Punctuation is crucial as it is responsible for what is called silent intonation. That is, it lets us when to when to slow down, pause, or emphasize as with speaking in real life. Using punctuation correctly allows you to achieve writing that is clear and precise. In this article, we will cover the most general uses of punctuation marks.
The emphasis of this punctuation guide will be on the basic punctuation marks that are used in both everyday writing and academic writing. Note, that this is not a comprehensive analysis. Instead, it is a quick and general overview of the most common punctuation usage.
Punctuation guide table
There are a handful of major punctuation marks whose usage you should be familiar with as an academic writer. They include:
The table summarizes how each of these punctuation marks is used.
Punctuation Mark | Function |
Period | (.) This signifies the end of a sentence or stand-alone phrases. |
Comma | (,) These are punctuation marks used to join independent clauses separated by a conjunction and to separate independent and dependent clauses. |
Colon | (:) The colon is used to introduce a list, phrase, or other sentence. |
Semicolon | (;) This is typically used to join two related clauses. |
Apostrophe | (‘) Apostrophes are used to mark possession and contractions. |
Em dash | (—) Em dashes can serve the functions of both a colon to introduce material and a comma to separate a nonessential clause in the middle of a sentence. |
1. The importance of punctuation
Punctuation plays a crucial role in ensuring clarity and precision in writing. In addition to this, proper punctuation gives the natural rhythm of speech to your writing. With a comma, you pause. The period signals a stop, and the exclamation mark means emphasis.
Punctuation is also closely associated with nuances in meaning. Because of this, you should be quite careful with punctuation. Being even only a little careless with punctuation, the results could be humorous or disastrous, based on how you want to look at it.
For example:
“Let’s eat, Dad” vs “Let’s eat Dad.”
These two sentences have the same words, but they have radically different meanings. This is the difference that a well-placed comma makes.
2. Challenges of Punctuation
Punctuation poses many challenges. One of the big ones is the fact that it doesn’t necessarily follow natural pauses in speech. Someone who has not studied or trained in academic writing may end up naively following this advice.
For example, look at the following sentence:
The three main factors of success in the industry are networking, thinking quickly on your feet, and being flexible.
If we were to follow natural speech rhythms, then the comma would come after "are" as shown below:
The three main factors of success in the industry are, networking, thinking quickly on your feet, and being flexible.
But of course, this would be incorrect.
Punctuation can also be especially difficult for speakers of English as a second language. Learning English is already hard enough. Learning the tedious rules associated with punctuation makes it even harder.
It makes it extra difficult when you consider different languages employ the same punctuation marks quite differently. For example, in the Chinese language, the comma is used as the main mark of separation for sentences. It is used more or less as a period.
Therefore Chinese academics writing in English may find it difficult to make the transition from using these two punctuation marks in English.
3. Using proofreading software
One solution to tackling the difficulty of punctuation is proofreading software. This is software that can catch spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors in your Word or other documents.
The most popular proofreading software tool is Grammarly. But there are others such as the Hemmingway App. However, these proofreading tools are not perfect.
A proofreading tool is only as good as the person using it. For instance, Grammarly often offers nonsensical suggestions for correction. “In relation” is a phrase that is commonly used in academic writing. Grammarly automatically changes it to “about.”
For example, "In relation to the influence of this factor, the evidence is sparse" becomes "About the influence of this factor, the evidence is sparse."
In short, it’s not enough to simply depend on these tools. At best, they catch teh most obvious errors. Beyond that, you should be in a position to use your judgment to decide what corrections to accept. How do you do so?
4. Continually studying punctuation
Nothing beats good old-fashioned learning and studying your craft. It doesn’t matter if you’re a scientist trying to publish journal papers or an undergrad student writing an academic essay.
You should continually and consistently study and practice academic writing, including punctuation rules. Punctuation rules should not be memorized. Instead, you should rely on punctuation style guides that you can conveniently consult or resort to when faced with difficult punctuation questions.
Rules books on punctuation can be quite boring and difficult to read. So, think of getting different resources. For example, YouTube videos, and online sources, such as our blog here at EminentEdit.
I also recommend The Best Punctuation Book, Period. It’s a fun, engaging, and easy-to-read resource that is available in E-Book format. Go ahead to read our review of this book on our blog by following the given link.
References
Casagrande, J. (2014). The Best Punctuation Book, Period. Ten Speed Press.
The Chicago Manual of Style 17th edition text © 2017 by The University of Chicago.
Cite this EminentEdit article |
Antoine, M. (2024, June 29). A Quick Punctuation Guide. https://www.eminentediting.com/post/punctuation-guide |
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