UNIVERSITY DON HIHGLIGHTS SIGNIFICANCE OF PUNCTUATION MARKS

 UNIVERSITY DON HIHGLIGHTS SIGNIFICANCE OF PUNCTUATION MARKS

 

For communication to be effective, relevant punctuation marks should be well placed, to convey appropriately, the intended message across to the audience.

A Professor of English Language from the Federal University of Agriculture, Prof. Helen Bodunde, made the submission, at a training workshop for members of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Information Chapel, at Tech-Hub, Kobape Road, Abeokuta, in a paper presentation on ‘Punctuation for Effective Communication’.

Prof. Bodunde, pointed out that wrong usage of punctuation marks could mar a write-up and lead to misinformation, which would affect readers perception, stating that the marks determine emotions and attention of audience.

The university Don emphasised that headlines are the reader's first encounter, which must be sharp, concise and appealing. She also highlighted the need to have a good understanding of language to be used, taking cognisance of all its elements that include; full stop, comma, semi-colon, among others, noting that the organisation’s house style should not be jettisoned.

‘’Take cognisance of your house style and avoid redundancy, which punctuation marks can solve. Also, you should guide against ambiguity, particularly in your headlines, which are usually the readers first encounter, it must be sharp, concise and appealing", Bodunde said.

In another presentation, an expert in camera handling, with Television Continental (TVC), Mr. Ismail Sanni, spoke extensively on the importance of accompanying news stories with visuals/pictures, adding that doing this would make communication with the audience easier and break language barriers.

Sanni stressed that a camera handler should know what to achieve before taking any shot, to avoid blurred pictures, urging participants to always place camera on tripod to get perfect pictures.