Some Notes About Business Punctuation: Punctuation Marks or Stumbling Blocks?

The article deals with punctuation in modern business communication. Punctuation marks are a necessary graphic component of any text that are used when information cannot be transmitted in any other way. The authors compare the traditional setting of punctuation marks with the one used in chats, social networks, e-mails, etc. With the transition of business correspondence to chats and messengers, punctuation ceases to obey the general norm, and develops according to the laws of the Internet. The authors analyze in detail the functions of the exclamation mark, which serves to distinguish sentences and to express a subjective attitude. Considering the use of the exclamation mark in correspondence, the authors note its frequency in online texts. The exclamation makes the statement relevant to the recipient, and the exclamation mark becomes a conative (addressed to the recipient) component of business communication. Particular attention is paid to another conative sign, three dots used as omission/suspension points. The use of punctuation marks today depends on the transition of traditionally oral forms of communication into the written sphere, following corporate substandards in business communication, but not a language norm, digital writing technologies and the actions of the writer.