In the beginning, supposedly before it all happened, one might assume there were merely commas and periods and question marks. Not much else. But…. What about??? The repetitive nature of all of these wonderful markings? And! Why not a few exclamation marks to make your point! And…. There is the ending that you want to carry on to a sequel, so why not add more …

Young writers love to overuse the repeated periods. These should only be in three’s, but quite often they have many more than three. I recall at least one student that filled an entire page with exclamation marks, wanting to totally emphasize his point. I reduced his passion to one exclamation mark. He wasn’t too happy.

How much is too much? I read and reviewed a book many years ago that was totally devoid of punctuation. That, thankfully, was well before the plague of acronyms, but still, it was a difficult read. After all, punctuation does have its place.

For example, without commas:

My three favorite things are eating my family and my pets.

And with commas:

My three favorite things are eating, my family, and my pets.

Now, arguably, perhaps you do enjoy eating your family and your pets. Here’s another example, without commas:

Let’s eat Grandma.

And with commas:

Let’s eat, Grandma.

There are sites online that share the disparity of commas and their uses and misuses, but let’s face it, commas are important. As are other forms of punctuation… to a point! However, some may argue that commas are the most important grammatical tool in the English language. Why? Because they provide cohesion in what’s being shared.

But, before the use of commas and other forms of punctuation, look way back in history to the beginnings of the written word. Did you know that up to the third century BC, the Greeks allowed their wordstoflowintooneanotherwithoutspacing? A librarian in Alexandria developed a system of dots to break up the words, to make it easier to read. Higher dots, middle dots, lower dots (like the periods we’re so fond of). There is an extensive history of how punctuation evolved, and, one could definitely argue that it’s still evolving.

So, history aside, how much punctuation is too much? It really depends on your editor how you answer that. However, you can help yourself along by reading your work out loud. Commas and other breaks are reflections of speech patterns. The examples provided above prove the point. The meaning is in how the written words sound when spoken out loud.

A few basic rules to remember:

- Periods should always end a sentence. Unless a question mark or exclamation mark is being used.

- Question marks should always end a sentence that is, quite simply, a question.

- Exclamation marks (a means to show emotion, emphasis, or surprise) should be used sparingly, as overuse is a sign of undisciplined writing. As one great writer, F. Scott Fitzgerald, explained, “using exclamation marks is like laughing at your own jokes.”

- Multiple periods or question marks or exclamation marks (known as an ellipsis) really don’t help emphasize the point, so avoid. It only serves to annoy the reader. The best use of ellipsis is to tell the reader that there are some missing words. For example:

He ran all the way…forgetting why he was in such a hurry.

Or to indicate a pause in dialogue: For example:

“I don’t know where to hide…”

- When ending a sentence within quotation marks (as in a passage of dialogue), make sure the period, question mark, or exclamation mark is inside the quotation mark.

- Use commas sparingly, but efficiently. It’s important to separate independent clauses with a comma, especially when they’re combined with these seven coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet.

- Use commas when separating items in a list, as in the earlier examples.

Ah! To punctuate, or not to punctuate. That is and always will be a valid and difficult question to answer. As I mentioned earlier, read your work out loud and listen to how it sounds before and after you punctuate. The listening ear is always (well, most of the time) the best guide.