Endings

IDEAS FOR ENDINGS:

 Tie up loose ends:

o If characters, actions, events, etc. were mentioned at one point but never fully

explained, now would be the time to do so.

 However, avoid summarizing: Looking back on that summer, I knew that

I would never forget our wild adventures or the first time I fell in love.

 End abruptly:

o You don’t always have to end with a clear stopping point.

o Ex: The wind was hot that morning, and I could barely see my feet through the

grass they stood in. My neighbors had obviously not mown their lawn in a while.

 However, do not end too abruptly (ambiguity): She looked into my eyes as

if she wanted to say something, and then she did.

 Unhappy Ending:

o Endings do not have to be happy because, realistically, life is not always happy.

BUT if you choose to end with something sad, it still needs to be satisfying.

o Ex: Defeated, he walked away from the tree just as the blades of the saw began to

rev. He couldn’t bare to look, but he could feel the wood shavings on the back of

his heels.
 -- Commas --

Five ways to use a comma:

1. To set off the items in a list of three or more things.

2. To set off a phrase or clause that introduces a complete sentence.

3. To show that explanatory material has been inserted.

4. To separate complete sentences joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but,

nor, etc.)

5. To introduce, set off, or define a direct quotation.

Listing

It was harmless, vaguely interesting, nervous, and cute.

(Mary Gaitskill, “The Arms and Legs of the Lake”)

Introductory Material

In his head, Bill saw a horror movie.

(Mary Gaitskill, “The Arms and Legs of the Lake”)

Extra Material

Yellow roses, signifying friendship more than eros, seemed right, given the complex

potential of the evening.

(Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)

Coordinating Conjunctions

He grinned widely and shrugged his shoulders and tipped his head, and she mirrored him,

shrugging her own shoulders and making a funny face.

(Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)

 -- Semi-colons --

Two ways to use a semi-colon:

1. To help separate items in a list, when some of those items already contain commas.

2. To join two sentences.

Separating items in a list

apples, grapes, peaches

I bought apples, grapes, and peaches.

shiny, ripe apples

small, sweet, juicy, grapes
soft, fuzzy peaches

I bought shiny, ripe apples, small, sweet, juicy, grapes, and soft, fuzzy peaches.

I bought shiny, ripe apples; small, sweet, juicy, grapes; and soft, fuzzy peaches.

It featured not only yellow roses but red and pink solitaires, along with sprigs of heather,

freesia, and alstroemeria; green and white calla lilies; blue irises; mums; and some other

things the girl had plucked from buckets and waved in the air for him to see and approve.

(Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)

Joining two sentences

Guilt can instruct you; you can learn from guilt.

(Mary Gaitskill, “The Arms and Legs of the Lake”)

 -- Colons --

Common uses of colons:

1. To announce, introduce, or direct attention to a list, a noun or noun phrase, a

quotation, or an example/explanation.

2. To join sentences.

Announcing, introducing, and directing

Everything, Tom thinks, follows a path worn by those who have gone before: egrets,

clouds, tadpoles. Everything everything everything.

(Anthony Doerr, “The Deep”)

Her voice is a whisper: Why here she is, there he goes, OK now, baby, just lift you here.

(Anthony Doerr, “The Deep”)

All the listless figures he sees: children humped around the hospital entrance, their eyes

vacant with hunger; farmers pouring into the parks; families sleeping without cover—

people for whom nothing left on earth could be surprising.

(Anthony Doerr, “The Deep”)

Joining sentences

But there was a problem: What were these flowers going to cost?

(Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)

Kate had been reading the clinical literature, though, and felt autodidactically certain that

the Payne Whitney professionals were minimizing something in plain sight: His death-

trip history, considered alongside the ‘conspicuous’ spending on coats, ties, shirts, and

shoes, represented, at the least, she thought, a mixed-state depression.

 (Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)

Common Colon Mistakes

1. Using a colon between a verb and its object or complement

Ex: The very best peaches are: those that are grown in the great state of Georgia.

2. Using a colon between a preposition and its object

Ex: My favorite cake is made of: chocolate, flour, butter, eggs, and cream cheese icing.

3. Using a colon after “such as,” “including,” “especially,” and similar phrases

Ex: There are many different kinds of M&M’s, including: plain chocolate, peanut, dark

chocolate, pretzel, and caramel.

-- Dashes --

Common uses of dashes:

1. To set off material for emphasis.

2. To indicate sentence introductions or conclusions.

3. To mark “bonus phrases.”

4. To break up dialogue.

Setting off material

Sometimes we forget, and think there are only women—endless hills and plains of

unresisting women.

(Lydia Davis, “Men”)

Before he could move to take them from her, however—it was the medication, warping

his mind and delaying his reaction—she heaved the arrangement onto the counter and

explained that she’d had to search high and low for an extra heavy vase.
 (Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)

Sentence introductions and conclusions

Ruby Hornaday materializes before him—shoulders erect, hair newly short, pushing a

chrome-and-canvas baby buggy.

(Anthony Doerr, “The Deep”)

“Bonus Phrases”

Every six months a miner is laid off, gets drafted, or dies, and is replaced by another, so

that very early in his life Tom comes to see how the world continually drains itself of

young men, leaving behind only objects—empty tobacco pouches, bladeless jackknives,

salt-caked trousers—mute, incapable of memory.

(Anthony Doerr, “The Deep”)

Back when he was in the hospital—in the past six months, there had been three

emergency-room visits and two locked-ward admissions—he had spent day after day

lying on a mattress, crying.

(Donald Antrim, “Another Manhattan”)