By Zac Kieser and Donna Reish
This week’s Punctuation Puzzle is a compound sentence (hint, hint!) about the Bermuda Triangle. Try to solve it BEFORE you read my recommendations! 🙂
They did not object and thus the area was named the Bermuda Triangle.
(1) The first thing that stands out to me is the CS (complete sentence) on the left of the coordinating conjunction (cc) {AND} and the complete sentence (CS) on the right of the coordinating conjunction (cc) {AND}
So place a comma before the coordinating conjunction (cc) {AND} to create a compound sentence: They did not object, and thus the area was named the Bermuda Triangle.
(If you need more help with coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS—cc’s) or creating compound sentences, take a look at this video of me teaching these concepts to some sweet kids)
(2) Secondly, there is a word that is called by many different names in grammar terms: thus.
a. We call it a conjunctive adverb (an adverb that joins). Conjunctive adverbs within sentences are always surrounded by punctuation marks.
b. In this case, the conjunctive adverb is dropped into the sentence (and can be plucked out and the sentence will still remain a sentence), so there should be a comma on each side of it.
c. You can also HEAR this comma: They did not object, and, thus, the area was named the Bermuda Triangle.
(3) I would punctuate it like this–
They did not object, and, thus, the area was named the Bermuda Triangle.
However, when my older children were little, I read aloud to them three to five hours a day. Commas show voice inflection and fall, so they are especially near and dear to my heart when reading orally to my kids through the years. Are you comma crazy too? 🙂
Check out these posts for more help in these areas.
Did you miss our last Punctuation Puzzle? Solve it here!
Tell Me About It: What is your most frustrating punctuation problem? Let me know, and I’ll help you with it! 🙂
Love and hope,
Today’s Punctuation Puzzle was written by Zac Kieser and Donna Reish.
