Punctuation is important for indicating natural pauses in writing. The first rule is to end sentences with final punctuation. Comma splicing is a common mistake that can be avoided by using conjunctions, periods, or semicolons. Commas are used to separate items in a list, city and country names, and adjectives. Punctuation rules become more complex with complex sentences, but it’s important to learn them to avoid confusion. A good grammar book can help. Proofreading and practicing punctuation is important for improving writing.
Punctuation rules can be difficult to learn, but they sure make your writing much easier to read. Typically, we add punctuation to mean certain things and the most vital of these is to indicate natural pauses in what we are reading. This is perhaps the most important thing about punctuation; we use signs to indicate that each thought does not bump into another thought without stopping.
Therefore, one of the first punctuation rules that you absolutely need to know is to end sentences with final punctuation. What exactly is a sentence? Contains a subject and a verb. An example of a complete sentence would be as follows:
He used his money.
Note that “he” is the subject and “used” is the verb.
An incomplete sentence could be one of the following:
He used his money
He
His money
Sometimes it is difficult when sentences get complicated to observe punctuation rules. If you’re not sure, break the sentence apart to make sure you have a main subject and a verb. Follow the complete sentence with a period (.) or if the sentence is an exclamation, use an exclamation point (!). Alternatively, if your sentence is a question, end it with a question mark (?).
Understanding the punctuation rules at the end of sentences naturally leads to probably the biggest mistake in modern punctuation. This is to end an independent clause (with a subject or verb) with a comma (,), linking the sentence to a second independent clause. This tactic is called comma splicing and is an inappropriate use of the comma. If the period, exclamation point, or question mark indicate a pause, the comma can be said to indicate a much shorter pause.
There are a few ways to get around comma splicing and observe punctuation rules. When you realize you’ve joined two independent clauses, you can modify the sentence by adding a conjunction (and, or, but, again). Alternatively, you can separate clauses with a period. Another method is to add a semicolon (;) to separate the clauses, which indicates that they are related but independent.
The shorter pauses represented by commas keep many people away. Some examples of how we use commas include these:
Use commas to separate words in a list (I’m getting pizza, salad, a soda, and ice cream.)
Use commas between city and country names (Fairbanks, Alaska or Rome, Italy).
Day and year separated by commas (July 24, 1976 but no comma on July 24, 1976)
Separate several adjectives with commas (The fat, brown, lazy, ugly dog)
These are just a few uses of commas, and you’ll need to study more about whether you should use a trailing comma in a sequence or list. There’s also a lot to study when you use commas with clauses and subordinate clauses, and whether you should use them with conjunctions. A good grammar book or punctuation rules book can help.
Punctuation rules get significantly more complicated as you write more complex sentences, and there are variations and exceptions. Some people argue that you don’t need punctuation, especially if you’re looking for an “artistic” expression. The converse is that you must always know the rules of punctuation, so that when you break them, you do it on purpose and for artistic effect. Breaking them because you really don’t know them generally feels less educated rather than artistic and makes your work that much harder to read.
It’s never too late to learn the rules of punctuation. Invest in a good punctuation and grammar book and start working on the exercises. When you write (essays, notes, emails), proofread your own work and insert or delete punctuation as needed, and when you read, see if you can catch punctuation errors in other people’s writing. Punctuation and grammar comprehension are inexorably linked; expect to study some grammar as well as you learn to incorporate these natural pauses into your work.
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