Punctuation in English Parkes (1992), in his valuable study on the history of punctuation, states: "Punctuation developed through phases that coincided with changing patterns of literacy , whereby new generations of readers in different historical situations have imposed new demands on the same written medium' (p. 2). Punctuation is not a static pattern and even if we limit the discussion to Old and Modern English, it has changed considerably in time (Numberg, 1999). uses of punctuation are conventional; they change over time and vary from language to language, because without them punctuation would be completely peculiar and the possibilities of using it to facilitate communication would be lost or seriously hindered (Beard & et al., 2009).Some punctuation rules are mandatory: if we violate them, we have made punctuation errors. Others are optional: our choice is based on the effect and emphasis we wish to deliver. In this sense, Greenbaum and Nelson (2002: 183) state that "punctuation is an art". There was considerable debate between two schools: one believed that punctuation should be based on elocution (how a sentence is pronounced when read aloud). and the other believed that punctuation should be based on grammar (Petit: 2003; Curtis, 2007; Hall and Robinson, 1996; Parkes, 1992). The latter (the syntax-based approach) is the one we use today, which means the debate has been won since high school. Recently Dawkins (2003 and 1995) expressed a new belief: the teaching of punctuation should be based on meaning (the semantics-based approach). Dawkins (2003) assumes that writers have an intuitive sense of the independent clause…middle of paper…, p. 349). Furthermore, Chiang (1999) argues that in EFL writing, sentences may appear to be in the appropriate order, but in incongruent places due to inappropriate use or non-use of punctuation. Starting from the premise that students often have weak language skills, Warner (1979) interviewed 431 postsecondary students using four instruments: students' scores on an objective test, a classroom writing sample, an editing exercise, and a questionnaire. about background in English and attitude towards grammar and writing. He found that the greatest number of writing errors occurred in punctuation. She came up with: The high punctuation error rate resulted from 1) students not knowing the rules of punctuation, 2) knowing the rules but not being able to apply them to their writing, or 3) constructing sentences so poor that correcting punctuation was impossible (p.18).