Help in a hurry..punctuation!

Commas before and after - you are separating a piece of info that isn't necessary for the sentence to be correct. You also need to put the book title in quotes.

Let me just add that, since so many people don't know the rules of grammar, that you should go to a bookstore and buy something like "The Elements of Style" or another trusted source. An experienced employee should be able to help. You've gotten a lot of conflicting advice here, which means a lot of people are just doing what they vaguely remember from high school English or what "looks right" whether or not it is Everyone means well, but we are often tempted to just write what WE would do whether it's correct or not. There are a lot of people who are a bit distanced from the rules - and this site (along with Facebook and everything else) is painfully full of misspellings, misuse of vocabulary, and so on. With the advent of abbreviations used for texting or Twitter, mistakes are magnified and adopted by others. So you are better off, if you truly want to teach your child the right thing, to purchase one of the standards - just like using a dictionary. If there are 2 possible ways of doing things, the guide will tell you. Also, if the teacher corrects your child (and I see many teachers on this site who can't spell either!), as least you will have a reference source.

5 moms found this helpful

For the second part of your question definitely B. For the first part, my initial reaction was no comma at all. H's characters in his book 'Hoot' establish an inspiring mood.

Wait for other answers, but I do not see the need for a comma here. I do think something is needed to identify the title of the book however.

Best of luck!

2 moms found this helpful

If you use a comma before and after a word, it means that word can be taken out.
For example....
Hiaasen's characters in his book, Hoot, establish an inspiring mood...
Hiassen's characters in his book establish an inspiring mood.....
So if the sentence sounds correct without the name of the book, but you want to add it, use a comma before and after.
This is actually one of the most difficult rules of comma usage....its gets everyone confused.
Hope this helps.
Edited..sorry I forgot to say it's used as a parenthesis for added info, not necessary unless you want it (and without it wont change the meaning of the sentence). I hope that clarifies my answer.

1 mom found this helpful

Comma before and after and the book title she be UNDERLINED.

i think i agree with the previous post. not sure the first sentance needs a comma. i know it's his paper and he needs to write it - but it does sound a little stilted. how about "hiaasen's characters establish an inspiring mood" and just leave the name of the book out? depending on what is around it, you may not need to mention the name. the second one, i go with B. definitely. good luck - hth!!

i would go with no commas at all in the first example. if you want to use commas, go with example A (making the assumption that you are focusing on hiaasen's characters and their mood, not so much that it's the book Hoot.)
and i disagree with the others, i would go with B in the second. the sentence is cleary emphasizing the title of the book, it's not an auxiliary piece of information.
khairete
S.

I would have done the second part like this-

The Newbury prize winning book Hoot, written by Carl Hiaasan, is an inspiring story....

and A for the first.

A and A

Word will check grammar, too.

LBC