Friday, October 10, 2008

What punctuation mark would you be?

and why?

See you all Tuesday (or at festival.) College Essay (first draft) and rest of Memoir projects due.

5 comments:

Pretty Lady said...

I would definitely be the exclamation point!!!
First, like me, it's loud! But I would also choose the exclamation points, because it's used in superiority to all other punctuation marks. When an author uses an exclamation point, whatever that sentence, it's important; the author is sending a message. Exclamation points are used to express two extremes (really excited, really shocked, really surprised, really angry, really happy)... and! it's rarely used in literature (or used far less than other punctuation marks).
What can I say, we're one of a kind!
=)

Steve said...

I would be a comma. When I write, I like to introduce subtle nuances in the writing, which allows me to, in my essays, include qualifications, pause the narrative, and emphasize points in parallel structure. These many and varied uses, which, I hope, reflect reflect how I want to be seen and how I want to be percieved as a writer. Commas add deliberation, nuances, and so many other varied uses, including the segregation of relative clauses, which is cool.

What can I say? Commas are, of course, one of the most varied and expressive, if unobtrusive, punctuation marks ever.

Unknown said...

The punctuation mark that I would be is the colon. I really love to discuss texts and absolutely desire the in-depth analysis our class always makes, which makes the class really interesting. For example in terms of syntax: someone would present an idea, colon, and then other people would go on and list their analysis that branched off from that one idea.

Miss Brill is such a lonely charatcter: sits alone, describes others around her not with her, etc.

I really enjoy exploring texts and digging below the surface of one topic to discover layers and layers beneath it. Thus, the colon would be the perfect punctuation mark for me.

Vanessa G. said...

Come to think of it...I'm pretty sure no one has ever taken the time to really think about what punctuation they would want to be. But, since I am given the opportunity...I'm actually stuck between the comma and the exclamation point. The comma is put when you want a reader to slow down, like taking a breather and preparing for the next clause. That's how I am sometimes. I find that I pause when I speak sometimes (mostly when I am having trouble explaining myself), like now. I would definitely be the exclamation because it provides extreme emotion to whatever it is you want to say...exaggerated or not. The exclamation point is describes different emotions, like anger, frustration, happiness, joy, excitement, and so on. The exclamation point does so much for an expressive sentence. It also describes my attitude. When I am excited, I yell or shout...just like one would react in a sentence with an exclamation point at the end.

Cynthia R said...

Hello, (or Howdy for you cowboys)

Just like Vanessa, I was stcuk between two punctuation marks. I am either the parentheses (I am not sure how to spell that correctly, or I am the "quotation marks". (Ok, Cynthia, think. You can make a decision. COME ON WOMAN, MAKE UP YOUR MIND!)

After much thought, I would be the quotation mark. When I am with my friends, I am always quoting lines from a movie, song, or piece of writing. Not only do I "never let go" of quotes, but I like to keep them in a little journal. Within my journal are quotes from Bob Marley, Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby, Langston Hughes, and yes, even Sir Mix-A-Lot.

Joan Didion could not have said it better when she wrote, " The impulse to qrite things down is a peculiarly complusive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidently, only secondarily; in the way that any compulsion tires to justify itself...Keepers of notebbooks are a different breed all together, Lonely and resistant rearrangers of things, anxious malcontents, children afflicted apparently at birth with some presentment of loss."

I keep quotes because I always want to remember; remember the sad, the whitty, the funny, and the deep.

As Annie Dillard once said, "You step aside from the dreaming fast loud routine and feel time as a stillness about you, and you hear the silent air asking in so thin a voice, Have you noticed that you will die? Do you remember, remember, remember?"

I identify with quotes beacuse they help me remember.