I ask this question, not merely to prove my advancing age, but to ask whether what I once saw as an impediment to romantic attachment really matters any more. In the modern world of communication, peppered with neologisms, elisions, abbreviations and emojis, who really cares about punctuation?
According to research undertaken by Lisa McLendon, author of The Perfect English Grammar Workbook, 67 per cent of British students rarely or never use a semicolon, and only 11 per cent use it frequently. Furthermore, in books written in English in 2000, it appeared once in every 205 words; today it is down to one in every 390 (note the perfect use of the semicolon there).
Punctuation, like punctuality, is manners. As Lynne Truss, the Eats, Shoots and Leaves author and doyenne of these matters, explains: “Punctuation marks are the traffic signals of language: they tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop.” Those little dots and squiggles are what help people understand what you’re trying to say, and, without such conventions, you leave the reader to find their own way.
square SIMON KELNER Gary Lineker has gone from national treasure to agent provocateur
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“I hope your well, please can you let me know when your free to talk, I have some important information to share,” read an unprompted email I opened the other day, and this is rather typical of such communications, containing a wealth of grammatical solecisms, and characterised by the unintended Joyceian stream of consciousness technique. I can’t imagine anyone reading that and not closing the email immediately, thus identifying the business case for good grammar and punctuation.
The answer to the last question is: yes, always. But caring about grammar and punctuation is more than just being a pedant. It’s about making yourself understood – the difference between “a woman without her man is nothing” and “a woman: without her, man is nothing” – thereby showing the reader a required courtesy.
I note, however, that it’s still way above the current national average, so I’m pleased to be doing my bit for the preservation of this vestige of English language heritage.
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