Do you all remember the joke we heard in childhood about punctuation? For those of you that didn’t, it went something like this. By writing ‘let’s eat grandma’ and ‘let’s eat, grandma’ (with and without a comma), it was demonstrated that punctuation can make a huge difference in the message you’re trying to convey.
While this was quite funny to read back then, one can now realize how the joke puts great emphasis on punctuation. Punctuation is an integral part of English writing. In fact, in any language, your writing becomes meaningful only with the use of correct punctuation.
In English grammar, the main components of punctuation are full stop, comma, colon/semicolon, capital letters, etc. Let us understand the function of these a little better.
The full stop is used to end a sentence. It ensures a better flow of ideas. A comma separates different words or clauses to provide greater clarity.
When we start a new sentence, we capitalize the first letter of the first word. Moreover, we also use capital letters for proper nouns. This is an important rule in English writing.
If you’ve just started writing English, it might be a good idea to read more. When you see punctuation being used in a text, it becomes easier to understand the rules and functions of each element. You can start with any beginner level book for this purpose.
Once you learn the basics, remember the golden rule of practice makes perfect. The more you write and review your work, the better it gets. With time, you don’t even realize how naturally you start punctuating your text.
