LESSON # 1 - WRITING ASSIGNMENT

Lesson # 1 - Writing Assignment

I am Moriarty and no prizes for guessing that this is a nom-de-plume. I live in Southern Africa where I head a fairly large-sized operation which doesn't leave me with as much time to write as I would, (?)actually,(?) like. I have a caring wife and two lovely kids,(4a) the elder one a boy and the younger one a girl,(4a) who arrived just a couple of months back. I am also a son,(1) and my mother is lonely,(3a) old and ill, (?)suffering from an intractable disease called osteo-arthritis. If you are guessing my nationality,(2) it's fairly easy. Hop over to my portfolio, (?)browse around a bit, (?)read a couple of stories,(?) and you would easily know. The only caveat is(4c) that I write a fair amount of erotica and would urge minors to remain honest and not peek at them.

I have simple expectations from life. I want to own a comfortable house,{?} get my mother's ailment cured, (?)give my children a good education,(?) keep my wife happy and,(?) of course, (?) do well in my career. After all,(?) it is that which pays all my bills. The only luxuy(4a), I occasionally indulge in, (4a)is holidaying on exotic locations. I suffer from wanderlust,(?) and nothing gives me more pleasure than visiting alien lands,(?) speaking foreign languages(?) and learning ethnic customs. Besides traveling,(?) the other passions of my life are reading and writing,(?) my favorite genres being romance,(?) fantasy and erotica. On the professional front,(?) I lay great emphasis on old fashioned values like loyalty,(?)honesty and sincerity and hold them more important than performance or results.

RULES OF COMMA USAGE:
Rule #1 - Compound Sentences With Coordinating Conjunctions (use commas)
Rule #2 - Introductory Adverbial Clauses (use commas)
Rule #3a - Coordinate Adjectives (use commas)
Rule #3b - Non-Coordinate Adjectives (don’t use commas)
Rule #4a - Non-Essential Elements (use commas)
Rule #4b - Essential Elements (don't use commas)
Rule #4c - Essential "That" Clauses (don't use commas)