Image source

Punctuation is extremely important when writing.  Not everyone understand this properly and in the above sentence you can see that by NOT using proper punctuation it can even change the meaning of a sentence. The problem with poor punctuation usage is that it makes life very difficult for readers who needs to read and understand what you have written.    

I often mark essays, and it can become extremely tiring sometimes, to try and figure out precisely what a student wants to say. What triggers me even more, is the fact that most students just don't care.  They expect to receive good marks and do not understand that it actually take hours to mark these essays. If they spend more time focusing on the punctuation part, then my life would be much easier!

Why is punctuation so important?

Many centuries ago, in the Hellenic Egyptian city of Alexandria, there was a brilliant man named Aristophanes.  He was a librarian, and in charge of one of the biggest libraries in town. In those days, it was extremely time consuming to read.  The Greeks wrote without using any punctuation where the letters ran together withnospaceorpunctuation. They also did not care about using capital letters.  It was all up to the reader to decide where to start each sentence or where the next one began.  One day, he just had enough. He was sick and tired of struggling to read, and developed a type of punctuation system that developed into the punctuation we have today.  

I am very grateful for Aristophanes that made reading so much easier.  When I was in high school, I had an extremely competent English teacher.  She taught me to love this language, and I went out of my way to learn as much as possible.  She obviously made an impact on me, as today I am an English teacher myself.  Even though this is not my first language, I prefer speaking and writing English.  

I am fanatic about punctuation and spelling and nothing makes me angrier, than incorrect spelling, and people not following the spelling rules.  Thank goodness someone had the sense to develop a computer program to fix spelling and grammar mistakes, otherwise I might have landed in some kind of psychiatric hospital because of this obsession.  

The key to successful writing and punctuation success is to keep it simple.  Don't over-complicate things. 

Please follow me