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Studying punctuation is a waste of time*[]?...(!)-;/:!

What do YOU think?

Punctuation isn't a waste of time. It's important to make the sense of a piece of writing clear. Even while speaking, we pause at certain points for the sake of clarity, right? We're using punctuation marks in written English for the same purpose.
Many years ago when I was still in school, I was also not always aware of the importance of punctuation. But as I grew older and had to communicate more frequently in foreign languages, I changed my mind.

You will find many examples to illustrate the importance of punctuation on the web. Here is one:

Look at this sentence:

Woman without her man means nothing at all.

Girls, do you agree? Most likely not.

Now let's punctuate the sentence and read it again:

Woman: without her, man means nothing at all.

Did you notice the influence of punctuation on the meaning?

Hi All (including Mandy),

Thanks Mandy for giving such a nice example :) This is really a good one..

In life too, we punctuate while saying something !!! Saying like putting a question mark in front of the person.. We try to put some emotions (however weird they might be) in front of the listeners, Same is the function of Punctuation too .. In writing, placing a wrong/incorrect punctuation would change the entire meaning.. So Punctuation is a good thing !! :)

Enjoy

Every language is made up of pronunciation,grammer and punctuation,each part is essential and it can't be a language without any part.

One basic function of punctuation is that it indicates a speaker/reader can pause or stop for a breath,so if there is no punctuation,we will hold our breath for a few minutes or even longer time to finish reading an article or explaining our opinion.

Another main function of punctuation is to help us modify the mood and convey the sence more clearly.Sometimes punctuation can work as words and make us express ourselves more simply and more concisely.There is a story which can best describe this function:Once upon a time,a famious writer contributed one article to a publisher,after a long time,he didn't receive any reply from the publisher,so he had no idea about whether the article was accepted or not.To make sure the result,he prepared a letter to the publisher,on which there was only three question marks and his signature.One week later,he received the reply and he was eager to unfold it and found there was three exclamation marks on the paper.He was very happy to know he succeeded.From it, we can know punctuation is powerful and sometimes beyond words.

Another example can prove punctuation is extremely useful.As we know,there are defining clause and non-defining clause in English,one of difference between them is that the non-defining clause is separated from the first clause with commar,but it is not the case with the defining clause.So the different hint between the two sentences below is very obvious.
1. My brother who is in Australia (it means that I have more than one brother,one among them is in Australia.)
2. My brother,who is in Australia (it means that I only have one brother,he is in Australia.)

Due to the importance of punctuation,if we can't use the punctuation correctly,we don't master the language.

I just can't stand reading a text with no punctuation marks. Am I a maniac or something? I can't understand the fact that people don't use them, or don't use them properly. The same happens with spelling...

Dixie wrote:I just can't stand reading a text with no punctuation marks. ... I can't understand the fact that people don't use them ... . The same happens with spelling...

I hear you, Dix! I'm a regular contributor to the BBC's Learning English messageboard, and every now and then we have Asian learners post messages with minimal, if any, punctuation.

This is probably due to their native languages' being non-script ones; they don't "understand" the ideas behind capitalisation nor punctuation marks, and thus jot down their thoughts in one big lump of text. When confronted with their dubious orthography, they'll reply to the tune of "spelling unimportant, im just communicating to practice my english". Yes... :? Sic transit gloria mundi.

D

Mandy wrote:Punctuation isn't a waste of time. It's important to make the sense of a piece of writing clear. Even while speaking, we pause at certain points for the sake of clarity, right? We're using punctuation marks in written English for the same purpose.
Many years ago when I was still in school, I was also not always aware of the importance of punctuation. But as I grew older and had to communicate more frequently in foreign languages, I changed my mind.

You will find many examples to illustrate the importance of punctuation on the web. Here is one:

Look at this sentence:

Woman without her man means nothing at all.

Girls, do you agree? Most likely not.

Now let's punctuate the sentence and read it again:

Woman: without her, man means nothing at all.

Did you notice the influence of punctuation on the meaning?

+1 language is nothing w/o panctuation

Punctuation is only important if a person wants to get a message, or a meaning across, very clearly, and with very little (or few) misunderstanding(s)...otherwise it is, of course very unimportant.
Each person should decide on their own how clearly they would like to be understood...period.
I must add that in here where people are learning to write/speak it should be much less important! We are not here to correct as far as I know but to teach by our good example of English useage...am I right?

D wrote:

Dixie wrote:I just can't stand reading a text with no punctuation marks. ... I can't understand the fact that people don't use them ... . The same happens with spelling...

I hear you, Dix! I'm a regular contributor to the BBC's Learning English messageboard, and every now and then we have Asian learners post messages with minimal, if any, punctuation.

This is probably due to their native languages' being non-script ones; they don't "understand" the ideas behind capitalisation nor punctuation marks, and thus jot down their thoughts in one big lump of text. When confronted with their dubious orthography, they'll reply to the tune of "spelling unimportant, im just communicating to practice my english". Yes... :? Sic transit gloria mundi.

D

Maybe some chinese have done what you say. I guess there are not only chinese do so .at least I 'll try my best to improve my English.Thanks!

Is punctuation...."to be or not to be", I guess this is the question! Alas! To be dramatic or show our nature and personality it is a definate yes! to strong use of this lovely tool. I want to show how I tend to use punctuation marks...because I like to "show off " a little bit, by using the flourish(es) given to us by punctuation, to show better, my way of thinking and expressing myself. I especially enjoy the JOYS OF PUNCTUATION....now that the computer is a regular format for my writings I tend to add all the colorful things such as the italics and bold even more than when I write on paper. I think it is a "nice" perogative to have the choice of these uses, to empahsise our wording.
For this reason I will go back through....what I have just written, adding things in an editing fashion, in order to add my flourish (like spices added to food) that people can feel me better.... (do you) get my drift?
To end, punctuation is a whole lot of fun!!! It adds "spice" to your words, and I can see nothing wrong with that! So try to just enjoy this form of English as a happy tool, to better get your message across... clearly, and consisely! And enjoy learning to express yourself better with this tool. Because as has been shown in other posts it is very useful to make emphasis where it is needed. It alleviates misunderstanding too.
Of course as you learn to write, in English...you will learn to use punctuation so please do not stop writing!because you don't know it yet, I (WE) still want to know you no matter how simple you write....do not feel badly because some of us are not even bi-lingual and may know nothing about your native tongue... so we respect you for even participating and learning the English language! :D
It is fun!

tikay wrote: Of course as you learn to write, in English...you will learn to use punctuation so please do not stop writing!because you don't know it yet, I (WE) still want to know you no matter how simple you write....do not feel badly because some of us are not even bi-lingual and may know nothing about your native tongue... so we respect you for even participating and learning the English language! :D
It is fun!

Yup. But I think it's annoying if someone corrects someone else and that person would say, "hey! I'm just here for this and that. So what if it's wrong!?!?!" or "So what if it's wrong? The information has been giving out wrong for decades." I mean, where's the thank you for new information?!??!??!?! Geeezz... People would rather to attack on the attitude instead of focusing on the main point of the whole thing. I guess people just don't like being corrected.

I know that everyone who comes here to learn should have an open mind for being corrected...but since the event of even trying to read another language at first can be so difficult....

well I am just saying don't get discouraged and stop trying! If some of you want to correct other folks without being asked that is your perogative, but for myself I think that is not the point....

unless a question is being asked. I think to learn slowly by mere use and reading and such while building friendships in here is what makes the learning fun and simple.
(maybe it is just that when I am being told what to do....being that I can decide for myself what to do.I get upset and might do the exact opposite, so I figure I should not correct unless asked, is going to be my rule in here) I am a rebel though, and since I practically raised myself....
I hate being told what to do, so. BUT! Everybodys different! Go with what you know baby.
Apparently some folks thrive under pressure...like my ex-boyfriend...me, I ~ burst...like a balloon! And somebody is going to have to HEAR THE POP~ and it gets loud !

Since I hate argueing...I try to avoid people who are argumentative....cause they bore me, honestly...there are better things to spend ones time on. Like ART or or Making Friends... Making Love, Or Enjoying Music. But I am heavy on the Aquarius in my Birth~Chart!!! Nearly all the planets were lined up in Aquarius at the time of my birth. PS> About MUSIC>>> :D I just ordered all the Incubus CDs....I cant wait to get them....5.99 each in my music club! I am stoked & SO EXCITED!
got to get to my new Intern position
happy day!

It is known that all is a waste of time.

Shokin

tikay wrote: But I am heavy on the Aquarius in my Birth~Chart!!! Nearly all the planets were lined up in Aquarius at the time of my birth.

Leo (my sign) and Aquarius are compatible. My best cousin is an Aquarius also. We get along pretty well. In fact, I tell her everything, every single secret, even some secrets that my boyfriend doesn't even know.

Actually, I find aquarius people are pretty humble and open-minded. No wonder I found you were such a goofball the first time I read your posts. And then with that poll about yourself. Man, I was just cracking up.

Tikay,I agree to your opinions

Thanks ya'll....besides being a LEO....you would be my friend no matter what because we have things in common. You dont take ~ from people and you are confident and smart....I like that in a person! It figures (makes sense) that you are Leo though....do you know you Chinese sign too. I am the Tiger so being that we both have the large cat element....we are similar too.
If you want to get a free birth chart? Try astrolabe.com and input your actual time of birth look for your birth cirtificate... and you can see your chart and get their explanation which isn't that great actually but it is free... There are other sites too.
I suggest a book explaining your chart after you get one done... with all aspects of the chart in detail explained.
It is very interesting...have you done that?
I have my ruling planet directly across from all those in Aquarius, in your sign of Leo of course....so that once my astrologer friend told me I am more of a Leo than my own sign but he was crazy...I think...I dont really get that, at all, but...maybe I will one day.
my Moon in Taurus... so I can be very bull-headed and very emotional...and my Virgo is rising so I am very Virgo at times. ( Ones outer persona is your rising sign)its the way you may seem to others alot...well maybe we should start a thread for Astrology buffs.
Gotta go to work. Bye honey!
I am a big goof when I feel at home. I can be too serious also at times. I try not to do that in here because I want to keep this my fun place.
love

tikay wrote:Thanks ya'll....besides being a LEO....you would be my friend no matter what because we have things in common. You dont take ~ from people and you are confident and smart....I like that in a person! It figures (makes sense) that you are Leo though....do you know you Chinese sign too. I am the Tiger so being that we both have the large cat element....we are similar too.

You should have been a man, Tikay, then you would have been the man I've been looking for . And thanks for the site. I'll check it out.

Anyway, I think understanding how to use punctuations correctly is important because it helps ut to avoid run-on sentences.

learning punctuations is not the waist of time reading sentences without punctuations is so difficult you can't put emotions while you are reading the sentence so they play an important role

I think that it doen't waste your time. Although I don't good at english, not influence, but if you really want to understand it, you need to learn all about this language. Do you agree with me?
PS.....Taylor ! Pardon me that I copy your writing stlye. :P I like colors and I want to use them on my passage.
Finally, I convince everyone that PUNCTUATIONs are also as much importatn as gramma, vocabularies, and so on. Don't waste your time to do other things. Spend it on punctuation. Thanks. :D :D

Punctuations play important roles to convey what one really wanted to say. They also help the reader understand what the writer's telling. Can you imaging groups and groups of words without periods, commas and other punctions?

In my job where I edit transcripts of depositions and other legal proceedings from US of A, the mastery of punctionations is very crucial to have a good transcript. Even to the simpliest thing such as when to hyphenate a two word to make it an adjective is important. Dashes, semicolons, commas, quotation marks, all punctuations are very helpful. They can create drama, actions, adventure, and most of all, they give beauty to your write ups. Ooppps! write up is not hypenated.

Certainly no.Pronunciation can be regarded as the backbone of English language & the most essential factor in the process of teaching & learning English language.How can a person make easily undeerstood communication with absence of clear & right pronunciation. The state of beibg clear enables both speaker & listener to understand each other.It makes speaker's attitude recognizable for listener,(whether he is friendly, angry, polite,etc...)Therefore when a speaker is interested in a good pronunciaation, he'll be understood by others, & at the same time a listener will clearly get what the former has produced.
Another aspect is that English language has many words that have the same spelling, but they are different in their pronunciation. In this case how can we distinguish the grammatical function of these words without using stress, which is one of the basic branches of pronunciation.The rest branches of pronunciation such as assimilaation, linking, etc...are also important subjects, that make speaker's speech naturally connected.Finally the necessary fact should be mentioned here, that pronuciation is very important for beginners learners to learn more about speech organs, classification of English sounds & their description.

Think about this simple word in English. It's so common and everybody knows it.

Hi

You can say it...

Hi.
Hi!
Hi?

They are not the same.

Punctuation is important.

Anyway, do you prefer punctuation or phrasal verbs!!

Look at this sentence:

Woman without her man means nothing at all.

Girls, do you agree? Most likely not.

Now let's punctuate the sentence and read it again:

Woman: without her, man means nothing at all.

Did you notice the influence of punctuation on the meaning?[/quote]

I liked your explanation, Specially this example, really made me laugh alot, The example may be reallity or not, but I understood the importance of punctuation.