Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Cerebellum Corp
• VHS Release Date: January 11, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• ASIN: 1581980469
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #413,776 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The rules of punctuation may not seem enjoyable or entertaining, but the Standard Deviants can at least help out in making the rules memorable with a cast of enthusiastic young performers who specialize in lighthearted but academically sound treatments of serious subjects. In The Untamed Worlds of English Punctuation, the troupe dons costumes (such as the uniform of a traffic cop) and hams it up while presenting lessons that begin by answering the basic question "What is punctuation?" The major "end marks" are then covered in a series of lessons that focus on the rules for employing periods, questions marks, and exclamation points. The uses of commas, semicolons, and colons are covered in a similarly lively manner, with useful tips, such as the "Furthermore Rule" to test the suitability of a semicolon. Following each set of lessons is a quiz which the student can take or skip, and the "Exclamation Exam," a comprehensive test covering all the material on the DVD, can be taken at the finish. There's only so much that can be done to make punctuation exciting, but the Standard Deviants do offer a multitude of offbeat examples. And fear not, the material included has all been approved by a serious academic panel. --Robert J. McNamara

Product Description

When you're turning in a writing assignment, do you feel like you're offering it up to some horrible monster obsessed with which squiggly goes where? Well fear no longer. Welcome to The Untamed World of English Punctuation, Part 1, part of the Standard Deviants educational video line. Let the Deviants help you conquer the comma, practice the period, and defeat the dash by taking you step-by-step through the rules governing these marks and many more. Includes such topics as: periods, question marks, exclamation points, commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, abbreviations, end punctuation, sarcasm and irony, interrupting expressions, interjections, prepositional phrases

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For What It Is, It's Good Enough, November 4, 2008

By 

J. Kersh "poetdoc" (Jackson, Mississippi) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Standard Deviants: English Punctuation 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

I show this to my freshman composition I classes nearly every semester, and I hear a lot of groans. They beg me not to play another one. I think some of that is "we're too cool for this" attitude, plus there is a volume 2! This video does what no video I'm aware of has ever attempted - to explain how English punctuation works. It's not an exciting subject; it's not even something most people ever think about, but the Standard Deviants have managed to make punctuation relatively entertaining. Yes, their humor is silly, even dorky; I assume these programs were made for high school students. But it's better for me to show this video than go through hours of examples and handbooks myself, thereby putting my students to sleep.

The only thing I'd really complain about is the fact that this video starts with the period. Now, I'd assume (and hope) that everybody knows how to use a period. That's where I get groans. If they'd gloss over the period, they could spend more time and detail on comma rules, which is where everybody needs work (sometimes including me).

If you're looking for a boring, staid presentation of punctuation rules to put your students to sleep, this ain't the place. If you're looking for an exciting, up-to-the-minute presentation of punctuation that will make your students instant English majors, this isn't that, either. What it is is an excellent effort, a good attempt to take an incredibly dull subject and make it entertaining. And you have to give them credit for that.