Punctuation in Order of Difficulty: Why We Should Fear Commas More than Semicolons

Punctuation matters. It provides rhythm and cadence to our sentences. It gives our words and phrases rhetorical emphasis, power, and pith. Most importantly, perhaps, punctuation provides clarity; it makes distinctions, separates ideas, and…it gives dramatic pauses.

But so many fear the punctuation marks. They only use what’s familiar: the periods, the questions, the exclamations, the quotations, the commas and—if they’re feeling brave—the apostrophes and the parentheses.

But there are more than six or seven punctuation marks. There are fourteen.

Those who learn to use all fourteen develop dramatic and noticeable difference in the quality of their writing. They begin to control their language. They start to make an impact.

Study this chart. Learn the fourteen marks. Stop fearing the semicolon.

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Most of the punctuation marks aren’t all that hard to figure out—they have a few basic rules. The comma, though, is complex. It has twice as many uses and rules (fourteen) as the next most complex marks (seven).

Start by learning the simpler ones. Add some semicolons and em dashes to your writing. Throw in an occasional parenthesis and ellipsis. Don’t go crazy, of course, but take command of your rhythm. Recognize where the emphasis is, then accentuate it with style.