Quotes About Punctuation

I've always had a problem with conventional punctuation of dialogue because it does seem to me to set it off too much from the narrative. I mean, in life, things don't stop while somebody says something, and then stuff starts up again; it's all happening at once.

Punctuation to the writer is like anatomy to the artist: he learns the rules so he can knowledgeably and controllédly depart from them as art requires. Punctuation is a means, and its end is: helping the reader to hear, to follow.

Virgüllerle koÅŸard?m, noktalarla duraklar, ünlemlerde ÅŸaÅŸard?m! Ne kadar ÅŸa??rt?c?yd? kitaplarda, haritalarda dünya!

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out.

Note: When reading dry political theory, such as the texts you will find on the following pages, it may be useful to apply the Exclamation Point Test from time to time, to determine if the material you are reading is actually relevant to your life. To apply this test, simply go through the text replacing all the punctuation marks at the ends of the sentences with exclamation points. If the results sound absurd when read aloud, then you know you're wasting your time.

my war on commas. They are a pestilence. They must be stopped.

You can have my Oxford comma when you pry it from my cold, dead, and lifeless hands.

You know you're a language nerd when you have a strong opinion about serial commas.

Save the bees, the trees, and the Oxford comma.

There's the Oxford comma, but I like the Shatner comma. It's when you pepper them in, so, you know where, to add, dramatic pauses.

Next to the semi-colon, quotation marks seem to be the chief butts of reformatory ardor.

In the United States the apostrophe seems to be doomed.... In other respects American and English punctuation show few differences. The English are rather more careful than we are, and commonly put a comma after the next-to-last member of a series, but otherwise are not too precise to offend a red-blooded American.

I hold that the parentheses are by far the most important parts of a non-business letter.

The exclamation point is a loud party-goer, demanding attention. Overdone, it can be annoying.

One of the places the full stop is really being revised in a really fundamental way is on the Internet. You look at the Internet or any instant messaging exchange - anything that is a fast dialogue taking place. People simply do not put full stops in unless they want to make a point.

I like commas. I detest semi-colons - I don't think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn't need them, they were fly-specks on the page.

To me, part of the beauty of a comma is that it offers a rest, like one in music: a break that gives the whole piece of music greater shape, deeper harmony. It allows us to catch our breath.

Discerning placement of a comma does not atone for a spiritual coma.

Today, I learned, the comma, this is, a, comma (,) a period, with, a tail, Miss Kinnian, says its, importent, because, it makes writing, better, she said, somebody, could lose, a lot, of money, if a comma, isnt in, the right, place, I got, some money, that I, saved from, my job, and what, the foundation, pays me, but not, much and, I dont, see how, a comma, keeps, you from, losing it, But, she says, everybody, uses commas, so Ill, use them, too,,,

Today, I learned, the comma, this is, a, comma (,) a period, with, a tail, Miss Kinnian, says its, importent, because, it makes writing, better, she said, somebody, could lose, a lot, of money, if a comma, isnt in, the right, place, I got, some money, that I, saved from, my job, and what, the foundation, pays me, but not, much and, I dont, see how, a comma, keeps, you from, losing it, But, she says, everybody, uses commas, so Ill, use them, too,,,,   April

a favourite master, Mr. Grove, liked to say that if we learned to master the semi-colon we could expect to be successful in whatever path we chose in life. One

three situations that deserve punctuation: transitions, milestones, and pits.

This is what we mean by "thinking in moments": to recognize where the prose of life needs punctuation.

I have begun to fact-check my e-mail jokes, and my e-mails generally, even though I do not use capital letters or proper punctuation. "we write everything lowercase in order to save time," said Herbert Bayer—herbert bayer—of the Bauhaus school. When I discovered this quote I felt so reassured. I'd always worried that I'd naturally defaulted to lowercase letters because I lacked courage or conviction or a healthy sense of self-worth.