Or should we all continue to be misunderstood?

In light of a recent BBC Capital article discussing how the misuse of a comma may cost a great deal, I turn to the art of punctuation. Because, surely, punctuation is an art? The way a writer punctuates is similar to the way an artist embellishes a work of art with colour and texture.

(The art of contractual punctuation, I shall leave to the lawyers).

"I read your book; the story is delightful, but your sentences are too long."

Wise words from my mother, an ex-English and Primary School teacher. Only to me, they were a blunt quill, stabbed unceremoniously into the back of my neck. Ouch!

I went back to my draft text (note, it was in draft) and re-read what I had written. Well, maybe some of the sentences did span more than three lines, but they all had commas or semicolons and even, dare I say it, colons - not to mention full stops - so why were they too long?

“Too long for children,” she told me.

I cut some of them short - no, that is not the right term. I shortened some of them. The dilemma arose. Short sentences quicken the narrative. However, they are easier to read. So, I suppose my more frugal syntax would enable the reader to catch his or her breath.

The rest of them, I obstreperously left them, just as they were.

The pedantic subject of punctuation continues to haunt me: in my sleep, my writing and my reading. Every time I pick up a book to read, I scour the prose, counting the number of lines in a sentence, how often commas are used, are there any semicolons?

Naturally, I relish the discovery of inordinately long sentences: “ha! Mother, see,” and of course any employment of a semicolon.

Modern texts, I have discovered, prefer light punctuation: a fair smattering of commas and very few, if any semicolons. It makes you read faster, whether you read it aloud or quietly; this is excellent news if you need to read a great many books in a rather short space of time. Nevertheless, this enforced speed reading leads you to occasionally stop and enquire whether you actually understood what you just read, or wrote.

Routinely, I resort to reading aloud. This has resulted in the knowledge that the meaning inside my head, may not translate correctly to my reader – something about reception theory or Wolfgang Iser or whoever else wishes to lay claim to this theory.

Hence, reading aloud to oneself may throw caution to the wind, but the idea of throwing semicolons, colons and the odd dash or bracket into the cauldron, certainly cooks up a slightly more palatable brew. No doubt, why I like reading JRR Tolkien, and JK Rowling, they liberally sprinkle their stories with vivid descriptions, vocabulary and of course, semicolons and colons!

JRR Tolkien’s Roverandum is a delightful story about a very naughty little dog. I can almost imagine one of those cheeky terriers chasing around, biting ankles, lost on a beach, or upon the moon or under the sea. To my great delight, this tale is strewn with semicolons, long sentences and intricate description. “Ha, take that!” (and I do not mean the Boy Band).

Recently, we marked the 100th anniversary of Marcel Proust's work: A La Recherche du Temps Perdu (In search of lost time). While driving home from a tutorial I chanced upon a BBC podcast about this particular work, Proust’s writing, what inspired him to write, and, above all, his use of punctuation.

I have foggy memories of reading Un amour de Swann at University. We dissected this literary masterpiece for themes, analysing the effects of involuntary memory to the point of killing the enjoyment. I vaguely recall the long, complex, and somewhat contorted sentences that needed to be read and then, re-read in order to ensure a level of comprehension. Some sentences filled a whole paragraph; some sentences went on for pages. I am informed one sentence another book ran for seventy pages! Now that is an overly long sentence.

All of this leads me to wonder whether we need punctuation. If there was no punctuation would we find ourselves even more misunderstood than we are already?

On the other hand, if you are some of my younger students, then you can leave the punctuation out and let the text flow. This makes for interesting, if not amusing, reading.

Why not try a little grammar and punctuation test that the Guardian newspaper published on-line? I had to complete it, if only to see if I can hold my head up high - which, somewhat with relief, I can. You can try it here.

You can download a brief guide to some of the more common punctuation marks here.