Why is English Punctuation So Important?

Introduction - Why English Punctuation is So Important

In this blog article I'll begin to acquaint (or reacquaint) you with lots and lots of punctuation.

No, please don't run away!

I'll try and make it as painless as possible.

But, yes, there are lots of punctuation marks that are necessary to help make sense of written English. For example, the sentence I always used to explain commas to my students was this one:

"The man sat under the tree eating his dog next to him licking his lips."

Really?!?! Eating a dog?!?

You can see that a few well-placed commas can be useful in understanding that the man was not really eating his dog.

Is this better?

"The man sat under the tree eating, his dog next to him licking his lips."

OK, you can see that the sentence obviously needs a verb to describe what the dog was doing.

"The man sat under the tree eating, his dog LAY next to him licking his lips."

Now that's much better isn't it?

But I hope my point of using commas is well made. They are used to separate ideas or a list of things, such as countries, names, toys, fruits, etc.

Conclusion

You can see lots of other punctuation marks in this post. Remember, having better English punctuation will allow you to begin to improve your English writing. And that is why English punctuation is so important to know and use correctly.

To learn more punctuation marks, please see my other articles here.

Finally, if you enjoyed this article, please share it on your socials with your friends. It's easy: just copy the URL and post.

(c) Apex English Tutoring Nov 2020 - Updated Nov 2023

Michael

About the Author

Michael Finemore, an experienced English Teacher, is the Owner-Operator of Apex English Tutoring.