What do you think of when you think of the word "treat?" Eating something yummy? Someone paying for your food? These are great things. Now, think about what your understanding of my first sentence would have been if I hadn't used quotation marks on the word "treat." I could have been talking about some kind of word treat, such as a treat with letters on it or edible letters that make a word.
This helps us see that punctuation can affect meanings. Here are three sentences I came across that aren't particularly clear because of punctuation errors.
Your birthday has a link? (The quotation marks should end after "birthday.")
We can guess what this text meant, but it would be clearer if the period was a comma.
Hmmm...does this mean "I can't fire you?" "I can't preserve you in a can?" Or "I can't. Can you?" Punctuation can change meanings. It makes a difference!
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