I am glad I went to school in the fifties and sixties, for various reasons. Back then, we learnt 'proper' cursive handwriting that few younger people seem able to read today. We did not have the luxury of calculators so mastered the art of doing simple mathematics in our heads. But, above all, we were taught those many punctuation and grammar rules involved in communicating via our English language. What a bonus for me as a writer today!
Perhaps you
disagree about those pesky punctuation and grammar rules. After all, language
changes or evolves over the years in all sorts of ways and, if we insist on
continuing to use all those commas and apostrophes today, our writing could
seem unnatural, stilted and pedantic. I understand that – and, as writers, we
want today’s potential readers to be able to connect easily with our books,
stories and blogs. Yet how much easier it can be, it seems to me, if we know
those punctuation and grammar rules well. Then we can make wise decisions about
whether and where we use them or not in our writing in this day and age.
As far as
punctuation is concerned, take this sign, for example, that I saw recently
outside a café:
Perhaps there
was only one scone that came with jam and cream? Or only one sausage roll? And
what was inside that the open fire could possibly possess? How tempted I
was to march in and proceed to explain to the owner that simple plural nouns
ending in ‘s’ do not need an apostrophe. At that point, I remembered Lyn
Truss’s (yes, an apostrophe is needed there!) clever book, Eats,
Shoots & Leaves, and wished I had handy the ‘Punctuation Repair Kit’
she mentions so that I could easily plonk a sticker over those unnecessary
apostrophes or rub them out.
In the case
of this sign, at least we still know what it means. So why the fuss, some may
ask. But when it comes to our use of commas, that can be another matter. Take
the title of Lyn Truss’s book, for example, where that comma after ‘Eats’ makes
all the difference. With it there, we understand that the panda walks into a
café, proceeds to eat whatever, then shoots someone, then leaves. Much more
exciting than a sentence about pandas eating shoots and leaves!
At times when
editing manuscripts, I have to reread certain sentences to understand their
meaning, all because a few commas were missing in relevant spots. Take the
question, ‘John was that difficult?’, for example, or the statement, ‘I know
Mary.’ Without a comma after ‘John’ and another before ‘Mary’, the intended
meaning of both is unclear until we perhaps read on further or work it out from
the context. How much better if we remembered the simple punctuation rule that,
when we are addressing someone, their name (a ‘proper noun’) needs a comma (or
perhaps two) to separate it from the rest of the sentence.
I understand not
all writers have had the opportunity to learn those pesky punctuation and
grammar rules well at school. But all is not lost – there are plenty of books and
courses available on the subject, so why not check them out? This may well save
editors’ or proofreaders’ costs in the long run, as well as stop future
generations from writing signs like the one above outside cafes!
Jo-Anne Berthelsen is a Sydney-based author of seven novels and four non-fiction works. She holds degrees in Arts and Theology and has worked in teaching, editing and local church ministry. Jo-Anne loves encouraging others through both the written and spoken word and is a keen blogger.
