Punctuation

Gertrude Stein had an arcane and quirky, to say the least, attitude towards punctuation.

Example:

“A comma by helping you along holding your coat for you and putting on your shoes keeps you from living your life as actively as you should lead it and to me for many years and I still do feel that way about it only now I do not pay as much attention to them, the use of them was positively degrading.”

http://writing.upenn.edu/epc/authors/goldsmith/works/stein.pdf?campaign_id=167&emc=edit_ah_20210929&instance_id=41640&nl=at-home-and-away&WCF_AMPERSAND®i_id=35167394&segment_id=70244&te=1&user_id=a2fb33817777ac551a264ffa642c8bd4

Yeah, I know. Really hard for your editor, too.

From The Chicago Manual of Style:

“Punctuation should be governed by its function, which in ordinary text is to promote ease of reading by clarifying relationships within and between sentences. This function, although it allows for a degree of subjectivity, should in turn be governed by the consistent application of some basic principles lest the subjective element obscure meaning.”

Question: do you have favorite punctuation marks? Are there any that you find irrelevant or even annoying?

Totally agree, serafina .

I still don’t get it. ‘Splain, please?

My blinders must have been on! I was thinking 21st century, and trying to make an emoticon out of it!