What
is English?
16th August 2006
Recently,
we've been working for several clients who have widely differing views
of the English language as used in business.
First, there's
the client who prefers heavy punctuation with commas, semicolons and other
marks used at every possible opportunity to help the reader fully understand
the message in the text.
Then there's
the client who prefers minimal punctuation, which leads the reader to
stop frequently because it's not always easy to understand what is being
said.
There are
advantages and disadvantages to both approaches. Heavy punctuation can
help to ensure the meaning is understood, but can get in the way. Light
punctuation keeps the text uncluttered, but can hinder understanding.
The whole
point of punctuation is to guide and help the reader. Surely, the best
approach is to use sufficient punctuation to enable the reader to read
at a good speed and to understand what is being said.
Writing for
business usually requires the message to be understood fully, quickly
and easily. The best way to achieve this is to put personal preferences
aside and use only the punctuation that the readers needs, because if
the reader can't understand the writing, it's a waste of everyone's time.
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