Puntuation Blog 1

PUNCTUATION – A HOBBYHORSE       

Punctuation (from the Latin punctus for point or pricking) is the use of a series of symbols to help in the understanding of English both written and aural. The word is from the same Latin root as punctilious meaning atentative to etiquette, and punctual meaning on time.

Punctuation marks are a guide to when to pause (the full stop or period), when to give a pause (the colon) when to give a shorter pause (the semi-colon) and the shortest pause (the comma), when to add an inflection (exclamation mark or question mark again), and more.

Punctuation can add lilt and music to reading out loud. It gives clear explanation of meaning rather than something slightly ambiguous.

Read the two sentences below and compare

A woman:  without her, man is nothing.

A woman without her man, is nothing.

Punctuation began to take the form we see it in today, around the 15^th or 16^th century, and has evolved to the point of being a distraction (if it is incorrect) to many people like myself. We see a comma in the wrong spot (although I’m not an expert on the comma) and our hackles rise in line with our blood pressure.

Many a curmudgeon has written angry letters to newspapers decrying the ‘young people of today’ and their lack of literary understanding, and ‘why don’t they use correct grammar when sending emails and text messages’.

Punctuation (especially the apostrophe) is a hobbyhorse for so many that there is, in the UK the Apostrophe Protection Society

Introduction to my Blog

Task 1 Research Brief

My topic is “ Punctuation: why it exists and why it will continue to exist and change”

Punctuation is a bit of a hobbyhorse for a lot of people, mostly considered nerds & geeks, but let’s look at what a sentence would look like without it.

The following was either written by or dictated by Ned Kelly

I write you these lines hopingto find you and Mis Nickilsonin good health as I am myself at present I have arrived safe and I would like you would see what you and Mstr Nickelson could do for me I have done all circumstances would alow me which you now try what you con do answer this letter as soon as posabel

direct your letter to Daniel Kelly gretta post office

that is my name no more at presant

Edward Kelly

Ignoring the incorrect spelling, the letter is hard to read without commas, full stops, etc.

When did punctuation come into being?

Is a question mark really just a bent exclamation mark?

Quotation marks, are they nessesary?

Capital letters at the beginning of every sentence. Why?

And what of the future? What will happen to punctuation now that we are all using abbreviations on our mobile phones and ipads. Will we be LMAO because puncuation is redundant? Will wwe all revert to American spelling and punctuation now that spellchecker is here?