Punctuation infuriation

[Jenny]

I have a problem with semicolons, actually. I use them more than most people but I find that they tend not to show up properly in the middle of italic text on a computer screen. The dot usually disappears into the preceding letter and it looks like I've only used a comma.

[marksi]

I tend to over punctuate as I'm used to writing scripts that are to read out loud. It is much easier to read something that has too much punctuation than something that has too little.

[Nick Harvey]

I tend to over punctuate as I'm used to writing scripts that are to read out loud. It is much easier to read something that has too much punctuation than something that has too little.

Exactly.

Bugger the grammar; a comma for a short breath and a full stop for a long one.

[Finn]

I'm happy to use colons, although I have less of a place for semicolons in my writing. Usually its role gets reduced to little more than an alternative for a comma. Which brings me to my big problem in writing: I overuse commas. I have a nasty habit of marking out dependent clauses - something I got used to doing in my studies of German, which I carried back across to English. Sometimes it can be useful to make the meaning of a sentence more clear, yet when a sentence ends up having four of fives commas in it, I'm not sure that's indicative of efficiency in the writing.

Aha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that!

[bilky asko]

I'm happy to use colons, although I have less of a place for semicolons in my writing. Usually its role gets reduced to little more than an alternative for a comma. Which brings me to my big problem in writing: I overuse commas. I have a nasty habit of marking out dependent clauses - something I got used to doing in my studies of German, which I carried back across to English. Sometimes it can be useful to make the meaning of a sentence more clear, yet when a sentence ends up having four of fives commas in it, I'm not sure that's indicative of efficiency in the writing.

Aha! I'm glad I'm not the only one who does that!

Semi-colons are not replacements for commas - unless you use them in a list that lists multiword items or iin a list where the items already contain commas (despite what some people say...)

Dashes, ellipses, semi-colons, and colons - all underused punctuation. Commas are pithy, weak things; they only list, separate, and insert.

[Mr Q]

Semi-colons are not replacements for commas - unless you use them in a list that lists multiword items or iin a list where the items already contain commas (despite what some people say...)

Just to clarify: that's what I was referring to. I perhaps should have defined that more clearly.

[Finn]

Just to clarify: that's what I was referring to. I perhaps should have defined that more clearly.

Just to clarify I was talking about the demarcation of clauses with commas thing.