Punctuation
If you can handle a period and a comma, you’re probably capable of communicating absolutely everything necessary in English; if you’re able to boil water, you could also cook enough food to keep yourself fed, but wouldn’t you get really sick of eating nothing but boiled food? Being able to use a wide variety of punctuation marks is akin to good cooking: you’re able to control flavors and textures to make something amazing!
Punctuation marks show the reader how the words would sound if they were spoken: where the speaker would take a breath, which words were whispered, and which were shouted with excitement. Punctuation marks connect ideas or disconnect them, compare them or contrast them. Words can be differentiated with a hyphen or an apostrophe. By having all the punctuation marks – all these tools – at your disposal, you’ll be able to create powerful sentences which clearly communicate even the most difficult of concepts to your reader.