5 Common Punctuation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them--- Utilizing correct punctuation won’t help you make friends or b

Utilizing correct punctuation won’t help you make friends or b

Utilizing correct punctuation won’t help you make friends or boost your business, but using punctuation incorrectly will make your book, magazine or catalog copy stand out like a sore thumb. Even if people can’t pinpoint your mistake, something will look off about your message, making people less likely to trust what you’re trying to say.
It’s always best to check your writing for common punctuation mistakes so you don’t inadvertently alienate those who will be reading your material.
Here are 10 of the most common punctuation errors people make and how you can avoid making them.
1. Extraneous Apostrophes--
The Problem: People putting apostrophes where they don’t belong.
Examples to avoid: It is all your’s. Five dollar’s off!
How to Avoid: In these cases, you want the plural form of the word, so just add an “s.” Add an apostrophe if you need the possessive form, such as, “That is my wife’s car.”
Apostrophes are also used for contractions, such as “shouldn’t” for “should not.”
2. Unnecessary Quotation Marks--
The Problem: The use of single or double quotation marks when nothing is being quoted.
Example to avoid: We offer the ‘best price in town’!
How to Avoid: If you’re not quoting something, don’t use single or double quotation marks. If you want to emphasize a specific part of your message, use a bold or italicized font.
3. Missing Commas--
The Problem: Without commas, sentences can become run-on blocks of text without any breaks. Example to avoid: I went to the store but they were closed so I went home.
How to Avoid: Speak the sentence aloud and take note of any breaks in your speech. Insert commas when you pause or when you change gears within a sentence.
4. Too Many Commas--
New Call-to-action---The Problem: Just the opposite of missing commas, it’s possible to include an excessive amount of commas in one sentence.
Example to avoid: I went to the store, but they were closed, so I got in my car, turned my radio on, backed out, and then went home.
How to Avoid: While there’s no set rule for how many commas constitutes too many, your eyes are the best judge of overuse. If you think you have too many in a single sentence, consider replacing a comma with a period to create separate sentences.
5. Excess Exclamation--
The Problem: Too many exclamation points in a body of work overwhelms the reader and devalues each individual exclamation point.
Examples to avoid: Our products are the best! They really work! Get yours today!
How to Avoid: Be tasteful with your exclamation points. Save them only for the big points and for the ends of paragraphs, leaving the reader on a high note.
~helenseasyenglish