vary.
Yes. Comma splices are commas that separate clauses that could (should) be complete sentences. He tumbled over rocks, he fell down the hill, he smashed into a tree, he moaned in pain. These are comma splices.
I didn't know about that trick with ellipses. I understood that most programmes treat 4 dots in a row as the ending of a sentence with an ellipsis, while three dots is an ellipsis in the middle of a sentence. But I've never had a line space break happen mid-ellipsis. However, if it does, I'll know what to do!
Okay, here goes—if you're watching—and it's Alt-0151 on the PC. I suppose I could have Googled that. But if you hadn't inspired me—and even though your method only works on a Mac—I never would have gone looking.
You have an 0151 key on a PC? What have I been missing, clinging to these clunky old Macs all these years?
I stick commas in wherever I damn well please. Seriously though. Commas are for pauses and clauses, right? Where I want to slow down, where I want to segment my thought, that's where a comma gets placed. I could not care less about whether it's proper or correct, as long as it delivers. In a related story, @Tenderiser hates my commas.
Oh, sorry. I should have realized that you—being a Mac person—don't know about Alt key codes. You hold down the Alt key and type the number on the keypad (also not standard equipment on a Mac, so I'm told). Ve haf vays of meking dem m-dashes.
My Mac keyboard has a keypad, but I never use it. I'm numerically challenged. Or in Old-Speak ...utterly stupid at math. However, I think Mac wins this one. The Mac em-dash takes two keystrokes. The PC version takes ...5? Or am I missing something.
You guys are hilarious! I personally find reading stuff like that easier when the "and" is put in. When I read a list where the author left out the final "and," I expect the sentence to add another item after what is actually the last item (in this case, "moaned in pain"). When I see the period, I'm like, "Wait, what? Oh, um, ok. I guess that was a typo?" For me, I guess, the "and" just connects the whole thing together, and without it I get jerked out of the story and my focus goes to school for a second. Whether it's considered wrong to leave out the last "and" in fiction writing, I have no idea (I'm learning that I know nothing about grammar and punctuation rules with fiction writing. I'm so confuuuused!), but I DO know that last "and" really helps me to enjoy reading. But then, I'm a little weird, and that "and" was something my mother drilled into me (I was homeschooled, so she had lots of opportunity!). On a side note: I was rereading my book yesterday and found a few "controlling commas." Hehe, hum. In my defense, I did take them out...the ones I found...I shall say no more...*hides*
Yes, I agree. There are times, though, when it just sounds... right to leave it out. To my ear, anyway. Admittedly, my example wasn't one of those times.
I think this is an example of how art is created, which is through intuition. What sounds right to a writer, pace-wise, is sometimes an instinctive choice not based on logic or rules. And, just like the afore mentioned Hemingway comments, people may disagree on which intuitive/artistic decision is stronger than another. You know, 'one man's trash'... So, I'm agreeing with sackadoo here, that the 'sound' of something may just have a certain ring to it that a writer may not be able to explain, even though they can feel the truth in their choice. (sort of like "I know it when I see it," with art.) <theresnoraisedbeermugcheersemojiavailablesoiputthishereinstead>
Thanks, Tea@3. And I'd add that how a sentence fits into the flow and rhythm of a paragraph may necessitate leaving out an 'and' here and there... or throwing in extras. I was considering posting examples as per Elven Candy's request, but they're all buried in my WIP and I don't wanna go digging for them ATM. Maybe during the next read-through.
