As the newspaper continues to lose ground to a multitude of internet discourses, the role of intellectuals as a voice of opposition to hegemonic sources receives ever more intense scrutiny. In particular, the novel "Plata quemada" (1997) by the Argentine novelist Ricardo Piglia presents this intellectual dilemma and its newfound…

In this article, the author talks about the use of punctuation and describes a study that confirmed her growing sense that all students need exposure to and instruction on the full repertoire of punctuation. In an attempt to assess how much of the eleventh graders know about the way professionals use punctuation, all teachers at Webster Thomas…

The aim of this paper is to present a concise coherent literature review of the Arabic Language script system as one of the oldest living Semitic languages in the world. The article discusses in depth firstly, Arabic script as a phonemic sound-based writing system of twenty eight, right to left cursive script where letterforms shaped by their…

A retired professor considers a semicolon as a nuisance as we can never get to the good part. He states his preferences for a comma and a colon over a semicolon.

Discusses the vocabulary of English punctuation terms, largely unchanged since the Norman conquest in 1066. Discusses the meaning of the period, colon, comma, question mark, exclamation point, slash, parenthesis, brackets, asterisk, hyphen, and ampersand. (RS)

Students will have to develop a presence on the page along with mastering grammar, spelling, and punctuation in order to become accomplished writers. Students should be given opportunities to hear their own written voices and the written voices of the others, their peers, their teachers and the best authors because the voice helps them to develop…

The rhetorical power of punctuation conventions as well as the effect of violating those conventions should be explained to the students. The craft in conventions can be found anywhere and all good writers use it in their work.

Argues that composition teachers should accept as little blame as possible for students' errors in using the apostrophe, that a large chunk of the blame should be assigned to workbooks with oversimple rules, and that basic writers have more important things to worry about. (RS)

This article is in the form of a letter from a hypothetical former student on her first job in word processing, looking back at her educational experience and how it helped her. She shares her thoughts with her instructor and comments on areas that she feels could have been emphasized more. Grammar/punctuation, proofreading,…

A disturbing deterioration has been noticed recently in the editing of history books. They have mistakes in grammar, word usage, style, and punctuation. Specific examples are provided. (RM)

Presents a functional description of punctuation as a delimiter of words, sentences, and paragraphs, and as a semantic and extralinguistic indicator. (AM)

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)

Considers the conventions of quotation marks--or "perverted commas"--and identifies seven uses, including shudder quotes (slang or inappropriate words) and scare quotes (used for attention or emphasis). Notes that quotation marks influence meaning and that finding a personal voice entails using language without quotes. (MM)

Illustrates some of the problems and the advantages of three programs designed for language arts instruction: "English Volume I" (MECC), "English SAT 1" (Microlab), and "Vocabulary Prompter" (Jagdstaffel). (AEA)

Reviews four computer programs that check grammar, punctuation, and spelling; discusses their applicability in the business writing process. (AEA)