Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-5c6d5d7d68-qks25 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-08-09T01:55:01.292Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 7 - Obeying the punctuation rules

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2009

Paul Coombs
Paul Coombs
Affiliation:
IT Project Estimation Limited
Get access

Summary

THE PURPOSE OF PUNCTUATION

The subject of punctuation can raise considerable debate. One camp maintains that it helps the reader in the same way as musical notation helps an instrumentalist to interpret the notes as the composer intended. The other camp maintains that a fussy succession of little marks interrupts the flow of information to the brain, and that punctuation is only needed when there is a possibility of ambiguity. But there is a difference between those who mis-punctuate through ignorance and those who carefully choose when to omit unnecessary marks. When I read reports and proposals, I often sense that writers are scared to use anything more than the minimum of punctuation in case they get it wrong. And then they do get it wrong. The effect is to devalue the points being made because the text is so hard to unravel, as the following example illustrates:

The data is integrated in the database and any user interface screen dealing with some data will have to access the database to pre-populate with any data that has already been entered – so we need notification and work scheduling mechanisms so that the (for example the Journalists and Data Analysts can co-ordinate their effort, and that they can be notified when other relevant input occurs such as reporting information on exchange feeds).

You can go too far in the other direction, littering your text with so many marks that reading it becomes a series of fits and starts.

Type
Chapter
Information
IT Project Proposals
Writing to Win
 , pp. 88 - 112
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×