English for Journalists, 4th Edition

6

Punctuation

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The point of punctuation is to make writing easier to read. It is the counterpart of the pauses and inflections that help to make speech understandable. But it doesn’t necessarily follow that everywhere you would pause in speech you should punctuate in writing. And sometimes the strength of a punctuation mark differs from the length of the equivalent pause in speech.

Ideally, punctuation should be based on sound logical principles. But don’t try to force your punctuation practice into a format that defies current usage.

Punctuation practice is constantly changing. For example, sentences are shorter than they used to be so there are now more full stops in text. But in general there is less punctuation. ...