Punctuation in EnglishParkes (1992), in his valuable study on the history of punctuation, states: "Punctuation developed in stages which coincided with evolving models of literacy, during which new generations of readers in different historical situations placed new demands on the written medium itself” (p. 2). Punctuation is not a static pattern and even if we limit the discussion to modern and ancient English, it has changed considerably over time (Numberg, 1999). The uses of punctuation are conventional; they change over time and vary from one language to another. There must have been conventions or rules, because without them, punctuation would be completely idiosyncratic and the possibilities for its use would be effective. communication would either be lost or seriously hampered (Beard & et al., 2009). Some punctuation rules are obligatory: if we violate them, we have made punctuation errors. Others are optional: our choice is based on effect and emphasis. we want to deliver. To this extent, Greenbaum and Nelson (2002: 183) assert that “punctuation is an art”. There was considerable debate between two schools: one thought that punctuation should be based on elocution (how a sentence is pronounced when read aloud) and the other thought that punctuation should be based on grammar (Petit: 2003; Curtis, 2007; Hall and Robinson, 1996; Parkes, 1992). The latter (the syntactic approach) is the one we use today, which means that the debate was won by the high school. Recently, Dawkins (2003 and 1995) expressed a new conviction: the teaching of punctuation should be based on meaning (the semantic approach). Dawkins (2003) assumes that writers have an intuitive sense of the independent clause...... middle of paper ......, p. 349). Additionally, Chiang (1999) asserts that in EFL writing, sentences may appear to be in proper order, but in incongruous places due to inappropriate use or non-use of punctuation. Assuming that students often have poor language skills, Warner (1979) surveyed 431 postsecondary students using four tools: student performance on an objective test, a classroom writing sample, a revision exercise and a questionnaire about their English background and attitude towards grammar and writing. She found that the greatest number of writing errors occurred in punctuation. It came out: The high error rate in punctuation results from 1) students not knowing the rules of punctuation, 2) knowing the rules but not being able to apply them to their own writing , or 3) that they construct sentences so bad that they correct. punctuation was impossible (p.18).