grammar mistakes-punctuation

In this semester, Ms Fong has stated a lot of my punctuation mistakes in my essays and I have learnt a lot about how to use punctuation marks properly. Anyway, in the modern world punctuation is an important thing to get right in formal writing. Readers of formal writing interpret punctuation mistakes as a sign of poor education or carelessness, and in either case tend to discount the work's validity.
Semicolons have two distinct functions in English sentences. First of all, they allow you to connect two independent clauses in a single sentence. Often a writer chooses to do this to achieve a more flowing effect; the semicolon tells the reader that he has encountered a full stop, but implies that there is a close connection between the two independent clauses. Using a period to separate two independent clauses has a more conclusive effect. It forces more of a pause on the reader's part. Second, semicolons replace commas when you write lists or series with internal commas （that is, where commas occur within one or more items）. In such cases, separating the items with other commas is confusing.
Colons may also be used to connect independent clauses when the logical link between them is immediate, as when the first clause makes a general assertion and the second clause provides an example. You may also use colons between closely connected sentence elements other than two independent clauses, though this should be done sparingly. In essays, colons are used most frequently to introduce quotations. If you use a colon, you need to make sure that the quotation is not integrally connected to the grammar of the introductory sentence. Sometimes a colon is used incorrectly to introduce a list.
Dashes can act as semi-colons, connecting independent clauses. They can take the place of colons in introducing lists. They can serve to insert an example, and allow getting back to the main sentence. You can also use them at any point in a grammatical structure when you feel a pause would be appropriate. Dashes often come in pairs. If you want to signal an interruption in a grammatical structure with a dash, you've got to keep track of the grammatical structure, and signal the return to the main structure with a second dash.
Fill in the blanks in the text below with proper punctuations—a comma, semi-colon, colon, dash or full stop. If you fill in a full stop, remember to change the first letter in the following sentence into capital letter.
Now, what does it mean to be free? Is freedom a matter of doing what happens to suit you, going where you like, thinking what you will? This you do anyhow _____(1) merely to have independence_______(2) does that mean freedom? Many people in the world are independent, but very few are free. Freedom implies great intelligence, does it not? To be free is to be intelligent ______ (3) but intelligence does not come into being by just wishing to be free _______(4) it comes into being only when you begin to understand your whole environment, the social, religious, parental and traditional influences that are continually closing in on you_______(5) but to understand the various influences—the influences of your parents, of your government, of society, of the culture to which you belong, of your beliefs, your gods and superstitions, of the tradition to which you conform unthinkingly _______(6) to understand all these and become free from them requires deep insight_______(7) but you generally give in to them because inwardly you are frightened_______(8) you are afraid of not having a good position in life ______ (9) you are afraid of what your priest will say _______ (10)you are afraid of not following tradition, of not doing the right thing _______ (11) but freedom is really a state of mind in which there is no fear or compulsion, no urge to be secure.
The function of education is to help you from childhood not to imitate anybody, but to be yourself all the time. And this is a most difficult thing to do _______(12) whether you are ugly or beautiful, whether you are envious or jealous, always to be what you are, but understand it. To be yourself is very difficult, because you think that what you are is ignoble, and that if you could only change what you are into something noble it would be marvellous _______(13) but that never happens. Whereas, if you look at what you actually are and understand it, then in that very understanding there is a transformation_______(14) so freedom lies, not in trying to become something different, nor in doing whatever you happen to feel like doing, nor in following the authority of tradition, of your parents, of your guru, but in understanding what you are from moment to moment.
You see, you are not educated for this_______ (15) your education encourages you to become something or other—but that is not the understanding of yourself. Your “self” is a very complex thing _______(16) it is not merely the entity that goes to school, that quarrels, that plays games, that is afraid, but it is also something hidden, not obvious. It is made up, not only of all the thoughts that you think _______(17) but also of all the things that have been put into your mind by other people, by books, by the newspapers, by your leaders_______(18) and it is possible to understand all that only when you don’t want to be somebody, when you don’t imitate, when you don’t follow_______(19) which means, really, when you are in revolt against the whole tradition of trying to become something. That is the only true revolution_______ (20) leading to extraordinary freedom. To cultivate this freedom is the real function of education.
Taken from F Merat & M Fabre. 1976. “Freedom”. Creative Reading and Writing. Collier Macmillan, London. Central Library. PE 1128 Mer.

expectation in the second part of this semmester

In the first part of this semester, I have learnt the various types of essays and how to write them. In addition, I have already tries one though the result was not that good. The APA format citation is difficult for me for I’ve made lots of mistakes in the citation. But fortunately finally I have handled this problem.
Suggestions:
Many of us have stated in their blogs that more time is consumed for speaking. That is also what I want to say. I think Ms Fong has done a lot of efforts improving this field for since the recess week, I have had a few talks during classes.
Though we have already did a few text-editing exercise, I still don’t do well in it. So can we have some extra one to do so that we can be more familiar with not only the grammar or vocabulary, but also the writing tones and standards of scientific papers.

Difficulties in writing in engineering classes

To be honest, so far I haven’t experienced lots of writing tasks in engineering classes except for the EG1471. The four core modules as everyone takes in my class are math MA1505, physics PC1431, MLE1101 and somehow physics EG1109. For MA1505 and EG1109, the lecturers expect us to use symbols to express the meaning rather than words. Only the PC and MLE modules will ask short questions. For the PC and MLE modules, the difficulty in writing is how to express the inter connection among the variables. So it acquires the ability to express the variables clearly. In order to state them I must know the exactly names of the nouns, laws, theories and principles. For example, there is “totally inelastic collision” but there is no “totally elastic collision”. Instead, it is “elastic collision” representing the meaning of “totally elastic collision”. So I must memorize all the nouns clearly, not mix them up. Besides, the connection within the nouns should also be stated clearly, i.e. whether A is the cause or the effect of B. Therefore, the transition words such as “therefore”, “hence” and “but”, the relationship expressions, “due to the effect of”, “result in” and “result from” are useful. On the back pages of the grammar book there are conjunctive adverbs, subordinating conjunctions and transition signals which can help me in those fields. In the following writing tasks, I will try to use them as much as possible. In other words, try to use more than one kind of sentence structure to express the same meaning.