Précis: "Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods" In "Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods" (1998), Steve Martin asserts that the substitution of other punctuation for periods creates a sarcastic tone in writing, which can be understood to mean that the importance of periods is understated. Martin illuminates this concern by descriptively describing incidents involving unusual forms of punctuation that interrupted the author's writing. He overly exaggerates the punctuations' downfalls in order to drive home the fact that authors are using inappropriate punctuation when a period would be perfectly fine. While Martin takes a dry yet sarcastic perspective towards his fellow authors, he has a sincere tone towards society as a whole to educate common people on the proper use of punctuation. Rhetorical Strategies- …show more content…
By characterizing Bobby Brainard through the use of multiple appositives, Martin creates a sarcastic tone. The appositives poke fun at Brainard for residing in such a remote location. Montana carries the connotation of being a rugged, unfriendly area to an everyday non-Montanan. This, combined with the fact that Braniard faces the problem of his inferred misuse of punctuation leads the reader to believe that this problem is universal, not just confined to one area. Since author's like Braniard face the same problem with punctuation as others in more populated regions, the author is qualifying the problem, through the sarcastic tone, as being widespread. The impact of the tone gives the reader a sense of applicability as it can be found to be evident in diverse