under-punctuation

See also: underpunctuation

English

Noun

under-punctuation (uncountable)

1. Alternative form of underpunctuation
   • 1948, Tribune, page 17:

     Mr. Kirkup was probably ill-advised to print the long poems. Over-paragraphing, under-punctuation, and short lines, make them appear wispier than they really are, and some good imagery and observation is swamped by the personal and dreamy fantasy.

   • 1957, George Henry Vallins, “Points of Punctuation”, in Good English: How to Write It, London: Pan Books Ltd., page 112:

     Under-punctuation (which is fashionable to-day) throws a great deal of the burden of interpretation on the reader, and sometimes leaves him with obscurities and ambiguities. Over-punctuation has the same effect as unnatural variations of the voice and exaggerated gestures in speaking.

   • 1958 March 9, Rayner Heppenstall, “Tramp-Reality”, in The Observer, number 8,697, London, page 17:

     The short answer would be that both bear the customary stigmata of avant-garde prose: typographical oddity, under-punctuation, a liberal sprinkling of the four-letter words.

   • 1970 October 25, Art Christen, “Offbeat”, in Springfield News-Sun, volume 43, number 16, Springfield, Ohio, page 4 B:

     There has been the war against split infinitives, over-capitalization, under-punctuation, spelling errors, and misplaced modifiers.