Punctuation. A personal fear of mine and one of the many subjects in which I definitely do not excel. However, my dislike of punctuation does not change the fact that punctuation is vital to the English language. The rules to punctuation is forever present but the rules that we wish to adhere to, they change. As Elizabeth Austen said she wishes for the "the sweet interrupting dash" (Doc A). This clearly describes the rules for the use of the dash but it was the choice of this author to use the punctuation, or not to, in her piece . The author of Semicolons: A Love Story (Dock B) tells of his change from a student who listened to his teacher's advice to a self-educated author who follows his own experiences. The rules for symbols such as the "snark" and the "hedra" (Doc C)are the same as they were when these were created. This is completely separate from the use of these and both the hedra and the snark are no longer in use. Every rule of punctuation goes down in history to be looked back on as a guide to the previous generation's thoughts. That is why no punctuation can change. Punctuation, or the lack of, is the link between the literature between past generations and future language.
Resources:
Doc A: On Punctuation by Elizabeth Austen
Doc B: Semicolons: A Love Story by Ben Dolnick
Doc C: Punctuation, Social Media, and Evolving Rules of Communication by Henry Hitchings
NIce usage of the docs! And I especially like those least few sentences about punctuation passing on thoughts.
ReplyDeleteNice Job Anna! How did you get the resources on the bottom like that?? You have a really cool blog. :)
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