Thursday, September 15, 2011

Apostrophe to Punctuation





                        !



How I love your signs

squeezing meaning out of chaos:

the necessary               <full stop>

the useful                    <comma>

the elegant                   <semi-colon>

the dramatic                <colon>

the enquiring               <query>

the over-used              <em dash>

and the brutalised       <apostrophe>



But please, keep your              <exclamation points>              to yourself!!


x

10 comments:

Dave King said...

Wonderful!!!! Oh, I do SO love this...

jabblog said...

I agree. Wonderful - I have tried hard to curb my enthusiasm for exclamation marks but sometimes it overwhelms me!!!!!

Elisabeth said...

I avoid exclamation marks, too, Isabel but like you I'm grateful for those other signs that help to guide our reading. Ah the joys pf grammar. Terrific verse.

Jinksy said...

brilliant - but I still like !!! In my head they are a cross between a giggle and a Donald Duck 'squwark' !!! See?

Jim Murdoch said...

Yes, I have never understood authors who try and do away with them. I wish there were more and not just smileys which I can't bring myself to use. I often wish writing was like musical notation - now there is a thing of beauty.

Marylinn Kelly said...

Whew, dodged my fatal attraction, ellipses, probably used poorly and often. Intelligent and charming post.

Isabel Doyle said...

I am glad my 'Apostrophe' has struck a chord! My feeling for exclamation marks is that they should be saved for special occasions so that they mean something!

I also use ellipses frequently ... I find they cover a multitude of sins for me, not least incomplete or faulty thought ...

Louise said...

I have a deffo problem with the comma, recognising this is part of my recovery - hopefully!

Ralletanda said...

I have been brutalised by apostrophes on numerous occasions.
J'en ai marre!

Doctor FTSE said...

Dont you mean, !!?.