This morning I suddenly stumbled across on an idea for a common app. essay. It's a Rough Draft so far, and most likely I think I'll stick with the first one, but I just wanted to hear your opinions on this essay? So...shoot!
Punctuation
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh," Panic's frantic scream echoed in the cavernous cave. Practical traipsed in, the landscape transforming into a spotless office with glass framing all the sides of the room. Outside Personality painted the breathtaking image of a full moon whose luminescent glow touched everything, dousing all shadows before sitting cross-legged on the desk in the centre of the room. The trio gathered together for an impromptu council.
"It's probably just a joke." Personality broke the silence.
"Calm down Panic," Practical uttered, her tone impassive. "I'm sure it can be explained."
"How!" Panic shrieked deafeningly.
Practical and Personality read the message, while Panic had dropped on the ground cradling herself, rocking back and forth. Practical reread the message stroking her chin. After a moment of stern contemplation she murmured somewhat to herself. "Ahh, I see,"
"Well?" Panic stared intently at Practical.
"It's missing a period after 'love'," she smiled satisfied with the discovery.
"Really!" Personality flailed her arms. She had been twiddling her thumbs, but when she heard the 'discovery' she became incensed. "This was a waste of time. I'm out, gotta hit up that party. See ya'll later."
Relief washed over me. I had reread the text message several times and had come to the same dreadful conclusion. This occurred regularly, I seemed to be the only who took the time to punctuate when typing a message and that was something that quite frankly irked me. Communication in the written form is supposed to be objective -but throughout my years of texting and internet perusing I have learned that statements can be interpreted in several ways simply because of a misplaced comma, a loud exclamation point or a dodgy question mark.
English admittedly is not a strong suit for my mathematics induced mind. But even with my rudimentary grasp of the language, I knew that punctuation was one of its most important features. A simple exclamation point can do wonders: "I love you a lot, but I love myself more!" "I love you a lot! But I love myself more." They have the same words, but two completely singular meanings. The first one stresses the love that I have for myself while the second there is stress on the love I have for that person.
Maybe I was the only one who cared. My friends seemed content with heinously lengthy run-on sentences that morphed into mini-essays without even a glimpse of a period. I however, with my over-analytical mind needed the clean and exacting structure of a punctuated sentence to remain sane. I had carefully fashioned my life into precise categories and required everything to follow my meticulous structure.
Whenever a curb ball was thrown at me, with the aid of a few brackets and hyphens I always managed to contain the problem. (I also used brackets to explain little tidbits about the idiosyncrasies of I who I am and to clarify the quirky things I might say) I demonstrate my witty and sarcastic side with quotation marks. Question marks represented a query; while exclamation points represent my disbelief or zeal for life.
All and all, punctuation is something I adhere to. I play by the rules, (some may say this is 'uncool' behaviour but this is one instance where I was proud not to be a rebel) because I believe there is power in the written word -but it can only be effective if punctuated right!
Punctuation
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh," Panic's frantic scream echoed in the cavernous cave. Practical traipsed in, the landscape transforming into a spotless office with glass framing all the sides of the room. Outside Personality painted the breathtaking image of a full moon whose luminescent glow touched everything, dousing all shadows before sitting cross-legged on the desk in the centre of the room. The trio gathered together for an impromptu council.
"It's probably just a joke." Personality broke the silence.
"Calm down Panic," Practical uttered, her tone impassive. "I'm sure it can be explained."
"How!" Panic shrieked deafeningly.
Practical and Personality read the message, while Panic had dropped on the ground cradling herself, rocking back and forth. Practical reread the message stroking her chin. After a moment of stern contemplation she murmured somewhat to herself. "Ahh, I see,"
"Well?" Panic stared intently at Practical.
"It's missing a period after 'love'," she smiled satisfied with the discovery.
"Really!" Personality flailed her arms. She had been twiddling her thumbs, but when she heard the 'discovery' she became incensed. "This was a waste of time. I'm out, gotta hit up that party. See ya'll later."
Relief washed over me. I had reread the text message several times and had come to the same dreadful conclusion. This occurred regularly, I seemed to be the only who took the time to punctuate when typing a message and that was something that quite frankly irked me. Communication in the written form is supposed to be objective -but throughout my years of texting and internet perusing I have learned that statements can be interpreted in several ways simply because of a misplaced comma, a loud exclamation point or a dodgy question mark.
English admittedly is not a strong suit for my mathematics induced mind. But even with my rudimentary grasp of the language, I knew that punctuation was one of its most important features. A simple exclamation point can do wonders: "I love you a lot, but I love myself more!" "I love you a lot! But I love myself more." They have the same words, but two completely singular meanings. The first one stresses the love that I have for myself while the second there is stress on the love I have for that person.
Maybe I was the only one who cared. My friends seemed content with heinously lengthy run-on sentences that morphed into mini-essays without even a glimpse of a period. I however, with my over-analytical mind needed the clean and exacting structure of a punctuated sentence to remain sane. I had carefully fashioned my life into precise categories and required everything to follow my meticulous structure.
Whenever a curb ball was thrown at me, with the aid of a few brackets and hyphens I always managed to contain the problem. (I also used brackets to explain little tidbits about the idiosyncrasies of I who I am and to clarify the quirky things I might say) I demonstrate my witty and sarcastic side with quotation marks. Question marks represented a query; while exclamation points represent my disbelief or zeal for life.
All and all, punctuation is something I adhere to. I play by the rules, (some may say this is 'uncool' behaviour but this is one instance where I was proud not to be a rebel) because I believe there is power in the written word -but it can only be effective if punctuated right!
