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Linguist Slams 'Naive' Punctuation Guidance
1 Jun
Summary
- School advisors misunderstand comma complexity, says expert.
- Exam boards wrongly penalize students over comma use.
- Oxford and Cambridge Universities have differing comma rules.
Linguistics expert David Crystal has criticized the Department for Education's guidance for schools, particularly concerning punctuation.
Crystal stated that school advisors are "not aware of the complexity of decisions they are asking kids to make," leading to the incorrect penalization of students by exam boards.
He pointed to the Oxford comma as a prime example, explaining that the debate over its use before 'and' in a list dates back to the 18th century. Both Oxford University Press, which advocates for its use (the Oxford comma), and Cambridge University Press, which omits it, have historically made different decisions, yet both styles are considered correct.
Crystal expressed frustration that current guidance effectively bans the Oxford comma, forcing students who use it to be marked down. He also noted his professional interest in the evolving use of punctuation, such as the decline in full stop usage compared to the 19th century, and finds 'Radio 3 syndrome'—where presenters drop their voice at the end of a sentence—particularly irritating.
