By Mat Mougey, Caio Ellero, Lexie Tatro

Dash

Is used to put emphasis on some details, interrupating the story. It is like a parenthesis, but for more important things.
There are no spaces between words and dashes.

Semicolon

Used to link two independent clauses with no connecting words.
Example: We are going home; we are going to stay there.
No capitals after the semicolon (unless proper noun).

Colon

Used after a clause to state a list, idea, or quotation.
Also used to emphasize on the part after the colon.
No capitals after the semicolon.

Hyphens

(http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/576/1/)

Use a hyphen to join two or more words serving as a single adjective before a noun:
a one-way street
chocolate-covered peanuts
well-known author

Use a hyphen with compound numbers:
forty-six
sixty-three
Our much-loved teacher was sixty-three years old.

Use a hyphen to avoid confusion or an awkward combination of letters:
re-sign a petition (vs. resign from a job)
semi-independent (but semiconscious)
shell-like (but childlike)

Use a hyphen with the prefixes ex- (meaning former), self-, all-; with the suffix -elect; between a prefix and a capitalized word; and with figures or letters:
ex-husband
self-assured
mid-September
all-inclusive
mayor-elect
anti-American
T-shirt
pre-Civil War
mid-1980s

Use a hyphen to divide words at the end of a line if necessary, and make the break only between syllables:
pref-er-ence
sell-ing
in-di-vid-u-al-ist

Can be used in quotations.

Dear Mr. Nolan,

If I am sending you this letter, it is both to thank you and to congratulate you on the release of your amazing new movie Inception. I'm rejoiced at the fact that the movie was a great success, as it has brought me hours and hours (around 5, to be precise) of fun. When I first entered the dark room of the cinema and sat down with my bag of popcorn, I never though I was about to see one of the best movies of my lifetime. A good movie, evidently, but this one blew me away. Due to my fanaticism regarding this masterpiece, I know it would be unnecessary to prove my devoutness to it, but just for certainty, I have watched the movie twice within the same week, and both times I watched it with the same attention to the story and detail that makes the strength of the movie. Believe me when I say my bag of popcorn was still untouched when the credits started rolling!

But I would most importantly like to thank you for the two sessions of pure enjoyment your movie has brought me and my friends. For days all I would talk about was the movie, and the gripping ending, on which I spent many restless nights! I hope that even though your last releases, such as Memento, The Dark Knight (and that's not even stating all of them) were all top-notch, that you will still create movies like these.

Best Wishes, and Kind Regards,

Mathieu Mougey

The calmest place I've ever been in, and which I luckily get to return to every few years, is my grandparents' house in Aracaju, Brazil. The house is located in a small city, in the north east of Brazil. The weather there is tropical all year long, and temperatures never drop below 30ºC. The house isn't large, but it's all on one floor, and there aren't really any doors, but simply openings in the house, making it feel like you're always outside. Outside the house is a small pool, on which a floating mattress usually rests. When I lay down there, either to waste time or to read a book, I feel cut off from the rest of the world. Not only is this city a very lowly populated one, the house is also located in a small and very quiet neighborhood, where the houses are far apart. The beach is nearby, and I can always hear the sounds of the waves crashing on the shore in the distance. When I lay down on the mattress, the silence surrounds me, only interrupted by the eventual calming Brazilian music my grandparents play softly over their radio. The sun shines strongly in the all-blue sky, and strikes down on me, heating up my whole body. Whenever I get too warm, I simply take a dive in the warm water to refresh, and go straight back to relaxing afterwards. I can usually smell the sweet smell of mangoes coming from the mango tree nearby, and I often hear the sound of a mango crashing on the ground and start to sizzle on the hot concrete of the road. Like if it was filtered directly at me, the rays of the sun surround my whole body, and somehow it feels as if they are even heating me from underneath my back. No breeze or wind disturbs my body, and I almost feel like I'm floating.

I wish I was a glimmer of hope in a fog of darkness

I wish I was the roots running deep within

I wish I was the happiness that shines on your face

I wish I could wash away the sadness, that takes all that happiness away

I wish I was your picture, that you carried always in your head

folded and yellow and torn at the edge

Goodbye

As we both traveled Down the long road I look at the road ahead And I told him to go And that is where we needed to get But what if it’s too late? We will each write in it The good memories Yes we shall write Goodbye	As we both traveled Down the long road So I also looked with him We saw a place in the distance And that is where we needed to get It nearly 5:00 P.M Then we shall go tomorrow We will each write in it The things that will always be It will be a perfect going away A perfect way to say Goodbye

Recipe for Grammatically Correct Essay

Ingredients (Essay)
•One solid, almost finished essay (approx. 1 kg)
•300 grams of all-purpose Punctuation
•700 grams of Condensed Sentence Structure
•500 ml Liter of Double-Check Milk
•20 ml of Capitalization Extract
•50 grams of Unsweetened Paragraph Powder
•A Pinch of Word Grammar Check


Ingredients (Decoration)
•50 grams of minced verbs
•10 grams of descriptive adjectives
•20 ml of adverbs
•100 grams of peeled prepositions
•10 grams of confectioner's pronouns
•The juice of a dozen nouns
•A Pinch of conjunction (if needed)
•Interjections (if needed)

Directions:

Essay
1. Comfortably sit down in a calm location, preferably a desk, and let ideas pour into your mind.
2. Dice up the essay into small bits while beating in the paragraph powder, as to facilitate its correction.
3. Carefully mix the punctuation powder and the capitalization extract evenly. When the mixture is homogeneous, sift the finest of the mixture atop the essay.
4. Slowly pour in the Double-Check milk, while taking time to correct any imperfections.
5. Delicately fold in the condensed sentence structure.
6. Add the capitalization sparingly, being careful not to add in too little or too much.
8. Finally add a pinch of Word grammar check.
9. Finally let the essay rest for a day or two, unless procrastination does not permit this.

Decoration
1. Mix all of the remaining decoration ingredients together, and intelligently add onto the essay.
2. You should obtain a smooth and even essay, that makes sense. To be certain of this, ask someone else to test it.

3. If needed, add more decoration ingredients as needed.

Turning In
1. Finally, turn in the essay before the due date, just to avoid any confusion.

2. Enjoy your grade! (hopefully.)