What is National Punctuation Day?
Every September 24, America celebrates National Punctuation Day. In 2004, Jeff Rubin founded National Punctuation Day to promote proper usage.
At ProEdit, we celebrate National Punctuation Day because we’re Word People. It’s a chance for grammar gurus to geek out a little (see below).
Spare a thought for punctuation.
Without you, we wouldn’t know when one thought ended and another began.
my plane just took off the door seals keep us safe
My plane just took off the door seals! Keep us safe!
or
My plane just took off. The door seals keep us safe.
We’d have to guess whether writers are being snarky or just asking a question.
are you serious
Are you serious.
or
Are you serious?
We wouldn’t know who’s supposed to be talking.
and then I said hi Sally said Truly
“And then I said, ‘Hi Sally,'” said Truly.
or
And then I said, “Hi! Sally said ‘truly.'”
Thank you for clarifying, punctuation marks.
Celebrate National Punctuation Day!
Get creative, word people! National Punctuation Day is a chance to celebrate elegance in the mundane. The following are some ideas:
- Why not overuse the interrobang because you can?!
-
Brush up on when the punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.
For example, according to the Chicago Manual of Style, question marks and exclamation points “should be placed inside quotation marks, parentheses, or brackets only when . . . part of the quoted or parenthetical matter”!
- Combine two sentences with a semicolon just for kicks; impress your friends.
- Practice using hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes. It’s not hard—try getting them into your long-term memory by repeating examples 2–3 times.
- Tell a comma joke! (Why did the comma cross the sentence, he went to get to the other splice.)
Show us how you celebrate: #NationalPunctuationDay
SOURCE: National Day Calendar