Today marks the fifth anniversary of National Punctuation Day. Today is a time to celebrate the importance of punctuation in our language, as it helps organize our writing and expresses our feelings.

Punctuation also plays a very important role in businesses. It may seem irrelevant, but poor punctuation can cost businesses millions of dollars.

Take, for example, Rogers Communications which is one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies. They learned how important punctuation is when their attorney accidentally misplaced a comma in one of their contracts, largely overpaying a company for laying cable across the Maritimes.

When the company took the issue to court, the judge ruled that ignorance was no excuse and refused to nullify the five-year contract. In the end, this mistake cost Rogers Communications around $2.13 million and they learned their lesson on the importance of comma placement.

If you feel like you may need to brush up on some of your punctuation skills, check out Punctuation Playtime. It was created by Jeff Rubin, founder of Punctuation Day. Jeff said he created the site – and the holiday – after hearing too many people say “Nobody writes in complete sentences anymore”.

Think you’re the punctuation pro? Test your knowledge below.

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