National Punctuation Day!

Seventh Annual National Punctuation Day

Today"s the day; that we celebrate '/proper punctuation,"

Me neither, until this morning.

Oh, cool!! Here's an example of the importance of punctuation....The same exact words written from a young woman to a gentleman....but changing the punctuation changes EVERYTHING:

Version 1 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours? Gloria

Version 2 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Gloria

So for today, Fife will be watching, not only for spelling errors, but proper punctuation, too? Is that what you're trying to say?

That's hilarious!

Savannah wrote:

Oh, cool!! Here's an example of the importance of punctuation....The same exact words written from a young woman to a gentleman....but changing the punctuation changes EVERYTHING:

Version 1 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours? Gloria

Version 2 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Gloria

That is THE BEST!!!

Savannah wrote:

Oh, cool!! Here's an example of the importance of punc tuation....The same exact words written from a young woman to a gentleman....but changing the punctuation changes EVERYTHING:

Version 1 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours? Gloria

Version 2 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Gloria

My Communication 1 instructor showed examples like these when I took that class. Using the wrong punctuation certainly can make it hard to communicate what you're saying. I know with texting being popular these days, I've seen a lot of people just forgoing using punctuation altogether and writing on forums and such as they would if they were texting (both teens and adults). I spend half the time trying to figure out what exactly they are saying.

Speaking of the importance of punctuation, does anybody remember the '70s song My Girl Bill by Jim Stafford?

GREAT! I'm going back in my hole. I have no hope.

Back when that song was on the charts, our local radio station would play it, but the deejay had a habit of talking over the last few bars of every song. And if you don't hear the last line of this one - "But you'll have to find another, 'cause she's MY girl, Bill" - you totally miss the joke.

Yes! Let's show our comma some respect, appreciate the semicolon, applaud the dash & try not to abuse the exclamation mark!!!!!!!!!!

Rob wrote:

Back when that song was on the charts, our local radio station would play it, but the deejay had a habit of talking over the last few bars of every song. And if you don't hear the last line of this one - "But you'll have to find another, 'cause she's MY girl, Bill" - you totally miss the joke.

That was too clever!!

Here's a couple of examples of the importance of commas.

Let's eat Grandpa!
Let's eat, Grandpa!

I'd like to thank my parents, the Pope and Mother Theresa.
I'd like to thank my parents, the Pope, and Mother Theresa.

Savannah wrote:

Oh, cool!! Here's an example of the importance of punctuation....The same exact words written from a young woman to a gentleman....but changing the punctuation changes EVERYTHING:

Version 1 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours? Gloria

Version 2 Dear Jon: I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Gloria

Too much funny! We have these kind of jokes about punctuation in Spanish...I can't post them here, since I don't know if you'll understand them and they cannot be possibily translated. But yes...Punctuation changes totally a sense of a sentence . Nowadays, lots of persons writes without any punctuation and it's hard to understand them at all. More than once, people left comments on my blog and I don't know if they are saying good things about it
or criticizing it

Vanesa.