Dr. William V. Raszka, our Associate Editor, offers the following insight into a current topic in the news:“You use too many commas,” my daughter told me after reading an article I had recently written. I have reasonably thick skin when it comes to editing, but I was a bit perplexed. While I use commas more frequently than my daughter, who mostly eschews them altogether, I use fewer than my wife. I almost never use colons and semicolons, while my daughter’s writing is littered with them. A co-editor and I have practically come to blows (not really; however I must confess that I do have a fondness for parentheses) over her love affair with the dash. The writer can choose from a large number of punctuation marks: the period, comma, hyphen, parenthesis, and the aforementioned colon and semicolon. How does one decide when each is most appropriate?
According to an article in The Wall Street Journal (Life & Culture: October 22, 2011), the rules regarding punctuation change all the time. Punctuation is a relatively recent phenomenon. Early Western texts had no punctuation whatsoever! By the middle ages, more than 30 different marks were used but the application was quite uneven. Early printers played an important role in codifying the use of punctuation.
Parentheses and commas were first used in the early 1500s. Both of these have stood the test of time and remain in common use -- although not always in correct use. Other punctuation marks have mostly faded from the scene: the hedera (a sideways ivy leaf), pilcrow (a C with a slash through it), and the point d'ironie (a backwards question mark) are three examples. The Internet culture, however, is having a profound effect on punctuation. The greater emphasis on less formal writing (and certainly shorter and pithier missives) has de-emphasized the use of several marks including the apostrophe.
Interestingly, because the intent of the writer is sometimes more difficult to decipher, several new punctuation marks have been proposed to convey emotions: examples include disbelief (interrobang), sarcasm (snark-which is really a recycled point d’ironie), and inquisitiveness (question comma). After my daughter’s comments, I re-read my article. I did not make any changes. I like my little commas and the clarity they can give a sentence (although I will from now on avoid use of semicolons).
Noted by WVR, MD
*This filler excerpt can be found in the December 2011 Pediatrics print journal p.1194, or via online here.
