Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Grammar Nazi Count-Down: Episode 10 -- Punctuation

Punctuation makes your words and sentences easier to understand.  Nerdvark spends a lot of time playing MMPORPGs and reading online gaming forums, but every time he encounters lack of punctuation his hair follicles bleed.  This is not such a big deal, since he is a fictional character living in a fictional mirror, but as you can imagine, it can be quite frustrating for the Nerdvark.

Here is a well-known example where punctuation can make a big difference to meaning:

gramma said lets eat kids

vs.

Gramma said, "Let's eat, kids!"

The second example is punctuated, making it more clear.  The comma after eat shows us that Gramma is addressing the kids when she says "Let's eat."  Meanwhile, the lack of comma in the un-punctuated example leads us to believe that Gramma is a psychotic cannibal with a taste for the soft, tender flesh of young children.

When posting to forums, captioning your IG shots, updating your status, tweeting, etc, correct use of punctuation will help your readers to know what you're trying to say.  It will also make life a lot easier for the poor sensitive Nerdvark.  Fight Nerdvark cruelty -- use punctuation!

Absence of  punctuation makes Nerdvark's hair follicles bleed.
For more on Grammar Nazi-ism, check out Nerdvark's new favourite-ever song, "Word Crimes" by Weird Al Yankovic.  But BE CAREFUL if you're easily offended, because that nasty Weird Al does use what might be considered a derogatory term in the song.  So, look out.  


Meanwhile, if you want to learn all the ins and outs of punctuation, there is a crash-course on punctuating here at Purdue OWL (and it is very politically correct and not offensive to anyone, I hope.)

Click here if you want to learn more about word crimes, and some other stuff, in an interesting Time Magazine article on the subject.


Thanks for reading, and if you enjoy The Nardvark please support me by checking out my website www.kiborrowman.net or purchasing my new merchandise so I can quit my welding job and become a Nerdvark full-time.


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