On the topic of the usefulness of punctuation, students might enjoy the
challenge of punctuating the following to make it a coherent sentence,
using only commas, quotation marks, and a semicolon. 

 

James while John had had had had had had had had had had had a better
effect on the teacher.

 

Check here
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_while_John_had_had_had_had_had_had_h
ad_had_had_had_had_a_better_effect_on_the_teacher>  for a solution.
(Sure to be denounced by Brad Johnston.)

 

Conversely there's the ever-popular "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_buffalo_Buffalo_buffalo_buffalo_bu
ffalo_Buffalo_buffalo> ," which does just fine as a sentence without any
internal punctuation.

 

Dick

________________________________

Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

 


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