National Punctuation Day: Standing Up for Commas, Question Marks, Periods & Semicolons Everywhere by Donna John

do we all have that friend on facebook that never uses punctuation that doesn’t consider capitalization, commas starting a new sentence entirely and a period forget about it well on national punctuation day its time to get this off our chests

Enough of that. Can’t take it anymore. As an editor, critiquing every Facebook status, text, meme and email just comes with the territory. Where, along the internet/social media highway, did it become OK to kick punctuation and other basics out the window? 

Reading someone’s thoughts in words instead of face to face already leaves subtleties out there that are up for interpretation by the reader – and which are often interpreted wrong. So why, heaven’s sake, take out the tools we’ve been given to help get our point across? We’ve all seen the “Let’s eat grandma” example on the importance of a comma. Or, maybe not, so here’s a reminder:

• “Let’s eat grandma.”
• “Let’s eat, Grandma.”

Grandma would appreciate the comma. So, on National Punctuation Day, when we give a salute to commas, semicolons, periods, the ellipsis, let’s remember to use punctuation, even in those Facebook posts about your dog, kid or favorite meatloaf recipe.

If you know of someone who needs a refresher course, casually recommend they pop on over to Grammar Girl on QuickAndDirtyTricks.com. No shame at all in that. Period.

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