A Short History of Punctuation

EARLYGREEKSHAD HARDLYANYPUNCTUATION
FONOITCERIDEHTDEGNAHCNEVEDNA*
THEIRWRITINGATTHEENDOFEACHLINELATER
GNITIRWFOYAWAOTDEGNAHCYEHT*
THATFAVOREDRIGHTHANDEDPEOPLEANDSHOWED
WHEREANEWPARAGRAPHBEGANBYUNDELINING
THEFIRSTLINEOFITLATERTHEGREEKPLAYWRIGHT
ARISTOPHANES , INVERTEDMARKSTOSHOW , WHERE
THEREADERSSHOULDTAKEBREATH:
THE . ROMANS . MADE . WRITING . MUCH . EASIER .
TO . READ . BY . PUTTING . DOTS . BETWEEN . WORDS .
AND . BY . MOVING . THE . FIRST . LETTER . OF . A .
PARAGRAPH . INTO . THE . LEFT . MARGIN . THEY .
ADAPTED . SOME . OF . THE . GREEK . MARKS. SUCH . AS . THE . COLON . MARK .
TO . INDICATE . PHRASE . ENDINGS:
INTHEEARLYMIDDLEAGESTHISSYSTEMOFPUNCTUATION
BROKEDOWNBECAUSEVERYFEWPEOPLECOULDREAD
ANDWRITE BUTWRITERSKEPTASPACEATTHEENDOF
ASENTENCEANDCONTINUEDTOMARKPARAGRAPHS
EVENTUALLY WORDS WERESEPARATED AGAIN AND NEW SENTENCES BEGAN
WITH A LARGER LETTER
*Hint: Try reading from right to left.
 A Short History of Punctuation
by Polly M. Robertus
Early Greeks had hardly any punctuation and even changed the
direction of their writing at the end of each line. Later, they changed to a way of
writing that favored right - handed people and showed where a new paragraph
began by underlining the first line of it.

Later, the Greek playwright Aristophanes, invented marks to show

there readers should take breath.

The Romans made writing much easier to read by putting dots

between words and by moving the first letter of a paragraph into the left margin.
They adapted some of the Greek marks such as colon mark to indicate phrase
endings.

In the early Middle Ages, this system of punctuation broke down

because very few people could read and write but writer skept a space at the
end of a sentence and continued to mark paragraphs.Eventually, words were
separated again and new sentences began with a larger lettter .
we went to the library yesterday
there were many good books i
picked a book about dogs my
sister liked the book about stars
we stayed for along time we
read our books when we got
home.
We went to the library
yesterday. There were many
good books. I picked a book
about dogs; my sister liked the
book about stars. We stayed for
along time. We read our books
when we got home.
 There are
Using big certain rules to
letter or follow in
upper-case capitalizing
letter the letters
Marks used in
writing to
separate
sentences, phrases,
and other
elements to clarify
its meaning
 Woman
Let’s eat
without
Granpa her man is
nothing
Woman Woman
withoutwithout
her manher isman is
nothingnothing