The article deals with cases of deliberate violation by modern authors (A. Arkatova, A. Vasilevsky, O. Sulchinskaya, A. Ivanov, and others) the principles of complete phrase formatting in poetic and prose texts. Techniques of deliberately ignoring the accepted rules for the use of punctuation marks are characterized as alternative punctuation, predetermined by computer typing, the orientation of the writer on Internet communication, the search for ways to convey hidden meanings. Such techniques are considered to be consistent with modern ideas about the text and as requiring additional refl ection on the part of the reader.