Punctuation marks in Spanish: usage matters and common mistakes

Authors

  • Francisco Rodríguez Muñoz Universidad de Almería
  • Susana Ridao Rodrigo Universidad de Murcia

Abstract

The current paper aims to analyze how first year university students ofthe Spanish Language and Literature Degree use punctuation marks. For this purpose, a sample of 128 interventions was collected. The discursive frame where participations took place was the academic virtual forum; particularly, two thematic forums were provided. Results show that comma and full stop are the most usual punctuation marks; it is also significant the high frequency with which English inverted commas appear in the written texts, as well as the incorrect and widespread use of dashes with explanatory function.    

Keywords:

academic forums, spelling, punctuation marks