While grammar mistakes may detract from your credibility and hurt your reputation, don’t forget when proofreading your text for punctuation mistakes. Punctuation errors are just as likely to hurt your credibility.
Here are 5 punctuation mistakes to avoid when blogging and writing content.
1. Multiple Punctuation Marks
Limit yourself to one exclamation point, regardless of how excited you may be when writing. This also applies to questions marks and to the ellipsis (which should have only three dots).
Wrong: FutureRanking is amazing!!!!
Wrong: The woman was sad……
Right: FutureRanking is amazing!
Right: The woman was sad…
2. Comma Splice
When a comma is used to separate independent clauses, there must be a conjunction connecting them. If the conjunction is missing, then you have a comma splice. You can easily fix any comma splice by using a period or adding a conjunction.
Wrong: The coffee costs $50, I am going to buy it.
Right: The coffee costs $50. I am going to buy it.
Right: The coffee costs $50, and I am going to buy it.
3. Apostrophe for Plurals
An apostrophe is used to form contractions (e.g., It’s time for Africa) and to indicate possession (e.g., John’s pen is red), but never to form plurals.
Wrong: The dog’s will go for a walk tomorrow.
Right: The dogs will go for a walk tomorrow.
4. Punctuation Outside the Quotation Marks
Punctuation should go inside the quotation marks, even if it not part of the quotation itself.
Wrong: Rich said, “My MacBook is white”.
Right: Rich said, “My MacBook is white.”
5. Quotation Marks for Emphasis
Quotation marks are used to quote speeches, sentences or words. They can’t be used to add emphasis to a word or sentence. I would recommend using boldface type to emphasis a word.
Wrong: This latte is “free”!
Right: This latte is free!
With these punctuation tips in mind, your writing will greatly improve and your blog posts will no longer suffer from grammatical errors.
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