Abstract

There is nothing mysterious about punctuation. It is based upon simple principles. The “rules” which one can find in all sorts of books are usually true enough, but they tend to make the matter seem unnecessarily complicated, and they do not show why they are true. The more practical approach is to consider certain typical situations and what they naturally require. The important thing, of course, is good sentence-structure. What correct punctuation does is to keep that structure unmistakably clear for the innocent reader who does not know what is coming.