Grammar Quick Draw at High Noon

As noon announces her highest, sun slicing the sky like an angry switchblade [absolute], I reckon it’s time for a reckoning. It has been a long semester, hectic and challenging [adjectives out of order], but I feel like it’s been very rewarding as well. Looking over the list of grammatical rules and techniques we’ve studied over the semester [participle], I can’t believe how much I’ve learned. I have several topics under my belt: pronoun and verb usage and agreement, passive and active voice, parallelism, punctuation, and syntactical structures [colon use]. I am now a veritable gunslinger of grammar [varying sentence length].

At the beginning of the semester, my grammatical tongue, parched and cracked [adjectives out of order], longed to break some new ground. And so I drew a line in the sand [beginning a sentence with a conjunction]. I wanted to have a better understanding of many of the grammar rules, not only to be able to use them correctly and justify my choices, but also to be able to explain them to students, future and present [adjectives out of order]. I am proud to say that I do indeed feel confident about these skills; I have actually used several of the topics we discussed in class in my one-on-one and small group tutorials [semicolon use]. I sling spitfire, hot bullet words and structures, fierce and refined [adjectives out of order], watching as they ricochet within the minds of my pupils [participle]. These ideas will leave their mark [varying sentence length].

One of my major goals for the semester was to get a better grasp on punctuation, particularly commas and semicolons. I realized some very interesting tips and tricks, learning when I overuse and underuse commas [participle]. Now I’ve corralled those pesky comma splices and stepped out on the range with my semicolons; I punctuate like the west was won [semicolon use].

My willingness to take risks in my writing has grown exponentially this semester [active voice]. Although I never felt that my writing was stagnant before [AAAWWUBBIS], I often found myself taking “safe” routes and sticking with sentence structures and patterns I was comfortable with. I kept my fightin’ words to a minimum. Using brushstrokes and the Lanham Method [participle], two techniques for making writing more interesting and succinct [appositive], I find that my writing is more dynamic and less wordy. I shave milliseconds off my shooting time, giving me time to show off [participle], revolvers spinning [absolute], daunting and tough [adjectives out of order]. When reading my writing, nobody ever needs to ask, “Who’s kickin’ who?” I’ll make sure ya’ll [contraction use] know who’s doing the kicking from now on, thank you kindly.

While I am grateful for my newfound confidence and risk-taking in writing [AAAWWUBBIS], I feel that one of the most important things I’ve learned over the semester is something I was initially skeptical about: the idea that grammar must be taught in context, and does not need to be taught in great detail [appositive]. Skill is important, but it’s the courage to stand up and use it that really encourages learning. But even after becoming a more proficient writer, I know there is more to learn and more to teach, so I set off on my horse and ride into the sunset, searching for other tumbleweed blown minds and my next grammar square-off. [beginning a sentence with a conjunction, participle, active voice, varying sentence length]