(U.S.)
It's
a day to comment on commas, exaggerate! with exclamation points, and
smile (with... semi-satisfaction) over semi-colons. It's a day to question quotation marks and--quite possibly--quote some great questions.
Punctuation
exists to help readers understand whatever they are trying to read.
The help us quickly understand ideas below the level of written or
printed words. To get an idea of how much harder it might be to read
if there were no such thing as punctuation, check out this paragraph:
Did you get the signature you need to
go on the field trip the teacher asked Karen Yes I did Okay I need
the paper to turn in with the school principal Okay Wait I cant find
it Oh dear the teacher said Look again if you cant find it you wont
be able to go I would hate to leave you behind Karen took everything
out of her backpack and even looked through her textbooks and
notebook She couldnt find the signed permission slip anywhere She was
very upset She wished shed listened a little bit better her mom who was always telling her to keep track of her stuff and to be more organized
Celebrate!
Today you have a great excuse to add
frosting, raisins, berries, chocolate chips, nuts, or other sweet
goodness to your food – in the form of punctuation marks, of
course! Make cupcakes or cookies, and decorate each with a different
punctuation mark. Or how about pancakes with blueberry punctuation
marks?
For dinner, make it a pepperoni punctuation pizza!
Learn or practice!
Here is a website dedicated to
teaching how to use punctuation marks.
What
do you think?
With texting and speedy writing on
internet-based websites such as Facebook, Google Plus, and blog
comments, people are using less and less punctuation. Some people
deliberately skip using apostrophes and quotation marks while texting
or writing comments on Facebook because they accidentally hit “Enter”
while trying to use those nearby keys or buttons. Even in more
professional writing that is edited and published, such as newspaper
or magazine articles and books, there is a move to streamlining text
and using less punctuation.
Is this a good thing? What do you
think?
Here is the website of the
National Punctuation Day people.
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