To some people, punctuation is a pain in the asterisk.
Others regard the apostrophe, exclamation point and other handy devices as guardrails that keep our words from becoming a jumble of nonsense.
But to Jeff Rubin, founder of on Sept. 24, the symbols are necessities that do more than just separate sentences.
鈥淧unctuation marks tell a reader when to pause, when to stop, when something is possessive, and when emotions are expressed,鈥� he said. 鈥淧unctuation marks are guidelines that create sound in the written word. Without them, every sentence would run on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on…鈥�
Rubin, a former journalist who now runs a publishing business in Pinole, California, says he started the holiday in 2004 because he was concerned about the decline of language skills around the nation. The way we write 鈥� including the proper usage of punctuation 鈥� affects our appearance to others, acceptance at college, grades on papers, promotions and business deals, he says.
That鈥檚 why some writing instructors at the University of Central 性视界传媒 stress punctuation in their classes, especially around National Punctuation Day.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to honor National Punctuation Day by taking an adventure safari through the AP Stylebook鈥檚 Punctuation Guide,鈥� said Rick Brunson, an associate instructor in the Nicholson School of Communication and Media. 鈥淚 call the lecture, 鈥楧on鈥檛 Get Punc鈥檈d By What You Don鈥檛 Know.鈥欌��
He said punctuation is not merely cosmetic; it鈥檚 essential to making meaning of our thoughts.
“Sentences are a train wreck without proper punctuation.”
鈥淪entences are a train wreck without proper punctuation,鈥� he said. 鈥淯sing punctuation properly is critical to successful communication of our ideas. If we want to be understood, we have to know what we鈥檙e doing with punctuation.鈥�
Beth Young, an associate professor in the Department of English, said she will include a link to National Punctuation Day on her class calendar to help students understand the importance of proper usage.
She said her punctuation lessons focus 鈥渙n rules that I could see students had not yet mastered, and on rules they had questions about. Usually, this meant lots of time spent on commas.鈥�
National Punctuation Day celebrants at schools and other organizations, as can be seen on the website, celebrate with contests, baked goods, performances and other activities.
Rubin said he plans to observe the day with 鈥渁 bagel with shmear and coffee for breakfast, a CrossFit workout, and a search for incorrectly punctuated signs.鈥�
The Baker鈥檚 Dozen of Punctuation
According to the National Punctuation Day website, there are 13 punctuation marks commonly used in print.
Not necessarily in order of importance, alphabetically they are: apostrophe, brackets, colon, comma, dash, ellipses, exclamation point, hyphen, parentheses, period, question mark, quotation mark and semicolon.
Other commonly seen marks in writing, such as the asterisk, hashtag, slash 鈥渁nd their ilk are symbols that provide no insight into the thoughts of the writer or the meaning of his or her words,鈥� Rubin said.
Likewise, he said the interrobang 鈥� the combination of a question mark and exclamation point that is sometimes seen at the end of an exclamatory question鈥攄oesn鈥檛 qualify as a punctuation mark.
鈥淚t鈥檚 an illustration,鈥� Rubin chides.
Brunson calls the apostrophe 鈥渢he hardest-working punctuation symbol in our language. We ask an awful lot of it, and it does an incredible amount of heavy-lifting for us in our language. The apostrophe can form a contraction, indicate missing letters or numbers, show possession or indicate the plural of a singular object 鈥� depending on how we use it. Honor the apostrophe by using it properly.鈥�
Young, who also used to direct 性视界传媒鈥檚 University Writing Center, says the most common punctuation mistake she sees is an error of omission, when writers forget one comma from a pair of commas around a clause that adds extra or nonessential information to a sentence.
The next most common error, often seen on signs and menus, is the unnecessary use of quotation marks for emphasis that unwittingly cast doubt on something, such as our 鈥渄elicious鈥� meatloaf, she said.
The Future of Punctuation in the Age of Social Media
Rubin said it sometimes seems that punctuation has been forgotten by writers on social media.
鈥淭he errors I see are appalling,鈥� he said. 鈥淛ust last week I was reprimanded by the administrator of a Facebook group for admonishing someone who posted a single paragraph and misused “it’s” for “its” (he wanted the possessive but instead used a contraction).
鈥淚 was told, and I quote, 鈥楾his is social media…鈥� by the administrator, who removed my post.鈥�
Brunson agrees that the rise of text messaging has created a 鈥減unctuation crisis鈥� because of the lack of understanding as to what the symbols mean and convey.
“People randomly and carelessly sprinkle punctuation into their writing as if they were adding fake bacon bits to a salad.”
鈥淧eople randomly and carelessly sprinkle punctuation into their writing as if they were adding fake bacon bits to a salad,鈥� he said.
Punctuation is definitely changing, Young said.
鈥淲e may be more likely to use punctuation in creative ways, such as adding a period. after. every. word. for emphasis. These changes are a natural part of language change,鈥� she said. 鈥淭o some extent, they reflect a longer trend of colloquialization 鈥� written language becoming more like speech 鈥� that linguists have observed.鈥�
Many punctuation “rules” are not as straightforward as people imagine, Young said. 鈥淲riters often have legitimate choices about when to use which mark,” she said. “Just because you would punctuate differently doesn’t necessarily mean that someone else did it wrong.鈥�
Rubin concedes that someday other marks may find their way into mainstream usage.
鈥淟anguage evolves. Merriam-Webster adds new words every year,鈥� he said. 鈥淪tyle guides, such as those published by the Associated Press and the Chicago Manual of Style, occasionally change usage guidelines. I expect that one day there will be more accepted punctuation marks.鈥�
Meanwhile, properly using the symbols we have now goes a long way to improving communication skills.
鈥淣ext to boosting your vocabulary, learning how to properly use punctuation is the one thing anyone can do to single-handedly get people to understand what you鈥檙e trying to say and write,鈥� Brunson said. 鈥淧unctuation is power.鈥�
