A
quotation can either be a potential hazard or a waltz into the heaven of
perfect writing. It all depends on how you use it. In the essay, “Q as in Quotation,” the author explains
how “quotations are caesuras in monologue, visible to all.” He explains the
blatancy of quotations’ presence and the bold statement they make by just
existing. In other words, they are very powerful entities that have to be dealt
with in the same way a rabid pit bull with drool layering his mouth is dealt
with: cautiously. Because if you take an impulsive step, you just might end
with slobbery teeth marks tarnishing your entire flesh, or prose.
The
fact of the matter is that quotations are a “submission” to another’s thoughts,
a “foreign body” that will affect your piece completely. If used and embedded
in the wrong manner, they will create an abyss in your train of thought and
will be proof of your failure. However, if you happen to embed a quotation to
the point where it strengthens your point of view and it ties in like a perfectly
beaded necklace, then it shall provide a strong piece. All quotations are good
as long as the writer “remains in control,” to which point the “quotations
won’t impoverish him.” The former is a perfect example of my own use of
quotations in a way that drowns my own thoughts and holds me captive in their
claws. Even if I happen to embed them into my monologue, all the remotely
interesting, or even existing, ideas are encased by quotation marks. This
deigns my piece to be overall lacking and dependent on the quotes to make any
argument at all. And so the point is that quotations should be mere assets to
back-up your own personal ideas, not the idea itself. Because if you present
something in which the core of the issue are the quotations themselves, then
you are not making an argument. The person you are quoting is the one
controlling the whole piece. Be careful.
As
for the other aspects of punctuation, we should not assume they have been
around since God spread light into the universe and snakes managed to producing
fleshy and tempting apples. They didn’t.
In fact, there are very detailed histories as to the background of the
semicolon and the comma. There is, indeed, a reason for the comma being used to
indicate a pause, and for the semicolon to be used for connecting strongly
related ideas. Baker talks of how said punctuation marks evolved and that ties
in with the title of the piece in that the punctuation we use today has
survived many changes, evolution has made them what they are today. Whether
quotation marks came to be due to the one-eighty degree turn of a commas and the semicolon being linked by an em-dash
due to copy editing, they are what they are today.
Both
essays tie in with what we are learning in class most obviously due to the fact
that the class itself is titled “Language.” Duh. Seriously, though, the
quotation essay covers an important concept that we have yet to master, and
that is that, even thought quotations are key in strengthening a person’s point
of view or an argument, it is crucial that they are used in a very specific
manner. We can’t abuse them and expect to be prized for the sole purpose that
we used them in the first place. As for the origins of grammar, it is
interesting to know that certain punctuation didn’t just walk onto earth and
declare their presence mandatory. Most importantly, though, it’s important to
know exactly why they are here in the first place, what characterizes them and
the like, in order to fully comprehend how to use them correctly.
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