Quote

If a period is a stop sign, then what kind of traffic flow is created by other marks? The comma is a speed bump the semicolon is what a driver education teacher calls a “rolling stop” the parenthetical expression is a detour the colon is a flashing yellow light that announces something important up ahead the dash is a tree branch in the road.

Roy Peter Clark

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Roy Peter Clark
Age: 54
Teacher
Writer
New York City
New York
Something
Expression
Ahead
Driver
Comma
Tree
Speed
Traffic
Flashing
Teacher
Period
Drivers
Detours
Stop
Road
Rolling
Dash
Education
Flow
Yellow
Bump
Semicolon
Light
Periods
Branches
Bumps
Colon
Important
Mark
Calls
Branch
Detour
Kind
Created
Sign
Marks
Announces

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Everyone should read, we say, but we act as if only those with special talent should write.
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Riffing on language will create wonderful effects you never intended. Which leads me to this writing advice: 'Always take credit for good stuff you didn't intend, because you'll be getting plenty of criticism in your career for bad stuff you didn't mean either.'
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Without a serious study of journalism, there can be no understanding of citizenship, democracy, or community.
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