Can parents ever learn to text like their kids? Should they even try?

Punctuation plays a vital role in shaping how writing is understood. From full stops to semicolons, each mark helps guide meaning, structure, and emotion in a sentence. Misuse can lead to confusion, ...

With spoken English you can trust your instincts but with punctuation you should stick to the rules. When it comes to grammar and word usage, English speakers can trust their instincts. For example, ...

“Although there are no hard and fast grammatical rules, it’s better to err on the side of caution, following rules that courts have recognized.” To quote a popular saying: “Let’s eat grandpa. Let’s ...

Punctuation is a set of specific marks or symbols that we used to express the meaning of our sentences clearly and to make the flow of the text smooth. It shows us where we need to pause, it separates ...

One of my students once told me that when she writes something she always puts a comma wherever she thinks someone should take a breath. She defended this by saying this is what they do in a musical ...

Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. There’s no denying that commas are helpful little flecks of punctuation. They allow us to separate ...

A few years back I set out to write a comprehensive punctuation book — one that laid out the rules for proper punctuation in every situation imaginable. How naïve I was. You don’t have to spend a lot ...

Sign up for the daily CJR newsletter. Much ink has been spilled recently about how the lack of a comma could cost a local dairy millions of dollars in overtime pay ...