It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times, It was a Colossal Comma Splice British Literature April 13, 2015

“It was the Best of Times…” Happy Mechanics Monday! Turn to page 7 in your books. For Dickens' opening to his Tale of Two Cities, the author uses one of the longest series of comma splices in the history of literature. While Dickens seemingly did this for stylistic effect, we want to punctuate the passage correctly. In your journals, correct his first sentence of the novel by fixing the comma splices. Add a conjunction (FANBOYS) Change to a semi-colon Break up the sentence with a period

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way---in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. The Opening from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

“It was the Best of Times…” Activity You will write your own Dickens-like paragraph using antonyms to describe a powerful contrast about something that interests you. HERE’S THE TWIST: You must also properly punctuate your passage with NO COMMA SPLICES! Let’s look at an example…

Peyton Brooks

He Was the Best of Puppies He was the best of puppies, yet the worst of snot-licking shih-tzus. He was a loyal lover but he greeted each living creature with an ambitious sniff and an eager flick of his tail. An active pup, he accompanied his friends on flamboyant jogs, hopping as a bunny in a minefield, however he only ran ahead so that he could collapse into the frog leg pose on the grass to catch his breath. His snorting nasal cavity often impeded his athletic sprints. He was a fierce hunter in the game of fetch but a snuggle bug burrowed in a pillow at bedtime. He politely and patiently offered his paw in exchange for a treat but maliciously ate the squeaker out of all of his toys. He was the cause of my rage when the floor was covered in fluffy white trash from his attack on the toilet paper roll yet the cause of my giddiness when I come home from work to high five paws. In short, he was my grandmother’s deathbed wish and quickly became my renewal of vitality and joy in life.

Homework Read and annotate chapters of Book the Second in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.