punctuation mark

14 Stories

AI Is Stealing Our Em Dashes
AI Is Stealing Our Em Dashes
Oct 13, 2025 5:40 PM CDT

AI Is Stealing Our Em Dashes

The beloved piece of punctuation has become a tell-tale sign of AI

(Newser) - Grammar nerds, brace yourselves—AI isn't just stealing creative jobs, it's stealing em dashes. The Guardian 's James Shackell writes that an editor recently told him to get rid of all the em dashes from his writing because "people assume that means it's written by...

Writers Aren't Using Semicolons Anymore
Writers Aren't Using
Semicolons Anymore
in case you missed it
May 31, 2025 4:15 PM CDT

Writers Aren't Using Semicolons Anymore

A study shows a sharp decline in use of the widely misunderstood punctuation mark

(Newser) - Seeing a semicolon is becoming increasingly rare; it seems that writers—especially young ones—don't understand how to use them. Instances of the misunderstood piece of punctuation in English-language books has dropped by nearly half in the past two and a half decades from once every 205 words in...

Germans Not Happy With New Rules on 'Idiot's Apostrophe'

Or would that be 'idiots apostrophe' in German?

(Newser) - Worldly punctuation pros know that Germans typically don't use an apostrophe to indicate the possessive—meaning it's correct to write "Newsers readers," not "Newser's readers." According to the Council for German Orthography, however, which dictates grammar for schools and other public institutions in...

UK's New Health Secretary Bans a Punctuation Mark

Memo to Therese Coffey's staff asks them to avoid use of Oxford commas

(Newser) - If Therese Coffey, the UK's new health secretary, saw the Twitter comment "Therese Coffey can take a running jump, give her head a wobble, and get in the bin," would she be most upset at a) the casual insult, b) the lack of substantive criticism related to...

Missing Apostrophe in Rant May Prove Costly

Defamation case hinges on punctuation

(Newser) - It's not unusual to come across an online rant with bad punctuation. But in this case, it might cost the author a hefty penalty. As a story in the Guardian explains, an Australian real estate agent unloaded on his boss in a Facebook post, accusing his superior of failing...

Why It's Rude to Text 'OK'
You Can't Just Text 'OK'
opinion
Nov 28, 2019 1:00 PM CST

You Can't Just Text 'OK'

Nick Douglas urges you to at least use an exclamation mark

(Newser) - Think "OK" and "Yes" are good responses in a text? If so, please use an exclamation point to sound more positive—at least according to freelance writer Nick Douglas. "Otherwise you might sound passive aggressive, dismissive, or angry," he writes at Lifehacker . "There's a...

$5M Lawsuit Over an Oxford Comma Is Settled

Maine dairy drivers' suit stemmed over unclear verbiage on overtime

(Newser) - Maine dairy drivers who p icked a court fight over grammar have an extra $5 million to show for their geekery, reports the AP . Oakhurst Dairy drivers settled their 2014 lawsuit last week for a relatively big pay day—they had originally sought $10 million—after a federal appeals...

Drivers Win Overtime Appeal Thanks to Missing Punctuation
Dairy Drivers in Maine Are
Celebrating a Missing Comma
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Mar 19, 2017 4:00 PM CDT

Dairy Drivers in Maine Are Celebrating a Missing Comma

Court rules in their favor in labor dispute that came down to lack of punctuation

(Newser) - For instilling in us a love of language, we offer a shout-out to our English teachers, William Safire and Mary Norris . In that sentence, we're trying to thank our teachers plus those two grammar gurus. If you didn't read it that way, witness the importance of the Oxford...

Missing Comma Saves Woman From Ticket

Improper punctuation keeps Ohio village from collecting on parking citation

(Newser) - An appeals court has agreed with an Ohio woman who said her parking citation should be tossed because the village law was missing a comma. Andrea Cammelleri says she shouldn't have been issued a citation in 2014 based on the wording of the law enacted by the village of...

Obama's Slogan Raises Grammar Questions
Obama. Slogan. Infuriating. Grammar. Dorks.
in case you missed it
Aug 4, 2012 6:50 AM CDT

Obama. Slogan. Infuriating. Grammar. Dorks.

Is that period effective—or even correct?

(Newser) - President Obama's re-election campaign slogan isn't just "Forward"—it's "Forward." And that little period is causing quite a bit of controversy, the Wall Street Journal reports. First of all, there's the question of whether the period takes away from the slogan's...

Stop With Those Awful Exclamation Points

Steve Macone says they replace real friendliness

(Newser) - Who could hate a friendly little punctuation mark? Steve Macone could, and does, even though he's addicted to using it. "I've come to hate" exclamation points in texts and emails, he writes at Salon . "'See you at 1:00 for the meeting,' I type,...

Dear Writers: 'Leave the Damn Em Dash Alone'

It's overused and inefficient: Noreen Malone

(Newser) - Might one overused punctuation threaten the integrity of modern prose? Noreen Malone thinks so, and she points to the em dash as culprit. But wait, "doesn't a dash—if done right—let the writer maintain an elegant, sinewy flow to her sentences?" she asks in her anti-em-dash essay...

Punctuation Fans Pour Their He@rts Out

!, @, ?, and others mark the spot of blog readers' affections

(Newser) - Curious? Excited!? Thrilled to see @ move from obscurity to virtual omnipresence? Tell your favorite punctuation mark how you feel. "We’re combining two of our top-ten passions in life and challenging you to write a letter to your favorite punctuation mark," write the editors of the...

Finally! A Sarcasm-Specific Punctuation Mark

Experts not sure you need to pay $1.99 to get it across

(Newser) - Sarcastic people around the world, rejoice—a father-son team has finally developed a punctuation mark purpose-built to make sarcasm clear in written and electronic communication. “Questions have the question mark, exclamations have the exclamation point,” reasons the elder creator. The SarcMark is “the 21st century’s punctuation....

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