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Why is Grammar So Important?

http://www.punctuationtips.net/ — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:34:09 +0200

Grammar is very important within the English language, since it is, in effect, the glue that holds the language together. With the use of incorrect grammar sentences can become meaningless and their message is unclear. This means that you aren’t able to communicate effectively and the person who is reading your work may well be quite confused as to your meaning.

In effect, grammar is the way in which sentences are structured and the language is formatted, so whilst it may be considered a bit boring to study correct grammar, it really is worth the time and effort. If you don’t know the rules of grammar, then you will never be able to communicate clearly and effectively in the English language.

People often ask, when learning English, how they can improve their grammar and ensure that it is correct. Well, one way of ensuring that your grammar is up to a good standard is to use some kind of online grammar checker to highlight any mistakes. However, before you use the grammar checker you should first proofread your work trying to identify any mistakes yourself. When the checker highlights an error you should try to analyse the reason so that you fully understand why it has been highlighted. In this way you can learn from your mistakes and make sure that your grammar improves. Whether you write for business or just for pleasure, you will be much more competent and start to really understand how the language works. Make sure that you concentrate on understanding grammar, no matter how boring the study of the subject may be; it is essential.

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What is Open Punctuation and When is it Acceptable?

http://www.punctuationtips.net/ — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:25:37 +0300

Open punctuation is quite a recent innovation and is a direct result of the electronic age in which we now live. Open punctuation is a very minimal level of punctuation and is now acceptable because of the increased use of electronic mail and also word processing.

In open punctuation the use of full stops and commas is quite limited. In former times, by tradition, letters would always have been started, ‘Dear Mr. Jones (or whoever), but now it is viewed as acceptable to write, ‘Dear Mr Jones’ (the full stop or punctuation mark after ‘Mr’ has been omitted). One of the major aspects of open punctuation is that instead of using paragraph indents, double line spaces are now used to denote a new paragraph.

Generally, open punctuation is acceptable within more informal letters and items that are not used within the business context. However, if you are writing business English then it is always better to revert to standard punctuation, since it helps the message look formal and professional. If the reader thinks that you have omitted commas and full stops due to you not knowing when they should be used, then they may not feel that your service is professional. So for writing formal business English always use proper ‘closed’ punctuation and ensure that you use some kind of punctuation or grammar checker to double check your work. This gives it a more professional edge and will really help to make any documents you write look polished, professional and of excellent quality.
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Rules for English Punctuation - The Humble Apostrophe

http://www.punctuationtips.net/ — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:24:13 +0300

The apostrophe is universally misused. In that case, you may think that it isn’t a big deal if you don’t know where to place an apostrophe, but there are people who positively shiver at an apostrophe being misplaced and if they are your potential customers you don’t want to alienate them. Also, correct placement of the apostrophe is vital for anyone studying English. So, what does it do?

Well the apostrophe can signal several things. It is used to denote ownership of a noun. So in the phrase “the boy’s jacket” the jacket is the noun. We know it belongs to the boy because the apostrophe tells us so. If we said “the boys’ ships” then we know that there is more than one boy and more than one ship, so there are several boys and several ships. So when we are talking plurals, the apostrophe usually goes after the s. When it is singular, then the apostrophe is before the s. Simple.

But the humble apostrophe has more to do than this. It can be used to indicate time:
“In a month’s time” means that something is happening around about a month or four weeks from the date written.

It can also be used to indicate letters or figures that have been omitted. So we talk about the summer of ’69, or we write can’t, because in the first instance the apostrophe indicates that the century numerals have been omitted from the date (if written in full it would be the summer of 1969) in the second instance we write can’t because the apostrophe indicates that the word should be cannot, but an n and an o have been omitted.

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Rules for English Punctuation - The Colon and Semi Colon

http://www.punctuationtips.net/ — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:22:31 +0300

To some non English speakers the whole concept of the colon and the semi colon may seem an enigma, a puzzle. For many native English speakers it is also a puzzle, so if you are not sure where or when to use a colon or semi colon, then rest assured, you are not alone.

The colon is written thus:

The semi colon is the dot with a comma;

They are used to demonstrate breaks in a sentence or to give a sentence an added meaning or context. The colon is the most powerful: the semi is less so.

Colons or semi colons can be used in a place where a comma would normally sit, but you want to give your writing a bit more emphasis or more of a pause. So you could say:

“Man is human, God is divine”. But in this context, you are actually making a statement, an important statement, so it would be more fitting to write

“Man is human: God is divine”. Through the use of the colon you have changed the statement to have much more authority and it gives the sentence an added meaning and weight.
The semi colon is used similarly but where you might want the emphasis to be more than a comma, but less than a colon.

A colon may also be used where you have two very different statements following each other, for example “Men laugh: women cry.” The colon here breaks up each part and gives them equal weighting.

Given the complexities of colons and semi colons, an online grammar checker or punctuation checker can be used as a way of helping you get a feel for when it is correct to use them.

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How to Check Your Punctuation

http://www.punctuationtips.net/ — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:21:14 +0300

Checking punctuation when proofreading is difficult to do on your own, it is very hard to remember all the rules about grammar and punctuation and then assess your work in comparison to these; this is very often however the only way that an individual has to check their work. Modern technology does now provide useful tools available to assist and in order to achieve the best punctuation possible these tools should be used, so that your writing is the best that it can be and is also correctly punctuated.

Offline grammar and spelling packages are usually provided on PC’s, but the difficulty with these is that they may not be right up to date, so words, particularly acronyms or the latest words (especially when writing business English,) may not be understood. Language evolves and changes and as a result new words are introduced into the English language every day. These new words will not be readily understood by an offline punctuation checker, so you may find that your work is identified as containing errors when in fact it is not.

The answer is to use an online punctuation checker, you will then be right up to date in terms of language overall and any new words in particular. You must also check your own work manually. You can then use the online application to compare and thus ensure that you learn from any mistakes that you have made, so that you don’t make them again in the future. In other words, use the online package as a learning tool so that your punctuation becomes more professional and your writing accessible and easily understood by anyone reading it.
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Punctuation in English Grammar

http://www.punctuationtips.net/ — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:19:40 +0300

Punctuation is of particular importance in English since it acts as a way of giving definition to a sentence, ensuring that the words are given their correct meaning and actually provides the structure to the meaning of a sentence, so ignore it at your peril.

Punctuation marks are symbols, such as the comma, the apostrophe, the full stop, hyphen or quotation marks. Out of all of these the apostrophe is the one which can cause the most confusion. This is the symbol that denotes who owns something. So the phrase ‘The boy’s sweets’, means the sweets that belong to the boy. If however we say “The boys’ sweets”, then the meaning is completely changed. Just moving the apostrophe indicates to the reader that there is more than one boy. The apostrophe is also used to indicate that a letter or letters are missing from a word (contractions) such as in, can’t and don’t. Beware of the word its as this can stand alone without an apostrophe, or can have the apostrophe inserted as, it’s, meaning, ‘it is.’

Commas should be used to introduce a natural break in a sentence, but this is where it gets complicated. The use of the comma may be to define where independent clauses are joined together by a conjunction or it could separate items on a list, or it can separate independent and dependent clauses. A comma may also be used to introduce a concept of time and context.

So the use of the humble comma is not as straightforward as it may seem. For native English speakers the use of the comma is taught from an early age and many are unaware of the grammatical rules behind its use, they just know how to use it. In order to assess whether the comma is used effectively it is well worth using a grammar checker so that you can determine if all commas are in the correct location. After this you will start to get an awareness of where they should be placed. Remember however that some people regard the use of the comma as an unnecessary pause which interrupts the reading flow, believing it to be a punctuation mark that should only be used to avoid an ambiguity. In some modern writing the comma is used hardly at all. As a general rule do not overuse the comma.

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