I like commas. I detest semi-colons - I don't think they belong in a story. And I gave up quotation marks long ago. I found I didn't need them, they were fly-specks on the page.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I am gennerally understood tho I do not use that awkward squad of pointings called commas colons semicolons etc.
I like all things grammatical, and I had already written several books about parts of speech, and even the alphabet, so everything that makes up a sentence and even a word was covered except for punctuation.
I have been fighting over commas all my life.
And if you want to know why great editors scare the pants off of writers everywhere, read 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynne Truss. The punctuation police are everywhere!
I found a great many pieces of punctuation and typography lying around dormant when I came along - and I must say I had a good time using them.
It's always nice to end your sentences with an exclamation mark, and not a comma.
I love long sentences. My big heroes of fiction writing are Henry James and Proust - people who recognise that life doesn't consist of declarative statements, but rather modifications, qualifications and feelings.
I caution against beginning or ending a quotation with ellipses.
I know I have a problem with semi-colon abuse and have written page-long sentences. Nobody needs to be reading page-long sentences, at least not written by me.
I love the semicolon; it's unnecessary, but graceful and sophisticated.