PUNCTUATION MARKS

Hmmm…. How should I start this? Anyway, I once heard that if you are having trouble starting a story, think back to its beginning and start there.

Without my first lesson in the Business Communication brush-up class and a class activity on punctuation, my time at LBS won’t be complete.

Before being asked to correctly punctuate the passage below that had been stripped of all punctuation marks, I had never understood the significance of punctuation marks this much.

“i’m often asked to work with ceos on major product launches or initiatives helping them to tell their brand stories more effectively and persuasively i travel around the world to visit brands such as intel coca-cola chevron pfizer and many other companies in nearly every product category in any language on any continent in every country those speakers who genuinely express their passion and enthusiasm for the topic are the ones who stand apart as inspiring leaders they’re the ones with whom customers want to conduct business.”

After making multiple tries to correctly punctuate the passage, I concluded that while using punctuation correctly and appropriately is not an easy undertaking, it will significantly improve the clarity of one’s writing if one succeeds. Thus, it became necessary to learn the significance of the first seven punctuation marks.

The colon (:)

A colon should be used correctly to increase clarity in written work. Sadly, not many individuals are aware of the utilization. It serves a variety of purposes, such as: introducing a list, an idea, or quoted text.

The semicolon (;)

This is used to separate closely related independent clauses in a complicated list of several items.

The comma (,)

A comma is used to divide elements in a list of three or more items, before some conjunctions, as an introduction to a phrase, as a parenthetical comma, as a comma between many adjectives, and in many other places.

The comma splice (,)

When a comma is used to separate two distinct clauses, this is known as a comma splice.

The hyphen (-)

There are situations where a hyphen is used. These comprise all self-combined words with nouns, self-combined adjectives made from two words, and compound words.

The dash (–)

This is longer than a hyphen and there are two different types the en-dash (which is the width of the letter N) and the em-dash (with the width of the letter M). They are both used to set off parenthetical elements.

The apostrophe (‘)

The apostrophe is used for three purposes: contractions (omission of letters), showing possession and marking plurals of individual characters.

Other punctuation marks include an ellipsis, exclamation mark, full stop/period, and others.

I won’t say how long it took me to get to the appropriately punctuated passage below, though. There is no doubt that the study is worthwhile.

Now, as you read, I think you’ll comprehend the piece more clearly and realize the importance of punctuation.

“I’m often asked to work with CEOs on major product launches or initiatives, helping them to tell their brand stories more effectively and persuasively. I travel around the world to visit brands such as Intel, Coca-Cola, Chevron, Pfizer, and many other companies in nearly every product category. in any language, on any continent, in every country, those speakers who genuinely express their passion and enthusiasm for the topic are the ones who stand apart as inspiring leaders. They’re the ones with whom customers want to conduct business.”

#MEMBA11