Sung to Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath"
In syntactical Madness, put the commas down
So that you can show your readers, how your ideas sound,
Your phrases and subordinate clauses, your transitions, too.
If you want to lead your readers, you know what you have to do.
Put the commas down, put the commas down.
Don’t put one after “Although,” it’s a subordinate clause,
But add a comma before “but” to show your readers the pause.
Right after you add “However” to start another thought,
Right there you slow the reader, so punctuation’s sought.
Put the commas down, put the commas down.
You need a comma before an “and” if there’s a second thought.
And to set off extra info that’s what you’ve been taught.
So put one before a “which,” but not before a “that.”
To show your readers where to slow and where to rush right past,
Put the commas down, put the commas down.
Sung to the Cranberries' "Zombie"
Another linking to-be verb, wordiness takes over
With no image, no action, the sentence don't sound sober.
But you see, it's not me, it's not my grammaticality.
In your sentence, in your sentence, words are growing.
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Another sentence starts flatly with a word that just adds vagueness.
When the weak verbs take over comes preposition madness.
"It is" and "There are," your sentence goes too far.
In your sentence, in your sentence, words are growing.
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With an "is" and an "are" and a "was" and a "were"
In your sentence, in your sentence, words are growing.
In your sentence, in your sentence, wordy, wordy, wordy.
What's in your sentence, in your sentence? Wordy, wordy, wordy.
Sung to the Rolling Stone's "Sympathy for the Devil
Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a mark that ends a thought.
Not a period, not a semicolon, to announce info, I am sought.
Students don't know what I'm called; they tend to say, "those two dots."
I work before a quote or a list, a little explanation or a lot.
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Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name.
I'm a colon, and introducing information is my game.
Sung to the Beatles' "Yesterday"
To be verbs, like "is" and "are" and "was" and "were"
They fill statements with too many words
So use more imagistic terms.
Choppiness, it begins with words like "He" and "This"
Little statements, disconnectedness
Combine to show cohesiveness.
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You must edit so your readers know what you want to say.
Create a plan to edit well, the right way, ay, ay, ay.
Sung to Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence"
Semicolon, you don't bend, to use you, I must end
A statement and begin another, Perhaps with "therefore" or "however."
A soft period, you balance two main thoughts, Like a see-saw
Or sometimes items, in a complex list.
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And a colon where you go, a statement I must throw
And then a list or a quotation, or just a bit of explanation.
You point ahead, declaring what I'll say, showing the way,
Introducing information.
Sung to "City of New Orleans" (Arlo Guthrie?)
Introducing all of your quotations
don't forget to say who mentioned them.
"As he states," "She says," or "According to the writer,"
or maybe make a statement followed by a colon
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Don't drop the quote between your thoughts
Who said what? Your reader's lost.
Your audience won't know what's going on.
A period and then a quote
will show that you have missed a note
so integrate all quoted information.
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Good sentence editing, ICE your quotation.
Introduce, cite, and explain it.
Use the author's name if the source displays it.
If not, use the title in your intro or citation.