Now I know this is going to drive my editor crazy and my exceptional journalism teacher Ernestine Robinson will turn in her grave but I no longer see the need for punctuation and so I insist that this column be without it
I am getting lazier by the day and when I text I do not punctuate The recipients of my texts know full well whether I am asking a question or when I am making a declarative statement whatever that is
Lest we be unclear as to what punctuation is Google defines it as the marks such as period comma and parentheses used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning
Is there anything unclear about questions such as How do you do or Where are my shoes or Why do birds sing when the sun rises In all instances you immediately realize that I am asking a question and the question mark is certainly not needed It is superfluous not necessary and requires the additional effort of hitting another key on the keyboard
Similarly you can figure out when a sentence is complete without a period The fact that the very first word in the following sentence is capitalized ought to be a sufficient clue
As for exclamation marks which some people use obsessively I believe that Wow or Holy Cow does not need the assistance of an exclamation mark to drive home the point that you are excited beyond all get out
When you eliminate all this punctuation you can get on with your life and spend the valuable moments you have saved by perhaps taking a nap
In any case I think by this point you have gotten the idea and so I am done How do you know I am done without a period I tell you how I just said so