Thursday Thoughts: How Do You Punctuate?

Chances are, if you're reading this blog, you have a strong love of written language. Yes, you probably enjoy occasionally listening to the great speeches from history, and you're probably an above-average conversationalist. But you even more so you love to revel in the features of writing that don't exist any other type of communication. For example, consider the complicated nature of punctuation marks. 

There are 14 commonly used punctuation marks written English language, and even more that are less-commonly used. These marks are useful for conveying additional meaning to readers without using additional words, but each one carries with it a series of rules, considerations, caveats, and conditions. Scholarly writers quickly realize that to convey their meaning as clearly and concisely as possible, a functional understanding of those 14 little marks is not an optional skill to develop. 

To help you along on your way in this journey, we've developed an extensive library of punctuation resources that you can access now. Navigate to our punctuation overview page to begin learning. Some highlights of these materials that you will encounter:

• What's the Hype of About Hyphens? 

• Creating a Comma Connection!

• The Pleasures of Parentheses

• And Much, Much More

Like most writing skills, learning to use punctuation properly must be learned and practiced. We hope these resources will help you do just that. And once you've practiced, you can honestly answer the next time someone asks you at a cocktail party, "How do you punctuate?"

The Walden University Writing Center supports writers at all stages of their degree programs. Center staff work hard to create resources that writers will find helpful at any phase of their writing process and for writing matters large and small. 

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