Inscribed on the black / white / digital board (please delete as appropriate according to era):

whats for lunch john asked pete

The question to the class, ‘Who’s talking, John or Pete? Hands up for John,’ and so on.
The class is divided yet, gradually, the ‘Johns’ begin to recognise the ‘Petes’ have a point and vice-versa. Then the request for the guinea pig, the punctuating pioneer.

‘Who’d like to come up and punctuate these words?’

It’s a great classroom exercise, especially watching the penny drop, the understanding that punctuation determines meaning. While the marks in this specific example are defining there is a far greater subtlety to punctuation which can determine meaning: the intent, the nuance of the author. What follows is not a eulogy; it is an encouragement.
Teaching the apostrophe to a class of eleven-year-olds was always entertaining. We would talk about contraction and abbreviation, showing examples and doing exercises. Shortly thereafter, in any writing, creative, discursive, or comprehension answer, a severe, contagious outbreak of apostrophitis would develop. Any word ending with an s, the rogue apostrophe would rear its inappropriate, misplaced head. As with any outbreak, cases would decline through practice and remedial measures (ie marking and correction). In defence of the pupil, it is complicated and it’s easier when you know how.
Using the apostrophe correctly will put young people and students ahead of many adults. The incorrect placing is all too often seen on posters, signs, vans

and shops. Do the sign-writers not try to correct their customers? Are they not a little embarrassed? Looking at a particular school’s website recently – no names mentioned – the Head’s welcome read as follows: ‘We have high expectations for our pupil’s progress…’ I was left to draw the conclusion it must be a very exclusive school.
And now there is talk of the seemingly moribund semi-colon; yet another added to the list of endangered species. I do like to see a little grammatical controversy in the media: these things still matter as language becomes condensed in our fast-paced world of immediate, spontaneous communication.
The declining semi-colon has undeservedly come under scrutiny though, in one usage, it provides an important break, a stop-gap between the comma and full stop. Its correct application adds subtle emphasis. Then there’s The Oxford Comma; no stranger to controversy. I’ll not engage in that heated debate which could fill a page in its own right. Whether proponent or opponent, advocating or not, each is arguing against ambiguity in defence of meaning.
What I’m really driving at is the importance of accuracy and clarity. There is a precision to scientific and mathematical formulae. Why should that not be the case with language and, it follows, punctuation? As our young people settle into the new academic year, as assignments and essays proliferate, I encourage them to embrace the technicalities of punctuation. Text messages and even emails have evolved into a concise language of their own, yet these are informal means of communication. The formality, the academic process of writing, deserves something better.

Mike’s book, Careering, is available now with troubador.co.uk.
You can contact Mike at mikepiercy@hotmail.com
with your education-related queries.