Dear Dr. O,
I love to write, and I want very much to become a writer; but punctuation is my Achilles heel! I keep telling myself that, as a creative writer, punctuation does not matter, but does it? Amy I kidding myself?
-Elena M.
Dear Elena M,
Thank you for sharing your vulnerability; worry not! Your letter reminds me of a student I tutored. Like you, she struggled with punctuation. At the end of our session, she thanked me, gathered her belongings, and said, “Well, I want to be a creative writer, so my punctuation won’t matter anyway.” . . . WRONG! Punctuation -- like Black lives and good writing -- matters! Consider one of the exemplar sentences I use to teach this premise in my First-Year Composition classes:
Example sentence: A woman without her man is lost.
Sure, the example sentence is grammatically correct, but while the iteration above offers a sad manifesto on this student’s perspective (particularly as a female student suggested simply adding a period to make the sentence correct), the next edit left me feeling even more bewildered:
Example Sentence (1st Edit) A woman, without her man, is lost.
Placing commas before and after the phrase “without her man” make it parenthetical and, therefore, non-essential. Hmmm . . . I mused with my students: A woman . . . is lost. I reminded my students that I stood before them exasperated (and secretly amused) as the woman who grades their work. Finally, a rather quiet male student emerged and offered the following edit:
Example sentence (2nd Edit) A woman: without her, man is lost!
As the examples above show, punctuation can change the entire meaning of a sentence; so yes, it matters! The good news is that a professional proofreader or copy editor can edit your work for punctuation errors and issues of clarity. What’s most important, though, is that you write! Write your story, your poem, or your play in its entirety; just write straight through, to the end! Attending to issues of punctuation and clarity are necessary, of course; but think of punctuation as the directions and signage of your message. Focus on the message, first; then, give us the speed bumps so that we may enjoy your message responsibly.
Write well!
-Dr. O
*This letter first appeared in "Advice from Dr. O" in The Linguistique Mystique: An Ezine for Writers, Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2021)