Need for punctuation in your speech/writing... quite important indeed!!!
By Amagnimo
@Amagnimo (635)
India
September 21, 2008 1:22pm CST
Hello, I just got this as a grammar tip in my email:
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Why Is Punctuation Important?Have you ever been turned down for a job because of incorrect punctuation on your application form and the HR manager thought you were illiterate!(See, you may think I’m yelling at you because I ended the last sentence with an exclamation point instead of a question mark. Now do you see the importance of proper punctuation?)
Without punctuation you would not be able to express your feelings in writing not to mention know when to pause or stop or ask a question or yell at someone (a run-on sentence). And without punctuation (a semi-colon) you would not be able to separate independent clauses; do you know what those are? (This is an example of two independent clauses.)
Punctuation (like the other components of good writing, including spelling, grammar, capitalization, etc.) has been devalued by a generation of computer wizards who ask, “What’s the point? Nobody writes in complete sentences anymore.”
Inaccurate Punctuation Can Be Costly
People at Rogers Communications learned otherwise. Canada’s largest telecommunications company had an attorney who misplaced a comma in a contract with a company that agreed to string Rogers’s cables across the Maritimes. A Canadian court said ignorance of correct punctuation was no excuse and invalidated what was believed to be an ironclad five-year contract. That errant squiggle cost Rogers $2.13 million. (You can read about this case at National Punctuation Day website)
The rules of proper punctuation haven’t changed just because of computers. Casual shortcuts bred by e-mailing and text messaging have no place in professional business writing, where words wield power and decision-makers form impressions immediately. Clarity and attention to detail remain imperative; careless punctuation mistakes cost time, money, and productivity.
National Punctuation Day is on September 24
National Punctuation Day on September 24 draws attention to the importance of proper punctuation. It’s a day for librarians, educators, and parents everyone interested in teaching and promoting good writing skills to students and children. It’s also a day to remind business people that others judge them based on how they present themselves in writing.
Yes, proper punctuation is important - especially when a misplaced comma, as Rogers Communications learned, can alter the meaning of a sentence and cost a lot of money!Go to National Punctuation Day (website - google it...links not allowed here) and become familiar with rules and issues.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@DoriLentrich (1016)
• United States
21 Sep 08
You are so right about punctuation. It is critical to making sure you are undestood when you write. Casual writing has become so common that it makes it difficult to impress upon people what is being lost. Misplaced or missing punctuation can be devastating on so many levels. Without that guide a sentence's entire meaning can be altered. I wish I could think of an example right now, but it escapes me.
For people who want to write, punctuation becomes even more important. We are holding ourselves out to the world as people who care and know the rules of the written language. If we eschew them because it's too difficult to learn, what does that really say? Punctuation is boring, at least for me. I don't find it interesting or fascinating, but it is a necessary tool that I have to master. And I'm no expert at it. Semi-colons still escape me.
2 people like this
@Amagnimo (635)
• India
23 Sep 08
Sometimes, I receive such SMS which has no fullstop and no comma - kinda no punctuation. And the message has only one CAPS letter and that is the first one - by defualt. How can a person understand. My dad receives messages from one such guy and I ask him how does he understand without any punc. But he says, you can understand when you know the topic of discussion. lol. Punc. kinda even decorates our writing so we should really do. I do that, but typos make it look dirty...
Lol.
Thanks
1 person likes this
@DoriLentrich (1016)
• United States
23 Sep 08
Typos are always going to be there. And no one punctuates perfectly all the time. Well, I have one friend who does, but I try to ignore that. :)
What your Dad said is true though. If you know how someone talks or what they're talking about, you can fill in the appropriate punctuation in something that is otherwise bereft of it. However, that isn't an excuse for doing it. When you're writing something that is going out into the wide world, people don't know how you talk or even, at times, what you're talking about. Without the appropriate marks, you can easily be misunderstood.
It's hard. If everyone tried to do the best they could, it would probably get better. But, that would be a perfect world. Reality is not. :)
1 person likes this
@workinggurl (399)
• Philippines
22 Sep 08
the same goes with me Lakota12, I'm even fond of using dot dot dot :D