Descriptor
Punctuation | 6 |
Higher Education | 5 |
Writing Skills | 5 |
Writing Instruction | 4 |
Authors | 3 |
Grammar | 3 |
Writing Improvement | 3 |
Elementary Secondary Education | 2 |
Nonfiction | 2 |
Classics (Literature) | 1 |
College Students | 1 |
More ▼ |
Author
Dawkins, John | 6 |
Publication Type
Journal Articles | 3 |
Opinion Papers | 2 |
Reports - Descriptive | 2 |
Reports - Evaluative | 2 |
ERIC Digests in Full Text | 1 |
ERIC Publications | 1 |
Guides - Non-Classroom | 1 |
Education Level
Higher Education | 1 |
Two Year Colleges | 1 |
Audience
Location
Laws, Policies, & Programs
Assessments and Surveys
What Works Clearinghouse Rating

Dawkins, John – College Composition and Communication, 1995
Suggests a system for teaching punctuation, in which the independent clause is recognized as the fundamental building block of all language. Maintains that punctuation is not based on rules but on principles governing the relationship between one independent clause and the next. (TB)
Descriptors: Grammar, Higher Education, Punctuation, Writing Instruction
Dawkins, John – Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 2003
In this paper, the author explains the simplification of a theory of punctuation for college-level instruction. He describes a systematization of the punctuation marks that has pedagogical possibilities. He concludes by stressing that the notion of a hierarchy of punctuation marks is not a difficult one for college students; after all, the…
Descriptors: Semantics, Punctuation, Writing Skills, College Students
Dawkins, John – 1992
Punctuation, the original purpose of which was elocutionary, evolved a syntactic purpose as silent reading became more common. Despite the great similarity of punctuation rules among handbooks and manuals, punctuation has not been completely standardized. Punctuation practices vary from genre to genre, and the "best" fiction and…
Descriptors: Authors, Fiction, Grammar, Nonfiction
Dawkins, John – 1994
The punctuation system presented in this paper has explanatory power insofar as it explains how good writers punctuate. The paper notes that good writers have learned, through reading, the differences among a hierarchy of marks and acquired a sense of independent clauses that allows them to use the hierarchy, along with a reader-sensitive notion…
Descriptors: Authors, Elementary Secondary Education, Higher Education, Punctuation

Dawkins, John – Composition Forum, 2000
Looks at how the best writers of English from the 1600s to the present use punctuation in their nonfiction. Finds three bases for punctuation: intonation, grammar (or syntax), and semantics (or rhetoric). Shows that these authors do not regularly and consistently follow the institutionalized rules. Argues for rhetoric-based punctuation because its…
Descriptors: Classics (Literature), English Instruction, Higher Education, Language Standardization
Dawkins, John – 1991
Many of the best nonfiction writers violate punctuation rules frequently enough to indicate that the rules neither tell very well what to do nor inform very accurately about what is done. An examination of 18 prominent authors' use of the entire hierarchy of punctuation marks shows disagreement and inconsistency among the writers concerning…
Descriptors: Authors, Educational Philosophy, Elementary Secondary Education, Grammar