National Punctuation Day

Punctuation saves lives. A simple comma can take the innocent sentence “Let’s eat, Grandma!” to a less innocent “Let’s eat Grandma!” One sentence with two very different meanings! The first sentence being an invitation to your sweet old Gran to tuck into her meal. The second clearly suggests that she's the meal. Punctuation Day shares this type of wisdom with the world, and stops you making potentially murderous threats!

“A celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotation marks, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis”

National Punctuation Day is an annual event to promote, encourage and raise awareness of proper punctuation. The celebration occurs annually on September 24. Founded by Jeff Rubin in 2004, Rubin wrote in a 2011 blog for the Missouri State Teachers Association that he started National Punctuation Day because of concern about declining language skills. He noted that a 2007 study by California State University-East Bay showed almost 60 percent of incoming college freshmen needed remedial English classes. Rubin said he wanted to help educators remind students that punctuation still matters, even in an age of rapid-fire tweets and text messages. "We are graduating children from high schools now who cannot read and cannot write," he says. "When these kids get out into the real world, they're going to be unemployable." Information like this highlights where the focus should be, in the classroom! A Spelling Bee competition is a great way to get children and young adults to practice their spelling and grammar. Spelling Bees are a multiplayer spelling game that allows students from anywhere in the world to compete against each other while practising spelling! Many Spelling Bees now have a punctuation round where contestants are asked to verbally indicate what punctuation would be used in a sentence. So what are you waiting for? Start organising your Spelling Bee now!

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