There are colons and semi-colons, hyphens and dashes
There are colons and semi colons, ellipsis and commas
Exclamation marks, full stops, question marks, and slashes
It's all too much for many people. And, 'Nobody knows what they're for or how you use them', wail bloggers. Punctuation is often abused and misused. Maybe it's time for punk-punctuation. In the mid 1970s punk rock was created: rock music was stripped back to its simple, raw basics. That's what I mean by 'punk-tuation'. But what are the basics of punctuation?
The end of punctuation has long been predicted. Text and instant messaging would wipe out all of these pesky squiggles and dots. Punctuation would be deleted. Or so it was claimed. In fact text messaging relies heavily on punctuation. "gr8 news re exam sprise nxt exam." this text message could mean many things until you add some common punctuation marks. "gr8 news re exam! srprise! nxt exam?" = Great news about the exam. A great surprise! When is the next exam?" Not gr8 communication but, for those taking part, it's enough.
So exclamation marks and question marks are definitely useful. So they're in. But what about the other stuff? Well there might be disputes about the finer points of punctuation, but its purpose is very clear: punctuation is there to help people to read.
our new security manager is tom sinclair tom comes from australia which he left
Our new security manager is Tom Sinclair. Tom comes from Australia, which he left in 1988. Since then he's gained more than 20 years' experience in the security business. He's worked in many countries: the UK, South Africa and Malaysia. In Malaysia Tom was head of security at a large oil refinery. He is strict but fair. Tom's nickname is 'iron man.
The punctuated version is easier to read because our eyes are guided by the capital letters, full stops and, yes even commas. The capital letters signal the beginning of sentences and proper nouns like names. The colon like most colons is best left alone. It is not necessary. The inverted commas show that something is a quotation, in this case Tom's nickname. Without them here, the reader might be confused about the man's name: is he Tom or Iron Man? For the punk version of punctuation, the inverted commas stay.
Commas? There are many examples of how commas can change meaning dramatically. Such as the famous panda, changed from a peaceful, cuddly animal into a murdering monster!
The panda eats shoots and leaves.
A simple statement about a panda's diet. But...
The panda eats, shoots and leaves.
I this case the panda goes into a restaurant, eats dinner, shoots the restaurant owner and leaves the restaurant!
Commas also separate additional information from the main sentence.
Gareth Jones, 30, from North Wales, missing since last Monday, has been
found safe and well.
The commas here separate 3 extra pieces of information, but how difficult is it to read without the commas?
Gareth Jones 30 from North Wales missing since last Monday has
been found safe and well.
Who or what is missing? North Wales or Gareth Jones? Common sense tells us it was the man not the geographic area. But sometimes it is not that clear. It is quite easy to write short sentences that avoid the need for commas. So for punk punctuation, commas are an optional extra.
Apostrophes or lack of them make people stressed and often angry. And then there is all the apparent confusion of their/they're, its/it's, DVD's/DVDs and even potato's! In the sentence above there are two apostrophes- he's (he is- the apostrophe takes the place of the missing 'i') and Tom's nickname (the nickname that belongs to Tom). But can we read without them? Take a look at these examples:
Its a bargain at $89
It's a bargain at $89
Giovanis Pizza Restaurant
Giovani's Pizza restaurant
The apostrophe seems to be like the comma: an optional extra, to be used when it helps readers. And that is the most important point: use punctuation that helps people to read quickly and easily.
So there it is! The trimmed down, bare-bones (or barebones) punktuation: exclamation mark, question mark, full stop, inverted commas, capital letters and commas; apostrophes as optional extras.
