Common Writing Errors 3: Multiple Punctuation Marks

Hello Everyone

After my previous Common Writing Errors post, a friend asked if I could do one on that social media blight, multiple exclamation marks. Not that social media is the only place this error occurs. I have also seen it in students’ writing over the years, possibly because of texting and the like. So, I was happy to oblige (Thanks, Dai), though to give this post a little more substance, I decided to make the topic ‘multiple punctuation marks’.

The first rule (or guideline, if you prefer) is Don’t. Don’t use multiple punctuation marks at all. I certainly remember being told this during one of my grammar courses years ago. However, the person who drilled that rule into me was obviously not a practitioner and so hadn’t thought of occasions such as this:

‘What do you mean Susan said “How come the party isn’t at my place?”?’ Trevor said.

That’s four punctuation marks in a row in a legitimate sentence!

So, the rule should be, Don’t use multiple punctuation marks when they are unnecessary. An example of this would be another common texting-influenced habit:

She’s pregnant?!

The pedant in me wants to say, Make up your mind: the statement is either a question—Is she pregnant?—or an exclamation—She’s pregnant! You can’t have it both ways.

Yet, this particular punctuation mark has a name, the Interrobang, a combination of ‘interrogatio, which is Latin for ‘an inquiry, an interrogation’, and bang, which is printers’ slang for the exclamation mark. The interrobang is used in informal writing, such as texting, to show a combination of surprise and question, though something like the sentence below is getting ridiculous:

Simon did what?!?!?!

I realise that such usage helps in communications that don’t have the space to show emotion, but there really isn’t a place for it in formal writing, in which the writer should have the skill to convey emotion to the reader through appropriate word choice. The only exception to this might be a first person narrative in which such usage, as in the case of slang or poor grammatical structure, is trying to convey something about the personality of the narrator.

Now to the original reason for this post: multiple exclamation marks. My first reaction is that one shouldn’t use exclamation marks at all because, as F Scott Fitzgerald once said, An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke. To use an exclamation mark is to tell the reader something is important, whereas you should use language around that something to convey its importance.

Compare

‘Get out!’ Harry shouted to his son.

with

Harry slammed his palms down on the dining table. ‘Get out,’ he said through clenched teeth.

The first statement tells the reader, in heavy-handed language (the exclamation and the shouting) what happened, while the second shows what happened and gives the reader a chance to feel the emotions of the event.

The observant amongst you would have realised I actually used an exclamation mark earlier in this post. That’s because I wanted to show that there are situations where they can be used for emphasis, but the trick is not to overuse them. My advice would be to only to use one per chapter, or per article, as in this case.

Finally, given all of the above, the answer to my friend’s concern is the rule that one should not use multiple exclamation marks at all, even in social media. To do so would be like laughing uncontrollably at your own joke and not realizing everyone else is backing away and looking at you as if you’re mad.

I hope you now won’t be tempted to use multiple punctuation marks of any sort unless the grammar requires it or you’re texting and haven’t the space for nuanced writing.

As always, I welcome any comments?! J

Warm wishes

Earl

Cyfaredd 18: Research on Ynys Môn—Day Two, Part Two

Haia Pawb

The last time I visited Ynys Môn, I caught up with Eflyn Owen-Jones, whose father, William Owen Roberts, head groundsman of RAF Valley, was the discoverer in 1943 of the amazing Llyn Cerrig Bach treasures that are now on display in the St Fagans National History Museum (part of the National Museum of Wales). I had discovered her blog when researching locations for that trip and emailed her. She kindly agreed to take me to Llyn Cerrig Bach and also Barclodiad Y Gawres ('the apronful of the giantess'), a Neolithic cruciform passage grave on the south-western side of the island. We spent a delightful day visiting both sites and discussing the pre-history of Ynys Môn over a light lunch.

Information board

Entrance to Barclodiad Y Gawres (and Eflyn's dog)

One of the inscribed stones inside the tomb

Eflyn and me inside the tomb

Information board

Llyn Cerrig Bach--the first pool

Llyn Cerrig Bach--the second pool, in which the treasures were likely found

Crescentic Shaped Plaque

Gang Chain (Slave Chain)

Prior to this trip to Ynys Môn, I contacted Eflyn and agreed to meet for afternoon tea at the Holyhead Maritime Museum bistro. I thought the meeting was just to catch up about what we’d both been up to since my last trip, but Eflyn had decided to take me sightseeing again. She is enormously proud of the history of Ynys Môn and of her father’s contribution to it and happy to share the island’s sites with visitors. So, for the rest of the afternoon Eflyn guided me to four interesting sites, three well-known, one not:

Holyhead Mountain Hut Group

Also known as Cytiau’r Gwyddelod (‘The Irishmen's Huts’), the Holyhead Mountain Hut Group is located along a southwest to northeast level terrace of land towards the southwestern end of the mountain. Parking is close by and once you climb over a stile, you’re only yards away from the first restored stone base of the 20 buildings (from an estimated 50 originally found in the 1860s) on the site. Some of these are dwellings and some are storage areas or workshops. There seem to be two types of building techniques. With the first, the majority of the buildings, turf filled the double stone walls and they have grass floors. At the other end of the site, there is a building that has solid stone walls and a stone floor (see pictures). As for the age of the site, estimates range from the Neolithic to the Dark Ages, with the likelihood that the site has been in operation for the whole period, though maybe only with s few huts in use at any one time. This is born out by finds from the site, which include flint arrowheads, part of a stone axe and pottery remains as well as a small hoard of Roman coins.

Aerial view of the Holyhead Mountain hut group

View of Snowdonia from Holyhead Mountain

One of the dwellings, showing the entrance, the earthen/grass floor and the turf-filled stone walls.

Possibly a storage structure, given that it is built into the ground

Possibly another type of storage structure or a workshop

Another dwelling

An all-stone dwelling

South Stack Lighthouse

While not a pre-historic site that might have been useful for my novel, the iconic South Stack lighthouse was worth a visit. It is built on Ynys Lawd, a small rocky island just off the edge of Holy Island, which itself is an island just barely separate from the main part of Anglesey. To reach the lighthouse, you need to descend a switchback stairway running down the cliff face, over 400 steps down. At the bottom, a bridge carries the visitor over a chasm to the island. We didn’t have time for such a visit, so wondered along the roadway nearby and watched the goings on around us. The sun bringing out t-shirts and sandals. Seabirds circling and dipping in the cool Atlantic breeze. Wildflowers on the mountain slopes. Intrepid tourists climbing down to the lighthouse. A chat about who Elin of Elin's Tower fame (built as a summer house in the early- to mid-1800s by the local Stanley family) might have been.

South Stack lighthouse. The steep staircase to it is just visible to the right of the picture.

View from the clifftop out to sea

Elin's Tower (Twr Elin). Now the information centre for the RSPB
(Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Wildflowers on the cliff slope above South Stack lighthouse

Roundhouse Remnants

Eflyn then took me to a little-known site of barely recognisable roundhouse remains, which is near the site of a busy road intersection and across the road from the lovely bay of Porthdafarch. Most people would not know the significance of the land they are driving past. Maybe this is true of most 'natives' of the area, in that they are too busy with their nine-to-five jobs and the demands of 21^st century living to explore their heritage. A pity, really, because if you are unaware of where you (meaning family and ancestors) come from, you aren’t grounded in your land and your history and may miss out on the strength and inspiration such grounding can give you.

People drive past without knowing...

...someone lived here once 

Penrhos Feilw Standing Stones

Finally, we visited a pair of standing stones situated on a small plateau behind the farmhouse of Plas Meilw, about 2km southwest of Holyhead and not far from the roundhouse remnants. The stones, which are about 3m tall, but only 20cm thick, were probably erected in the Bronze Age and are aligned southwest-northeast along their long axes. The interesting aspect of their sighting is that when you view the stones from the south to south-east, they frame Holyhead Mountain (see photo). Eflyn tells me that the stones are thought to form part of a pre-historic network with the Holyhead Mountain Hut Group and Barclodiad Y Gawrs.

The Penrhos Standing tones framing Holyhead Mountain.
Note the gorse on the surrounding hill slope.

The Penrhos Standing Stones and Eflyn

The Penrhos Standing Stones and me

After this stop, Eflyn and I parted ways. I am grateful to her for taking time out of her busy schedule spreading the message about her father’s finds at Llyn Cerrig Bach to help an Australian with Welsh ancestry discover more of his heritage and explore possible settings for his creative work.

As always, I hope you’re enjoying these posts and I welcome any comments.

Cofion cynnes

Earl