Virtual Classroom

Making Sense of Punctuation

Build your understanding of punctuation in this short session exploring core punctuation principles and how they apply in practice.
Special Offer: Sign up for both Making Sense of Grammar and Making Sense of Punctuation and save £40.
DATES

  • 18.11.2026
  • 23.03.2027
  • 25.11.2027

TIME

10.00am–12.00pm

FORMAT

Virtual classroom via Zoom

WHAT'S INCLUDED

  • 1 training session
  • Completion certificate
  • CIEP membership upgrade

PRICE

£60 + VAT

Looking for training for your team?
This course is also offered as Team Training for organisations.

Why should I take this course?

This webinar offers valuable information on multiple punctuation topics.
This 2-hour webinar considers the role of the major punctuation marks, establishing where their use is discretionary and where it is essential to remove ambiguity and ensure clarity. This masterclass will consider how to set a course between the often competing positions of an organisation’s house style and the individual preferences of writers and editors; it will also examine some of the key differences between US and UK uses, and the extent to which it is helpful to use online tools.

Attendees will be able to post queries in the chat, and the tutor will respond to these after the session. Participants will receive extensive supporting materials to provide a useful reference and reinforce their understanding.
Benefits

Control how you learn and progress

Who is it for?

Anyone working in the publishing or communications industries who wants to improve their punctuation, including:
  • in-house and freelance editors, copywriters and project managers
  • marketing and PR staff
  • people who want to be more confident in their judgements on these issues and in their ability to defend their editorial and stylistic decisions.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this webinar, you will gain:
  • a clearer understanding of the main issues surrounding punctuation
  • more confidence in your ability to make, and defend, decisions on punctuation
  • knowledge of where to go to get answers to any outstanding questions you may have.

    You will also receive a set of reference materials to consult in your day-to-day work.

Programme

The webinar covers:

  • The primary function of punctuation
  • Commas, semicolons, colons and dashes
  • Apostrophes: uses and misuses
  • Hyphens: removing ambiguity
  • Capital letters: a distinct lack of rules
  • Punctuating quotes.

Special offers

Special offer

Save £40 on Making Sense of Grammar

Enrol on Making Sense of Punctuation and save £40 on Making Sense of Grammar.
Details

What you need to know

Delivery

The course is delivered in 1 x 2-hour session on Zoom. Any information to be completed beforehand will be sent via email. 

Zoom

You will need to activate a free Zoom account to join the course. This takes 2 minutes and does not require any payment. It is purely for administrative purposes.

Certificate

Upon completing the course you will receive a certificate from the Institute of Publishing.

Accessibility

Please contact us with any accessibility or special requirements, for example having in-session captions or the learning materials sent to you in advance. 

Team Training

This course is available for in-house training, delivered either virtually or at your offices. The content can be tailored to meet your organisation's requirements.

Chartered Institute of Editing & Proofreading (CIEP) membership upgrade

Completing this course counts towards the continuing professional development (CPD) requirement of a CIEP membership upgrade. For more information about upgrade criteria, visit the CIEP Membership Upgrade Hub.

About the trainer

Andrew Steeds

Trainer
ABOUT ANDREW STEEDS
After an early career in teaching, educational research and educational publishing, Andrew Steeds went freelance, setting up Simply Put, a company focused on making unnecessarily complicated documents clearer and more accessible, in terms of both how they are written and how they are designed. For Simply Put, he works on his own, with designers and with others to support clients to communicate more clearly and more efficiently with their readers.

Andrew has been running courses for the Institute of Publishing (formerly the Publishing Training Centre) for 25 years. His main focus is on editorial activity, but he has an equal interest in the process of writing and the presentation skills of grammar and punctuation. The Institute of Publishing's Essential Grammar, an e-learning resource which he wrote in 2017, has had 2,000 enrolments to date.