Does punctuation matter in an email message? Yes! Why is following the rules of punctuation so important? To answer that question, ask yourself another question – are your customers or colleagues going to be comfortable with your work when you can’t even punctuate a sentence properly? By using proper punctuation, you can demonstrate that you are professional and competent.
Want to see how good your punctuation skills are? Take the following quiz.
Quiz
Directions: Indicate whether the punctuation of each specified phrase is Correct ( C ) or Incorrect ( I ).
C I 1. (You’re) our first choice for this job.
C I 2. (Its) a beautiful city.
C I 3. (They’re) is a videoconference tomorrow.
C I 4. Please send the information by (Monday May 5).
C I 5. The teleconference was held in (September 2005).
C I 6. In (June 2006), we launched a new product.
C I 7. Call before (noon, or) you won’t be able to obtain a dinner
reservation.
Solutions
- Correct.
(You’re) is a contraction of “You are.” - Incorrect.
(Its) should be “It’s”
“It’s” is a contraction of “It is.”
- Incorrect.
(They’re) is a contraction meaning “They are.”
The correct choice for this sentence is “There.”
- Incorrect.
The correct punctuation is: “Monday, May 5.”
A comma is required to separate the day of the week from the month.
A comma is also required to separate the day of the month from the year,
as in “May 2, 2006.“
- Correct.
Don’t use commas when you are including only the month and day (June 1), or month and year (June 2006). - Correct.
Same reason as above. - Correct.
Since the conjunction “or” has an independent clause on both sides of it, you need a comma.
In case you were wondering, the subject in the first clause is the “understood you.” Since this is a command, the subject “you” is implied.
Score:
7 = You’re perfect. (But, you knew that already.) Keep emailing!
5 – 6 = You’re okay. You could learn a few tips from my book, Email Etiquette Made Easy (see link in resource box).
3 – 4 = You could use some help. Try my book, Email Etiquette Made Easy (see link in resource box).
Less than 3 = Ugh! Call me now! We’ll schedule your intense therapy immediately.