Today's Meaningful Monday post is about the meaning of punctuation. I know that many writers freak out about correctness and then stress out over the thought of red ink covering their writing, but I've always maintained that punctuation is a tool to aid understanding and not intended to invoke a panic attack. The goal is to avoid distracting errors that make writing hard to understand. If you write, you are going to make mistakes. Writers are human. Errors are gonna happen. You just want to make sure that you are familiar with the rules that govern meaning. Misplacing a comma can change the meaning of a sentence. You want to make sure that your writing means what you want it to mean. It's not about perfection; it's about meaning what you write.
English is a difficult language and many of its grammar rules don't make sense. There. I wrote it. Deal with it. I still remember studying Japanese in high school and feeling suspicious that there weren't irregular verbs lurking all over the place and that it was that easy to change a verb into past tense. It made sense. It was logical. It was everything English is not.
That being said, English grammar doesn't have to be so awful and painful. There are fantastic resources available to help you figure things out when you have questions. And the more you learn about grammar and style, the easier it becomes to learn more about proper writing. One of my favorite resources that everyone should definitely check out is Grammar Girl. The Grammar Girl podcast, created by Mignon, includes short episodes that are usually under 10 minutes and focus on one tip at a time for easy digestion. I love that she also includes the transcript of the podcast on her website so you can see the examples she is referencing. She also has a few books out for those of us who prefer flipping through pages instead of scrolling through screens to find the answer.
Got a question about a comma? Not sure about that possessive? Should you write "affect" or "effect"? Check out Grammar Girl. She's got the answers you're looking for. Enjoy!
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