When you're young, you keep reading new writers and you keep changing your mind about how you ought to sound.
Paul AusterRead
If a period is a stop sign, then what kind of traffic flow is created by other marks? The comma is a speed bump; the semicolon is what a driver education teacher calls a “rolling stop”; the parenthetical expression is a detour; the colon is a flashing yellow light that announces something important up ahead; the dash is a tree branch in the road.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote uses traffic signs and signals as metaphors for different punctuation marks to illustrate their functions in writing.
Roy Peter Clark creatively compares punctuation marks to traffic signs and road conditions, suggesting that just as these signs guide drivers through the roadways, punctuation guides readers through written texts. Each mark plays a distinct role, indicating pauses, transitions, and emphasis that shape the reader's understanding and experience of the written message.
Themes
PunctuationWritingMetaphorCommunicationEducation
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop, I used this quote to demonstrate the importance of punctuation.
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