Writing Focus: Punctuation

Punctuation is one of the most important tools that grammar gives us. Without punctuation, stories would be a jumbling mash of words and incoherent sentences. Naturally, it is important to make sure we know that we are using the right tool for the job when we are writing!

What is Punctuation?

Punctuation are marks within writing that we use to indicate pauses, speeches, the ending of sentences and much, much more. From a young age, we are all taught the importance of using punctuation and throughout the years, we are taught everything from commas and periods to colons and dashes.

The simplest aspects of punctuation are the ones we are taught first: the comma and the period. A period (or full stop) is used to show the end of a sentence, whilst a comma is used to indicate a natural pause. As the most basic of the punctuation marks, they are the most common -- thus, they tend to be overused and lead to occurrences such as comma splicing. This is a problem where a writer uses too many commas to punctuate a sentence, leaving it feeling choppy and unnatural. Alongside commas and periods, we are also taught question marks for indicating when a question is asked and exclamation marks for indicating surprise, shock or excitement within a sentence.

Some other punctuation marks used most commonly in writing are colons and semicolons. These often separate the separate clauses of a sentence. Colons are most commonly used to indicate that what follows will be either a description of some aspect of the sentence before, or a list that relates to the sentence. Semicolons are used in a similar fashion and often split up two separate clauses relating to the same type of subject.

Tips

To avoid comma splicing and over-use of punctuation, try reading your sentence aloud before writing it. If you have a natural pause at any point, you should include punctuation - most commonly the comma or a semicolon or colon - to indicate that. If you don't pause naturally, then leave the comma out.

Try to vary your punctuation as well. Semicolons are a particularly good tool for separating sentences of similar topics. For instance, instead of writing Mary likes chocolate. It tastes good and leaves her feeling great, try writing Mary likes chocolate; it tastes good and leaves her feeling great. It allows a natural continuation of two similar sentences and often makes the sentence flow more naturally.

Prompts

Stumped for ideas to practise your punctuation? Check out these prompts to give you a nudge in the right direction!

1. Write a piece that uses as little punctuation as possible.
2. Write a description of a small diner, making full use of as many different punctuation marks as is grammatically correct.
3. Read one of your older pieces aloud and see where you can differ the punctuation to make it better.

Stories

As writers, Mibbians use everything in their arsenal to make their stories as attractive to read as possible. Check out these stories that successfully use punctuation to their advantage!

Meridian is a heartbreakingly beautiful short story that uses simplistic punctuation to add to a simplistic story. With no frills needed, the simple use of commas and periods makes this piece flow beautifully and organically.

Classified is a fanfiction featuring Bring Me the Horizon vocalist Oli Sykes. The beautiful prose used throughout the story is complimented by a variety of punctuation used at just the right time to keep the sentences flowing wonderfully.

Although we are taught how to use punctuation from day one, it does take some practise to use it well. Keep varying your punctuation and reading over old pieces to ensure that the punctuation you are using is as effective as possible!

Special thanks to Fandango and sheepcat; for editing!