Which Punctuation Marks You?!

October 24, 2010 by  
Filed under Mini-Lessons, Writing Practice

You know the line from Coldplay’s “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall?” – “I’d rather be a comma than a full stop.” Which punctuation mark below would you rather be?! . . . .

.                    !                    ?                    ,                    ;

:                    –                   (   )                *                    #

@                 /                    ?!                 &                   =

”                  {   }                ^                  < >                ‘

~               . . .

  • Why did you choose the one you did?  How does this represent and symbolize you?

This was one of the opening activities at an AP conference I attended.  I circled the exclamation point without hesitation because I tend to overuse this mark – both in written and oral expression! In my work emails, for instance, I find myself hitting the back button to delete some to not sound overzealous.  In person, I’m known to exclaim my excitement wholeheartedly and randomly.  I walk into class telling my students how wonderful they are; I clap at the gym; I jump around at home.  True story.  As another example, my colleague claimed the % because she feels her life is divided into percentages:  as teacher, mother, wife, club sponser, etc.  Another example, a friend claimed he’s a semi-colon because he’s misunderstood as the semi-colon seems to be.  🙂  Which one are you?

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