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Punctuation is often overlooked, especially on the Inter-electro-web, for some reason. People assume that, because it's an e-mail or a forum, they can spell and type however they like. Well, that's just not true. Punctuation is there to help the reader. It lets them know when to stop, when to pause, when to store away a bit of information and start afresh. So, let's look at some basic punctuation marks and their usage.
1. The full stop. The full stop, or period as it is also known, is used to end sentences. It allows the reader to bring the section he/she has been reading to a close and start the next sentence with renewed vigour.
2. The comma. Ah, the comma. Such a little mark, but such an important one, allowing you to control the pace, not to mention legibility, of a sentence perfectly. Now, when you read those last two sentences, you knew which words were emphasised, and which weren't, didn't you? I'll bet you read it in your head like this:
Ah [pause] the comma. [longer pause] Such a little mark [pause] but such an important one, [pause] allowing you to control the pace, [pause] not to mention legibility, [pause] of a sentence perfectly.
Let's remove the commas and see how that reads:
Ah the comma. Such a little mark but such an important one allowing you to control the pace not to mention legibility of a sentence perfectly.
Read it without adding in your own pauses. Drivel isn't it? Commas are a simple common courtesy, and as we all know, manners cost nothing. Let's use commas in the context of a tutorial section:
First, you must replay the race in NFSU2, then when you pause the race at a particular point, you press the Print Screen key on your keaboard, after which you close down the game, and past the screenshot onto an image editing prgram, such as, Photoshop, Paintshop, or good old MS Paint.
Fairly legible, right? Take out the commas:
First you must replay the race in NFSU2 then when you pause the race at a particular point you press the Print Screen key on your keaboard after which you close down the game and past the screenshot onto an image editing prgram such as Photoshop Paintshop or good old MS Paint.
A garbled mess. Bleugh. You end up reading like Robbie the effing Robot.
The basic rule of thumb when using commas is, put one where you'd pause for breath if you were speaking out loud.
3. The apostrophe. Now this one is a real humdinger. People get this wrong all the time, mainly because it's never taught very well in school. We'll remedy that now. An apostrophe serves two purposes: to denote posession, and to replace missing letters.
Possessive apostrophes.
This is Johns apple. <---incorrect.
This is John's apple. <--- correct. The apple belongs to John, so an apostrophe is put in place.
This is a fairly simple example. Things can get tricky with plurals, e.g.:
This is a kid's game. <--- Correct, singular. This means the game belongs to one kid.
This is a kids' game. <--- Correct, plural. This means the game is suitable for children, or that it belongs to multiple kids.
However, if the word is already a plural, the apostrophe goes back before the 's', like this:
This is a children's game.
Where is the men's room?
The exception to these rules is it. In the case of it, you only add an apostrophe when you are shortening 'it is' or 'it has'.
The cat has lost it's marbles. <--- Incorrect. This means 'The cat has lost it is marbles.'
The cat has lost its marbles. <--- Correct.
Its a shame. <--- Incorrect.
It's a shame. <--- Correct (shortening 'It is a shame').
The rules on words ending in S, like Charles or James, are flexible; you can put whatever you think sounds/looks right.
Replacing letters with an apostrophe
This is another one that people rarely do, but it really is simple.
I cannot go to work today.
To shorten cannot, we remove the 'no'. But there's no such word as cant. So, we replace the 'no' with an apostrophe, like this:
I can't go to work today.
Much nicer. The same applies with two seperate words:
There is a taxi outside.
There's a taxi outside.
Where is my kipper?
Where's my kipper?
We will be rich, rich I tell you!
We'll be rich, rich I tell you!
And so on.
An apostrophe should not be used when pluralising acronyms, such as:
CD's, DVD's. <--- Incorrect.
CDs, DVDs. <--- Correct.
Well, I think that'll do for now. I'll leave out brackets, question marks, colons, semi-colons, hyphens, and all the rest, for now. I'm also not going to touch the difference in English and American English spelling; in my mind they're two different languages!
I'm not saying you have to laboriously go through every post, punctuating perfectly, but it would be nice at least to have a stab at it in tutorials. Makes all the difference, y'know?
