Today there is a flood of books on practical grammar. The rebirth of interest in effective writing is born out of necessity. "To your readers you are as you write," say generations of writing aficionados.

One tested example being used on the grammar circuit is the challenge of this collection of words: A woman without her man is nothing.

At best, the meaning of the collection is vague. Punctuation is necessary if it is to carry the message of its writer, whatever it is.

She or he may mean: Without a man, a woman is nothing. Or the writer's intention could be: A woman: without her, man is nothing. Absent a clue or two, the reader can not solve the mystery. And the writer will not communicate.

Punctuation is not a matter of snobbery. "It is a system of printers' marks that has aided the clarity of the written word for the past 500 years," says stickler Lynne Truss, author of the best-selling Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Apostrophes, commas, semi-colons, correct spelling, colons...they are all colors on a writer's palette.