Notes on punctuation essay

Spock, first science officer; Mr. It is still sometimes used in calligraphy. Every sentence runs straight into the next sentence.

For example: The boy was happy, eager and full of anticipation at the start of his summer holiday. Exclamation points are the most irritating of all. Even today, written English differs subtly from spoken English because not all emphasis and disambiguation is possible to convey in print, even with punctuation.

Colons are a lot less attractive for several reasons: firstly, they give you the feeling of being rather ordered around, or at least having your nose pointed in a direction you might not be inclined to take if left to yourself, and, secondly, you suspect you're in for one of those sentences that will be labeling the points to be made: firstly, secondly and so forth, with the implication that you haven't sense enough to keep track of a sequence of notions without having them numbered.

Lewis Thomas Photograph: NYU archives He makes his case for commas in a nearly comma-free paragraph, adorned by precisely four exquisitely pinned specimens: The commas are the most useful and usable of all the stops.