GTTP Group discussion lesson 7

Discussion Topic
Look back over the lesson and tell me if you agree or disagree with the author's feelings on punctuation.  What is your personal view on the subject of punctuation?  Do you look at punctuation differently than you did in the beginning of the class?  Why or why not?

I agree with Cappon that all the punctuation makes a piece read smoother.  Punctuation is mostly for clarification.  I know what I am saying when I write something.  Does the person that reads my piece know what I am writing?  To make sure he does, I insert the correct punctuation to guide my piece into his understanding.

Another author Bernstein feels that those who should know punctuation rarely agree among themselves in its usage.  Writers and editors tend to disagree how to use everything but the period and the question mark.  This is a sad statement.  Editors and authors alike should know and agree on punctuation usage.  Even the Bible talks of Paul not being an educated man when he preached in the temple and crowds of people.  Look at how much he wrote of the scriptures.  I don’t think at that time punctuation had been developed.  Greek words were based on only one meaning a word not like our English words. Perhaps punctuation was not necessary.  It had no vowel’s either.  I am not necessarily comparing the writing just the need to understand the writing.  The Greeks understood Paul when he wrote something.  Writers and editors need to brush up on their skills in punctuatlon.

Stein another author got away without any punctuation in her writings, perhaps she knows Greek. I’m kidding.  It‘s said that her writings are distraction, which to me would seem to say they are hard to understand. Wonder if it was because of a the lack of guidance from all the little punctuation marks. Duh!


Replacing quotation marks with dashes defines Joyce’s style.  This is one way, if it’s consistent, to replace the quotation mark and get away with it. I can see where that would work.

Bloom confused his readers by not using any punctuation at the end of his “Ulysses”.  I do not recommend leaving out punctuation for that very reason.

Shaw sounds lazy. Was he using a typewriter? If not then what is so hard about putting in a little apostrophe?  He just had odd looking contractions. His mother must have had him by C-section. You can grin now.

Cummings by using all lower case letters didn’t waste his time trying to make petty decisions that could be figured out by the reader.  I don’t think I would enjoy such a reading; the appearance might be neat looking, but reading it would use some imagination.  Capital letters help identify a group of words, some of which might be hard to make a distinction between meanings.  For instance, if he were to write about a person named Georgia and the state of Georgia, differentiating between the two could present a problem.

Overwrought punctuation seems to be the only good era to come from. Many writers called literary giants come from this time.  I believe that is because their work was recognized as something people enjoyed reading, It was more easily understood.  I know I like something better if I understand what it is I’m reading.  It makes all the different.

My, personal, feelings about using punctuation hasn’t changed; I still feel it is necessary to use for the understanding it affords.  I believe punctuation, no matter what I think, will always be important from now on.  We are in a day and age that is moving forward with a lot of knowledge.  Punctuation is an established fact in writing and is not likely to digress.  It may be improved upon to the point where new and different symbols are the norm.  Writing may become easier because of the change. Presently grammar and commas have many rules and they are hard to apply and impossible to remember. We need a simple system, one that is flawless.  I, for one, am ready for something new and easy.  I don’t believe I’ll see it in my day.