An interesting-for-English-teachers article in today’s New York Times talks about the changes in the way people are employing the period at the end of sentences. The change is especially notable in text messages and tweets where the punctuation mark is often dropped completely. Really, if you think about it, why do you need to use a period at the end of a short message? It’s clear it’s over when the last word is written, making the period redundant. And in a tweet, why waste one of your precious 140 characters? It may not even be useful at the end of a paragraph
The article points out something else I find far more interesting: that choosing to use an optional period can actually change the tone of the sentence, adding the sense that the writer is annoyed, a distinction completely lost on an old grammarian like me
If the love of your life just canceled the candlelit, six-course, home-cooked dinner you have prepared, you are best advised to include a period when you respond “Fine.” to show annoyance
“Fine” or “Fine!,” in contrast, could denote acquiescence or blithe acceptance
As I’ve written in earlier posts, I’m not a card carrying member of the Language Police. I don’t think linguistic variations from accepted usage are necessarily errors, let alone signs of the crumbling of civilization. Likewise, I don’t think changes in the way people talk and write are indications of the deterioration of communication. Take “up talking,” that tendency, which I find annoying, of making the ends of statements sound like questions. Linguistic scholars who have looked carefully at the nuances of “up talking” have found there are at least six different connotations of meaning, depending on the sound and the context. In other words, it’s a far more sophisticated method of communication than my old ears can decipher. Or take “Dude!” As was brilliantly laid out in a standup routine a few years ago, that one word statement can have numerous, very different meanings depending on the tone and context in which it’s delivered
So, long live the dropped period. Or if it has a short life, that’s OK too
When I’m confronted by changes that seem to me like degradations of language, I always try to remember that old literary cretin, William Shakespeare. He didn’t use anything like the punctuation we consider essential to civilized communication. I’ve also read he spelled his own name at least six different ways. What an idiot! Didnt he lern nothin in skul?
This article appears in Jun 9-15, 2016.
the period should not be construed as annoyed as the period just represents the conclusion of the message just conveyed as the lack of punctuation and capitalization really makes it difficult to comprehend the meaning of a bunch of meandering run-on sentences
As a professional freelance editor, I consider tweets, texts, and email messages to be on par with passing notes in class. The literary standard is low.
E.E. Cummings, James Joyce, Cormac McCarthy, Marcel Proust, William Faulkner, Samuel Beckett, Gertrude Stein. Terrible writers, couldn’t punctuate worth a damn.
“Punctuation … is like traffic signs, too much of it distracted you from the road on which you traveled.”
José Saramago
Rick, so glad you mentioned José Saramago along with the other notables. I love the books of his I’ve read. It takes awhile to get used to his freedom from punctuation rules, like writing long paragraphs made up of a conversation between two people without a quotation mark in sight. But once I get the hang of it, it creates a fluidity and continuity that’s different from the traditional use of punctuation to break language into phrases, sentences and paragraphs. Amazing, unique writer.
Safier, If Shakespeare “Didnt he lern nothin in skul”, he probably had a teacher like you…
I refuse to have my life run by some gremlins in some gizmo that may not be approved for my e-mails by the monitors in Washington, DC. If someone as high up as the next President of the United States, H. Clinton, of course, has problems with the such, where would a simple person who can barely count to 140 like me stand?
Anyway “The Language Police” exposed by Diane Ravitch in her book back in 2003 pointed to pressure groups as the responsible agents of what students learn.
So those who claim to be members of the Language Police squad are going to have to get in the line with the Koch Boys who are willing to finance keeping us in the dark with their shady well-placed tax deduction money.
Which of course puts them in front of Congress in appropriating money. Whoever came up with the idea of tax deductions must not have agreed to the way the feds spent their tax money and figured out a way to beat them to the punch.
if words and ideas are chosen carefully
punctuation and capitalization become irrelevant
distracting
language is fluid
language changes to meet current mentality
a good change would be to drop distracting elements
thereby getting to the point more quickly
My children have very good careers and did well through college earming master degrees. thankful that their K-8 teachers did not command high punctuation standards although learning & teaching a second language was mandatory
Grandma Suzy, I am willing to bet your children’s great support and the large role in the education process was played out at home. Adopt all the kids around you encourage and cultivate education ethics for them. Help build pride and awareness of the benefits of educations. Plenty of work still to be done all around us.