HOW important is punctuation? Should we insist students master it? Or can we ignore it, since it is but a printing convention? After all, we don't use punctuation in speech.

Anyone inclined to adopt such a laissez faire attitude might consider the examples below. Punctuation is a matter not just for fussy sticklers. A great deal rides on the properly placed comma, full stop or apostrophe.

'The panda eats shoots and leaves.' 'The panda eats, shoots and leaves.'

'Charles the First walked and talked. Half an hour after, his head was cut off.' 'Charles the First walked and talked half an hour after his head was cut off.'

'A woman, without her man, is nothing.' 'A woman: without her, man is nothing.'

'Giant Kid Playground.' 'Giant Kid's Playground.'

'Dear Jack: I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy - will you let me be yours? - Jill'.

'Dear Jack: I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be? Yours, Jill'.

All of the above examples come from a book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach To Punctuation, by journalist Lynne Truss. A best seller in Britain since its publication last year, it is a fun introduction to a subject that is hardly taught in schools - or if taught, cursorily, with nothing like the attention paid to tenses, for instance.

And yet, that little dot known as the full stop (or period in America); that tadpoley-looking thing known as the comma; that apostrophe to distinguish (among other things) its from it's; that hyphen, exclamation, question mark, dash, parenthesis, ellipsis; that semi-colon that George Orwell detested, but which I adore (did I have to use so many in this sentence, though?) - all these marks are the indispensable 'traffic signals of language: they tell us to slow down, notice this, take a detour, and stop' (which this sentence should have miles before now!), (incidentally, should that previous , have been a ; or - or :?) and if we ignore these signals (I mean punctuation), we will cause a linguistic smash-up just as surely as running a red light would a road accident...this sentence being a prime example of the former: proving conclusively that punctuation is 'a courtesy designed to help readers to understand a story without stumbling'.:)

'It is no accident,' as Ms Truss points out, 'that the word 'punctilious' ('attentive to formality or etiquette') comes from the same original root word as punctuation.' But punctuation, as she also goes on to explain humorously, is more than a matter of courtesy. Misplaced commas have caused schisms; questionable ones have occasioned lawsuits.

Consider this passage from Luke, xxiii, 43, reporting Christ's words to one of the criminals who was crucified with Him: 'Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.'

That is how the Protestant Bible renders the passage, placing the comma after 'thee'. The implication is the thief will be translated straight into Paradise with Jesus, skipping 'the whole unpleasant business of Purgatory', as Ms Truss puts it.

Now consider how the Catholic Bible renders the same passage: 'Verily I say unto thee today, Thou shalt be with me in Paradise.' The implication here is the thief will be translated into Paradise, but not immediately, leaving 'Purgatory nicely in the picture for Catholics, who believe in it.' One wonders: If Luke had got not only Christ's words right, but also the precise punctuation He intended, would Christendom have been riven into so many pieces?

As for legal confusions, take this passage in a will: 'I, Graham Greene, grant permission to Norman Sherry, my authorised biographer, excluding any other to quote from my own copyrighted material published or unpublished.' Greene, having an itchy blue pencil, added a comma after 'excluding any other', and promptly died the next day.

Does the will say that Mr Sherry is the only person who can use the material? Or did Greene insert the comma to indicate that Mr Sherry was the only biographer who could do so, but other researchers, not engaged in biography, could too? The dispute is still raging, 12 years after the novelist's death in 1991.

Punctuation doesn't usually have such weighty consequences, of course. For most of us, it is sufficient to master its basic rules. For example: When two sentences are joined together using conjunctions such as 'and' or 'but', use a comma - 'He woke up early, but wished he hadn't'. But when the linking words are 'however' or 'consequently', use a semi-colon - 'He woke up early; consequently, he felt tired'.

The rules are not complex. Most are logical and necessary; a few are controversial. Orwell, as I mentioned, detested the semi-colon, since it was replaceable with a full stop (as in the previous sentence). But others were partial to it, believing it lent 'a pleasant feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer' - as indeed it does in this delightful book by Ms Truss, which I recommend highly to all sticklers and would-be sticklers.

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article from the Straits Times.

-Kenneth

~we ARE in tune ;D~ (Some1 change script here >.<)

haha read kenneth's hilarious post down there! and anyway, i sort of feel guilty cos i haven't been posting that much on this blog. gah.

so this is the new year. you think you know what this means huh. syf (gwh), studies, hciso. and no, gwh doesn't stand for gold WITHOUT honours. it stands for gold WITH honours. -.-

yeah hope you guys work a little harder this year, seeing that mr chan will be conducting the auditions soon enough (supposedly). and meanwhile, have a great 11 hours before school starts!

dun want be too luo suo. (:

till the next time

Jon Voon

~we ARE in tune ;D~ (Some1 change script here >.<)

ALL YOU IRRITATING PEOPLE. LOL.
ask us post post post.
SO I SHALL POST SOMETHING FUN FOR ALL OF YOU TO DO.

Instructions:
1. Do the "Letter Meme".
2. Tag no less than 5 other people.
3. Then copy the "How-to" Letter Meme, and finish your Journal entry.


Template:
Dear (the last person who text messaged you). I don't really know how to tell you this, but (1). I think I realized it (2) (3) and I saw you (4) (5). I'm sure you're (6) enough to understand (7). I'm returning (8) to you, but I'll keep (9) as a memory. You should also know that I (10) (11).(12),Your name

Your letter:
E.G.
Dear EnYing,
I don't really know how to tell you this, but you're a pervert. I think I realized it when your dwarf bit me under the bus and I saw you castrate the crazy monk. I'm sure you're Mongolic enough to understand that your pimples are at the last stage. I'm returning your false teeth to you, but I'll keep your collection of butterflies as a memory. You should also know that I get sick when I think of eggplant-fetishism.

In pain,
Titus Ong

1.What's the color of your shirt?
Blue - Our romance is over
Red - Our affair is over
White - I'll join the monastery
Black - I dislike you
Green - Our horoscope doesn't match
Grey - You're a pervert
Yellow - I'm selling myself
Pink - Your nostrils are insulting
Brown - The mafia wants you
No shirt - You're a loser
Other - I'm in love with your sister

2. Which is your birth month?
January - That night
February - Last year
March - When your dwarf bit me
April - When I tripped on sesame seeds
May - First of May
June - When you put cuffs on me
July - When I threw up
August - When I saw the shrunken head
September - When we skinny dipped
October - When I quoted Santa
November - When your dog ran amok
December - When I changed tennis shoes

3. Which food do you prefer?
Tacos - In your apartment
Pizza - In your camping car
Pasta - Outside of Chicago
Hamburgers - Under the bus
Salad - As you ate enchiladas
Chicken - In your closet
Kabob - With Paris Hilton
Fish - In women's clothing
Sandwiches - At the Hare Krishna graduation
Lasagna - At the mental hospital
Hot dog - Under a state of trance
None of the above - With George Bush and his wife

4. What's the color of your socks?
Yellow - Hit on
Red - Insult
Black - Ignore
Blue - Knock out
Purple - Pour syrup on
White - Carve your initials into
Grey - Sit on
Brown - Put leeches on
Orange - Castrate
Pink - Pull the toupee off
Barefoot - Pull the clothes off
Other - Drive out

5. What's the color of your underwear?
Black - My best friend
Pink - My father
Grey - Bill Clinton
Brown - My fart balloon
Purple - My mustard soufflé
Red - Donald Duck
Blue - My avocado plant
Yellow - My penpal in Ghana
Orange - My Kid Rock-collection
White - Manchester United's goalkeeper
None - My John F. Kennedy statue
Other - The crazy monk

6. What do you prefer to watch on TV?
Scrubs - Man
O.C. - Emotional
One Tree Hill - Open
Heroes - Frostbitten
Lost - High
House - Scarred
Simpsons - Cowardly
The news - Mongolic
Idol - Masochistic
Family Guy - Senile
Top Model - Middle-class
None of the above - Ashamed

7. Your mood right now?
Happy - How awful i've felt
Sad - How boring you are
Angry - That your pimples are at the last stage
Bored - That Santa doesn't exist
Depressed - That we're cousins
Excited - That there is no solution to this.
Nervous - The middle-east
Worried - That your Honda sucks
Apathetic - That I did a sex-change
Ashamed - That I'm allergic to your hamster
Cuddly - That I get turned on by garbage men
Overjoyous - That I'm open
Other - That Extreme Home Makeover sucks

8. What's the color of your walls in your bedroom?
White - Your ring
Yellow - Your love letters
Red - Your Darth Vader-poster
Black - Your tame stone
Blue - The couch cushions
Green - The pictures from LA
Orange - Your false teeth
Brown - Your contact book
Grey - Our matching snoopy-bibs
Purple - Your old lottery coupons
Pink - The cut toenails
Other - Your memories from the military service

9. The first letter of your first name?
A/B - Your photo
C/D - The oil stocks
E/F - Your neighbour Martin
G/H - My virginity
I/J - Your mom
K/L - Your left ear
M/N - Your suicide note
O/P - My common sense
Q/R - The results of your blood sample
S/T - Your collection of butterflies
U/V - Your criminal record
W/X - David's tricot outfits
Y/Z - Your grades from college

10. The last letter in your last name?
A/B - Always will remember
C/D - Never will forget
E/F - Always wanted to break
G/H - Never openly mocked
I/J - Always have felt dirty before
K/L - Will tell the authorities about
M/N - Told in my confession today about
O/P - Was interviewed by the Times about
Q/R - Told my psychiatrist about
S/T - Get sick when I think of
U/V - Always will try to forget
W/X - Am better off without
Y/Z - Never liked

11. What do you prefer to drink?
Water- Our friendship
Beer - Senility
Soft drink - A new life as a clone
Soda - The incarnation as an eskimo
Milk - The apartment building
Wine - Cocaine abuse
Cider - A passionate interest for mice
Juice - Oprah Winfrey imitations
Mineral water - Embarrassing rash
Hot chocolate - Eggplant-fetishism
Whisky - To ruin the second world war
Other - To hate the Boston Celtics

12. To which country would you prefer to go on a vacation?
Thailand - Warm regards
USA - Greetings to your frog Leonard
England - Good luck on your short-term leave from jail
Spain - Go and drown yourself
China - Disgusting regards
Germany - With ease
Japan - Go burn
Greece - Your everlasting enemy
Australia - Best regards
Egypt - Fk off now
France - In pain

knock yourselves out,
kenneth.

~we ARE in tune ;D~ (Some1 change script here >.<)