Both grammar and punctuation are important for writing meaningful academic sentences. Grammar tells us how to create meaningful messages out of strings of words. Punctuation conveys grammatical structure and meaning in written language.

Given the importance of meaning in academic writing, the grammar and punctuation choices you make in your writing are critical. It is important that you avoid common errors when writing academic sentences. These errors include creating ungrammatical sentences such as sentence fragments, run-on sentences or sentences where the verb does not agree with the subject. Other errors involve the punctuation of academic sentences. Common errors of this type include using too many or not enough commas, not using or misplacing apostrophes and misplacing semi-colons or colons. Academic writing is used to convey concepts, ideas and language that is often more complex and abstract than in other types of writing. Using sophisticated punctuation choices such as colons and semi colons can help you to convey these concepts and the relationships between them in a sophisticated manner.