- Verbally pauses are the silent spaces between words.
- In writing we indicate such pauses by punctuation marks:
–Comma [ , ] (shorter time than the rest about 1 second)
–Semicolon [ ; ]
–Colon [ : ] (longer time 2+ seconds)
–Period [ . ]
Question/Exclamation marks [ ? ! ] [a Breath-pause could be 3 seconds or so
- For the Comma Pause ( , ) = short pauses (about ½ second) in speech
Example:
I wanted to make my mother happy, so I made her breakfast.
- We also use commas/semicolons to clearly separate items of a list.
- Examples:
For breakfast I made eggs, bacon, and pancakes.
- We also use colons to clearly introduce items of a list. (Longer Pause)
He wants the following: Bread; milk; butter; and cheese.
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