THE PUNCTUATION DEBATE OVER PRESIDENT OBAMA’S SLOGAN. Carol E. Lee had an article in the Wall Street Journal (July 30) about the debate among President Obama’s advisers over the proper punctuation of the President’s reelection slogan, which is: “Forward.” The headline of Lee’s article is: “Punctuation Nerds Stopped by Obama Slogan, ‘Forward.”, and the debate is over whether or not there should be a period after the word “Forward”. Advisers are split, and the President is said to have joked about the controversy. Carol Lee quotes a grammar authority who considers the period a stretch because the slogan is not a sentence. Professor George Lakoff, the linguist, says that the period is appropriate because the slogan is an imperative sentence.
I agree with Professor Lakoff. I think it’s an imperative sentence.