It’s not all just commas, periods, and question marks. There are many other forms of punctuation that can, and should, be used in writing. I would say I have learned a lot this week about proper use of punctuation (although I admit I still have a lot to learn). I have fallen into the poor practice of using limited punctuation marks. I am sure this blog entry will contain some but hopefully not as many as normal. Two that come to mind that I never use are the semicolon and the dash. Part of this is due to the fact that I never really new the appropriate times to use them. I would just assume that a comma or a period and beginning of a new sentence would suffice. So the appropriate use of semicolons and dashes is one thing I have learned this week and have been making a point of focus.
Punctuation is indeed something that takes a lot of practice and attention to detail. I will certainly be looking for punctuation errors from now on in my reading. I think one of the main places that I have noticed punctuation errors and editing mistakes have been in my textbooks. I always find it funny when I find errors in textbooks because it completely contradicts what we are being taught about the importance of proper writing and grammar. This latest one was from a Sociology book. It’s not a communication or English book, but nonetheless it was very noticeable.
The section about dashes and semicolons caught my attention too. I hardly ever use those punctuation marks in my writing. I always figure a period will do the job just fine, but now that I know when to use them, maybe I'll start mixing up the punctuation I use.
ReplyDeleteI hate semicolons so much. I used to substitute commas and periods for the semicolon. But this week showed me that they are useful.
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