Have you ever thought about why we need punctuation?

Chapter 17. Have you ever thought about why we need punctuation? What purposes does it serve? Why is it important to have rules—or conventions—for the use of punctuation?

Have you ever thought about why we need punctuation

POST: Discussion 19 – Chapter 17
Chapter 17. Have you ever thought about why we need punctuation? What purposes does it serve? Why is it important to have rules—or conventions—for the use of punctuation?

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Punctuation – Signs and Symbols

Punctuation is the system of signs or symbols given to a reader to show how a sentence is constructed and how it should be read.

Sentences are the building blocks used to construct written accounts. They are complete statements. Punctuation shows how the sentence should be read and makes the meaning clear.

Every sentence should include at least a capital letter at the start, and a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark at the end. This basic system indicates that the sentence is complete.

The Basic Signs of Punctuation

• the comma ,
• the full stop .
• the exclamation mark !
• the question mark ?
• the semi-colon ;
• the colon :
• the apostrophe ‘
• quotation marks “   ”
• the hyphen –  
• brackets (  )  or [   ]
• the slash /

The Comma (,)

The comma is useful in a sentence when the writer wishes to:

• pause before proceeding
• add a phrase that does not contain any new subject
• separate items on a list
• use more than one adjective (a describing word, like beautiful)

For example, in the following sentence the phrase or clause between the commas gives us more information behind the actions of the boy, the subject of the sentence:

The boy, who knew that his mother was about to arrive, ran quickly towards the opening door.

Note that if the phrase or clause were to be removed, the sentence would still make sense although there would be a loss of information.  Alternatively, two sentences could be used:

The boy ran quickly towards the opening door.  He knew that his mother was about to arrive.