Perils of punctuation

The importance of proper punctuation in English can never be over-emphasized. According to Byron Black (The Jakarta Post of June 30, 1995), deleting punctuation is dangerous; it can subvert meaning.

Yes, wrongly used, punctuation can confuse and mislead. No clear-cut rules exist in the correct usage of punctuation -- some depend on the context itself.

A class of students was given this sentence to punctuate correctly. "Woman without her man is a savage." The boys came up with this answer: " Woman, without her man, is a savage". The girls didn't lag behind -- they hit back brilliantly thus: "Woman! Without her, man is a savage".

Stalin once triumphantly announced to his colleagues that the expelled TROTSKY had written to him conceding " You were right! I was wrong! I must apologize!"

But the comrades who are asked to read out the letter did so quiet differently. "You were right? I was wrong? I must apologize?"

The story apparently left it to the imagination of the readers as to what ultimately happened to the comrade in question. The mark of interrogation must have surely questioned his very existence.

Let's look at this sentence. "Before leaving the girls clean up the office". Is this an order to clean up the office before leaving the girls? Or is it a simple statement that the girls clean the office before leaving? Obviously, we can't tell without proper punctuation.

Isn't it right that accurate punctuation indeed imparts precision to our writing?

D. CHANDRAMOULI

Jakarta