Word: comma
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After a set time -- from less than a week to several months, depending on the species -- the larva suddenly stops eating, curls up into a comma and becomes what is called a pupa. Over the next few days, it transforms itself like some buggy version of Terminator 2. Its nerves and muscles melt and reform with astonishing speed until the new adult mosquito sloughs the pupal skin, emerges at the surface and takes off. If one thinks of the humble, fishy mosquito larva as a distinct animal in its own right, then it is one of God's creatures...
...ended this screed by observing, "And so you see, if you make more than $17,500 a year, you will not be in exactly the same tax bracket as H. Ross Perot." And then, because my high school English teacher taught me to write balanced sentences, I added, comma, "who makes more than $1 million a year." I knew Perot was Big Rich and figured it was a safe assertion, but I did not check. Next day the guys on our bidness desk in Dallas called, laughing their asses off. "Ivins," they said (you think I'm making this...
...RACIAL ENVIRONMENT, though, can be faring no worse than our natural environment. Personal environmentalism is where it's at these days. Recycling is chic. We are admonished to "Think Globally," (that comma reads "and." It should read "but") "Act Locally." We are told about 50 simple things we can do to save the earth. Ever the cheerleaders, the Ad Council trumpets "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires," and "Make Every Day Earth...
...huge i-dot comma over 'stine' gives us the assurance that his libido is full in enfolding his psychic and physical forces...
...hating every minute, flags a Vermont accent like this: "You're working for another man, you're liable, put things off. Not go through the barn today, make sure everything's all right." Which is the same way he signals a Massachusetts tough-guy accent, with that glottal comma in place of the missing "to." Is this realistic? Of course not. Does it work? Sure, because it's only a signal, to tell the reader's ear to supply an accent...