Pondering Example Sentences

[gnomi]

When I'm clarifying a bit of style or punctuation or whatever, I tend to give an example sentence, so that the rule is not provided in a vacuum. This is true of most style guides: an example of correct (or common incorrect) usage is usually provided. But most example sentences tend to be dry. I have a different take on it... I don't know what it is, but I love writing example sentences. For example:

When showing the varying uses of em-dashes:

Bob -- the guy with the chicken on his head -- spoke first.

"Bob, why are you--" Mark started to ask, cutting himself off when the chicken took flight.


On ellipses:

"Bob... why is there a chicken on your head?"

"The chicken belongs to Bob... He wears it on his head."


On periods, commas, semicolons, question marks, and quotation marks:

Bob said, "The moose isn't going to the Red Sox' victory rally."

Susan repeated, "Bob said, 'The moose isn't going to the Red Sox' victory rally.'"

Did Bob say, "The Dropkick Murphys don't expect moose at the rally"?

Susan asked, "Why don't moose like the Dropkick Murphys?"

"Bob saw a moose," Susan said. "It was going to the Depeche Mode concert."

Jason said, "Moose are fond of 80s music"; he said it's true of antelopes, too.