But the punctuation chart can still be useful, to students and teachers alike. Writers tend to commit the same few punctuation errors repeatedly, so that what looks like a paper riddled with bad punctuation really has just two or three different errors, repeated. And though Dawkins debunks the handbooks and manuals, they still have their place. We need them to look up usages where convention, not rhetorical effect, rules in all genres. And that there's a hierarchical system the handbooks fail to acknowledge.
All punctuation is there for a reason.
It shows degrees of separation and emphasis. You can choose from zeros, commas, parentheses, or dashes. They too form a hierarchy, based on how much they emphasize the interrupter and separate it from the sentence. Word Works is published monthly during the school year by the BSU Writing Center and English Department, Boise, Idaho 83725.