When I joined the English Department at Ball State in 1980, my colleagues took great pride in pointing out that they had eliminated what they called "the limiter system" and replaced it with a process approach and holistic grading.  "Limiters" were things like comma splices, run-ons, and spelling errors.  Any one lowered the grade on the paper by one letter and three led to a failed paper no matter how good the paper was otherwise.

Herb

Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
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________________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of DD Farms [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: April 9, 2009 7:03 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Comma splice = F

At 03:27 PM 4/9/2009, O'Sullivan, Brian P wrote:
>An F for one comma splice? As my students would say: "Duuuude!
>That's pretty intense!"

DD: An F on the paper, not on the course, of course. That was the
rule in Freshman English at the University of Tennessee, summer quarter, 1948.

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