Court
reporters are a unique bunch. Who else would spend six hours on a Saturday
learning about using a comma versus a semicolon, a dash or an ellipsis, or
whether there are one or two spaces after a period? And who else but
court reporters would actually voice strong opinions either way in heated
debate?
About
100 court reporters did just that when the Massachusetts Court Reporters
Association held its Fall Punctuation Workshop on October 1, 2011, at the
Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center. Margie Wakeman Wells,
punctuation expert and author of Court Reporting: Bad
Grammar/Good Punctuation, taught all in attendance the basic punctuation
rules and how to apply them to the various complicated sentence structures that
court reporters come across when transcribing.
Ms.
Wells said, “We are in the business of unbelievable precision,” meaning all
decisions we make when transcribing must follow specific predetermined rules of
punctuation. A transcript must not only be readable, but it must
accurately reflect the intent of the speakers. Here is just one example
of the importance of comma placement: “I’d like to thank my parents, Anne
Smith and God.”
Ms.
Wells gave examples of the many times she has had to call news stations,
newspapers, or teachers to bring errors to their attention. She urged all
of us to be vigilant in our duties not only as keepers of the record but also
in our daily lives as consumers. We need to safeguard the proper use of
the English language. If not us, then who?
All
those in attendance were lucky enough to receive a copy of her book for future
reference.
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