Punctuation power tools

Punctuation marks are the power tools of writing. Unfortunately, most people don’t know how to use them, and their punctuation errors are displayed for all and sundry to see. Just look around you for the misuse of the apostrophe (nicknamed “the greengrocer’s apostrophe”) on black boards, billboards and on menus: “Banana’s, pawpaw’s and potato’s – half-price today!”, one black board might announce, while the Italian restaurant around the corner might be selling “pizza’s”, the music store “dvd’s and cd’s” and the second-hand bookstore might proudly spell out: “book’s galore”. My all-time horror is to read “it’s” where it should be written “its”. So, please bear with me for a short lesson in punctuation.

What’s wrong with the examples above?

Ah, the apostrophe. The apostrophe is never used in English to indicate a plural form of a noun. That means bananas, pawpaws and potatoes, as well as pizzas, DVDs, CDs and books are all spelled without an apostrophe. And “it’s” means: it is. “It’s” doesn’t indicate the possessive form. To give an example: “The dog wags its tail” means the dog has a tail which it wags. The tail belongs to the dog. This sentence can never be written as: “The dog wags it’s tail.”

Then, just as one thinks one should follow Lynne Truss’s proposal in Eats, Shoots and Leaves to go around with an eraser or some correction fluid to correct the punctuation errors all around one, one finds an example of a word that should contain an apostrophe and it doesn't!

Have you ever passed a “mens toilet” or a “ladies hairdresser”, or had an appointment at the “doctors rooms”? (The correct way of writing them is obviously: men’s toilet, ladies’ hairdresser and doctors’ rooms (if there is more than one doctor at the consultancy, otherwise it would be: doctor’s room.)

If you don’t know how to use punctuation marks effectively, enrol for a grammar or business writing course or buy yourself a good style guide such as The Oxford Style Manual, which explains the use of punctuation in writing in detail. Keep it in the office and consult it regularly. It is amazing how much one can learn about writing just by looking up the grammar rules.

If you want to learn about punctuation and be entertained at the same time, buy yourself the book by Lynne Truss, Eats, Shoots and Leaves - it is delightful to read, well researched and a good book to have on your bookshelf.


This blog appears as a regular column the Afridevelopment newsletter for small business owners. http://afrid.co.za/cms/index.php