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Mechanics involves the nitty-gritty details of written language: capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. If attention is not paid to these details, meaning can be difficult--or even impossible--to figure out. Although the following paragraph contains no misspelled words, it has no punctuation or capitalization. See if you can find two completely different ways to punctuate the paragraph. They will result in two completely different meanings. (Remember that a sentence does not need to start with the subject.)
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Use one or two commas to set off an appositive (a noun or noun phrase that names the same thing as a noun or noun phrase right next to it in the
sentence).
Chris, my best friend, lives next door to me. (Chris and my best friend name the same person.)
Notice that the sentence would be complete if the appositive were omitted; the reader simply would not have as much information
accept--except
Accept means "to receive."
Please accept this package.
Except means "leaving out; but."
All exits except one were blocked.