The Mighty Word's Guide to Good Writing
Part Eight - Signposting: punctuation, give it some love
The art of all those little dots, dashes and squiggles demands an article all of its own, to follow soon. Suffice to say, for now, that treating punctuation as secondary – as an afterthought – is a serious mistake.
You may have written a legendary, epoch-defining work. The exemplar of the contemporary prose style. But, without punctuation to match, it will be an incoherent mess – a car crash.
Without punctuation, a text is a road without markings or signposts: the driver has no idea where the junctions are, what’s coming up and where in hell they are supposed to be going. So, carefully signal to the driver – your reader – where a sentence ends (full stop), where a clause or a thought ends and a new one begins (comma, dash, semi-colon, colon), what relation a following clause has to its predecessor (comma, semi-colon, colon, dash) and where a pause will bring clarity and rhythm (comma).
It is your duty to show the reader around your word palace by means of punctuation. Punctuation is about manners: the reader has shown up at your door, so pay them the respect of welcoming them in, showing them around and guiding them through your enchanted castle.
There is much more to say about the sentence, but these are the essential principles that every writer should know; and should never stop practicing. There is always more to learn about them. Whatever your level, exploring these essentials will improve your ability to communicate in writing, will see the quality of your thought deepen, and will allow you to move your reader all the more effectively.
Now go explore the world of words – the greatest of adventures!
Commenti