Punctuation

What is punctuation for? Does it matter? Well, sometimes leaving punctuation out can make your writing really difficult to decipher. More often, it just makes it harder to read quickly. Good punctuation is there to give your reader hints about how to read your writing - the hints they would get from your tone of voice if you were talking to them. Here is an example of confusing writing:

Jane will get article over to you soonest will.

This would have been easier to understand:

Jane,
I will get the article over to you soonest.
Regards,
Will

On a forum I read recently, someone made a comment about how recent changes had improved customer service. He wrote:

Not much they could do better

He appeared to be very impressed. Not so. What he meant to say was:

Not much. They could do better.

Three tips:

1. Use exclamation marks very rarely in business writing - and NEVER use doubles.

2. Use commas to break a sentence where you would pause for a moment in speech.

3. Use colons (:) to introduce bullets.

Read about how to get it right. Test yourself in interactive quizzes. Become an expert for £15 a month (no minimum contract). Choose a payment plan for Grammar to Go.

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