Hold on to your ellipsis, because September 24 is <National> ; [Punctuation] : {Day}!!!!!!!!!!
Around here, we are obsessed with proper punctuation; it is really awesome to be able to correctly use a semicolon, comma, and other key punctuation.
More importantly, it is key that the work we create for our clients is correctly punctuated. In the world of fast-paced and very visual communications, incorrect punctuation can cause serious damage to a reputation.
Being thoughtful about punctuation supports building trust with your audience, an important goal for every brand and organization.
In celebration of another unnecessary holiday that we are quite excited about, here are some thoughts and kickass resources about our favorite types of punctuation:
Commas Save Lives
Seriously.
See this example: Let’s eat Grandma!
When do you ever want to say that? Never. You never do. You want to say, “Let’s eat, Grandma!”.
Some people over-use commas, whereas others under-use them. When in doubt, head over to Grammarly for a quick reference on when to use commas.
Semicolons Are Hard
The Oatmeal defines semicolons as “The most feared punctuation on earth”. If you’ve never read through their chart on how to use them, it’s a great and funny read.
Like all things, practice makes perfect; once you get the swing of it, adding semicolons to your writing will get less scary, we promise.
Semicolons can serve as super-commas for lists that are really complicated; they can also join two clauses that are very closely related (that could be sentences on their own).
See? Not so scary.
Exclamation! Marks! Are! Overused!!
We spend a lot of time creating strategic messaging and the correct voice for the brands we serve.
Some brands that are more technical in nature desire to be more approachable and have fun personalities – this sometimes results in our clients overusing exclamation marks in copy that they write.
If you are talking about something that is boring, an exclamation mark is not going to save you! Don’t rely on your punctuation to do the heavy lifting. Make your content more interesting. (If you are struggling to write engaging content, let’s talk).
And, for the love of everything that is good in this world, one exclamation mark is enough! More than that is just decoration.
So, there you have it. How will you celebrate this awesome holiday?
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