what the hell is a gerund? i'm sitting here trying to re-learn the proper rules of grammar. or rather. learn. i remember just kind of winging grammar back in high school and emerging surprisingly unscathed. but i really have no idea what a gerund is, what proper punctuation is, what the difference between an independent clause and a dependent clause is. how do i properly use semi-colons or colons? what does it mean if i use dashes? as opposed to parentheses? are there annegatives i should know about now that i learned about appositives? do comma splices hurt? did you know that you can't underline and italicize at the same time? i didn't. i need to learn this stuff. or rather. i want to learn this stuff. i don't want to be become a grammar geek or anything. but to have any hope of a future, i'm gonna have to dig out the little brown book again.