Punctuation Complexity Treemap

THE PUNCTUATION COMPLEXITY TREE MAP There are roughly sixty-eight ways to use the fourteen punctuation marks. What percentage of rules does each mark account for? (In theory, the fewer the rules, the simpler they should be to learn and use correctly.) Separate Items in a List COMMA APOSTROPHE COLON HYPHEN Separate Coordinate Adjectives Join Coordinating Conjunctions Between Two Independent Clauses 20% Join Dependent Clauses 10% 10% 10% Separate Conditional Clauses Create Compound Adjectives Separate Appositives Join Introductory Phrases Spell Two-Digit Numbers Separate Direct Addresses Clarify Verbs with Prefixes Separate Interjections Make a Noun Possessive Join Prefixes to Capitalized Words Omit Letters and Numbers Join a Number to a Word Separate Day of the Month from the Year Create Plural Single Letters Join a Prefix to a Date Separate Numbers Over 999 Separate Cities & Counties from States Make Acronyms Possessive Expand or Clarify a Main Clause Separate Prefixes & Suffixes When Set Apart Abbreviations Create Plural Possessions Introduce a List Same Three Letters come in a Row Create Compound Possessions Show a Title within a Heading Set Apart Quotations Follow a Salutation in a Formal Letter Designate Time Separate Titles & Subtitles Show a Ratio Show Dialogue in a Play BRACKETS QUOTATION MARKS QUESTION 8% [] 66 Insert Comments inside Quote Indicate a Direct Quotation 8% MARK 4% Modify Quoted Nouns and Pronouns Indicate a Dictionary Definition Insert [sic] to Show Original Error Indicate Sarcasm or Snarkiness Ask a Question (End of Sentence) Identify Added Emphasis Address a Word as a Word Ask a Question (Mid-sentence) Replace Parentheses inside Parentheses Indicate a Title of a Short Media Piece ELLIPSIS PERIOD EM DASH EXCLAMATION PARENTHESES Insert Related but 6% 6% 4% POINT 4% Unnecessary Info 4% Interject a Main Clause for Emphasis Show Excitement Clarify a Writer's State of Clarify with Added Detail Give Emphatic Clarification Mind Indicate Omission of Words Complete a Statement Indicate Citations Indicate Hesitating Speech End a Fragment Interrupt Thought or Change Direction Express Anger Indicate Speech Being Cut Off Create Abbreviations Join Two Related Complete Sentences SEMICOLON 4% • EN DASH Indicate Speech Trailing Off Identify Acronyms Separate Complex List Items 2% Separate List Items With Commas Indicate a Period of Time Designed by Curtis Newbold | TheVisualCommunicationGuy.com | 2019