Sunday, July 28, 2013

Grammar Factoid

While I was at the bank today, the TV screen they have started mentioning factoids. It stated that punctuation wasn't used until the fifteenth century when the printing press was invented. Until then thewordsrantogetherlikethis.

However, as I did the research I found that wasn't exactly true. English has always used some form of punctuation, but it wasn't standardized until the invention of the printing press. In the ninth century, the Romans started using dots to separate words.

Later, a librarian in Alexandria became the first to coin the terms "comma," "colon," and "period," although they were very different from what we use today.

It's interesting to see how grammar evolved.

3 comments:

Lee said...

Yes...it is...and it's good that it's being brought to the notice of the general public. I hope that many others further their research as you have done, Janice from what your learned while waiting at the bank...what a great idea.

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Lee,

I love learning new things and of course being a writer the factoid about punctuation caught me attention. :)

Janice~

Janice Seagraves said...

Hi Elaine,

Thank you. :)

Janice~