Page "Punctuation" Paragraph 1

In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences.

For example, " woman, without her man, is nothing " ( emphasizing the importance of men ) and " woman: without her, man is nothing " ( emphasizing the importance of women ) have greatly different meanings, as do " eats shoots and leaves " ( to mean " consumes plant growths ") and " eats, shoots and leaves " ( to mean " eats firstly, fires a weapon secondly, and leaves the scene thirdly ").