Discusses the advantages of using student compositions rather than textbook materials in a college remedial writing course. (RL)

Business educators must improve the teaching of machine transcription so that students acquire employable transcribing skills, states the author, who describes five levels of learning machine transcription and gives examples of the listening, writing, and typing skills needed for correct transcription. (MF)

Spelling, punctuation, grammar, and AP (Associated Press) style errors are among the factors that are hurting media credibility in the eyes of the public. Some have said that journalism schools share the blame for sloppy grammar because they do not prepare students. A survey of 100 randomly selected journalism schools and examination of their…

This concluding article in a series concerning the use of the comma in Spanish gives specific examples of its use from Spanish literature. Concluding remarks outline the major purposes of the comma. (NCR)

Even English speakers do not always know when to use a hyphen. Examples are given of some fairly clear-cut cases where the hyphen should be used, leading to the formulation of some usable rules. (IFS/WGA)

This paper investigated six to nine year old children's ability to use contractive and possessive apostrophes, the effects of type and token frequency, and the effect of teaching on this ability. Apostrophes provide an interesting opportunity to examine the basis of frequency effects in rule inference, as type and token frequencies dissociate in…

In this article, I examine Lynn Truss's book of punctuation rules and faux pas, "Eats, Shoots & Leaves," contemplating the complex relationships among class, academics, and language snobbery. I don't refute Truss's lessons on punctuation. Instead, I use her text as a jumping-off point for discussion of the social issues embedded in her guide and…

Intended as a home resource book for children, this grammar handbook is a quick reference source for questions on grammar and punctuation. The book provides information, as well as sentences to illustrate each definition and guideline, about the most frequently used terms in grammar and punctuation. The book's information is organized…

Written for children who are in the first four years of school, this handbook provides review and additional practice in language, grammar, and punctuation for students who may need such study. Younger children may need parental help in using the handbook, while older children may be able to read and understand the material for themselves.…

Intended for use by students at any level above grade one, this practice book is designed to familiarize students with the basic elements of a sentence. The practice book then proceeds to nouns and verbs, and then to capitalization and punctuation. The book is self-paced so that students may use it independently, and answers are provided for…

Punctuation contributes substantially to the effectiveness of a piece of writing, and its successful use calls for an awareness of the sound of written language. For centuries, debates have existed over whether punctuation is determined by grammar, or whether its primary function is to signal the "prosody"--the patterns of pitch and…

With increasing enrollments in journalism, many journalism instructors contend that problems of spelling, grammar, usage, and punctuation are particularly acute. Some of the questions raised at recent gatherings include: Are formal rules of English grammar dying? Is proper punctuation mere pedantry? What can journalism schools do about grammar and…

A result of a three-week reading institute at Northern Illinois University during the summer of 1974, this publication consists of papers focusing on various aspects of reading from a psycholinguistic perspective and strategy lessons to be used in the development of effective and efficient readers. The contents include five sections: "Moving to…

Nine components of a system for teaching shorthand transcription are described and examples of how each component was integrated into courses at Los Angeles City College are presented. (BM)

Examines four common student misconceptions in grammar and punctuation, suggests the reasons for these misconceptions, and argues that teachers need to help students develop a thorough understanding of the English language system. (MM)