I believe in the power of punctuation I believe in the might of an exclamation mark to inform a reader of perceived excitement and the capabilities of parentheses to contain particularly irrelevant thoughts Such comfort lies in knowing that my right ring finger has the liberty to place a small point in between two clauses and create two entirely separate sentences

These tiny symbols not only have the authority to declare the end but have also found their ways into our social repertoires Tiny smiles lie only among millions of small insignias that have been created with the thirty two punctuation marks available on the standard English keyboard

I believe that the informality of chatspeak lacks punctuation The abbreviations and misspellings are seemingly insignificant but the lacking periods commas and even exclamation marks drive me up the walls Even writing this essay without facilitating any punctuation causes my heart to wring around itself drowning in a puddle of eight periods five commas and one hyphen that should have been used in these first three paragraphs

On a damp and drizzly February day a well placed comma has the supremacy to make a rainbow arc above my heart A semicolon in just the right spot is exactly what an essay needs for extra oomph I know that a semicolon in the wrong place has the power to ruin a paper like no other punctuation mark does After a prepositional phrase a missing comma is just what it takes to make axons inside my cerebrum frantically connect and reconnect double checking for a punctuation mark that I must have overlooked Its exactly what leaves me wishing that I was in possession of red pens so that I could begin inserting absent punctuation marks and soothing the eye sore of a misplaced quotation mark

More than anything though I believe in the importance of punctuation Without that squiggly at sign before the domain of email addresses messages would go undelivered daily Appointments would be missed greetings would go undelivered and long heartfelt messages would forever remain unread Punctuation is to writing as writing is to life as life is to breathing Its necessary Its vital Like a tilde wriggling in its way over the n in espanol I believe that a period simply belongs at the end of this sentence.