PUNCTUATIONS
Most common punctuation marks in
English are: capital letters and full stops, question marks, commas, colons and
semi-colons, exclamation marks and quotation marks.
In speaking, we use pauses and the
pitch of the voice to make what we say clear. Punctuation plays a similar role
in writing, making it easier to read.
Punctuation consists of both rules
and conventions. There are rules of punctuation that have to be followed: but
there are also punctuation conventions that give writers greater choice.
RULES FOR COMMA (,):
Commas show your reader that there is
a pause in the sentence they are reading.
1. Commas After Introductory Words
and Clauses
•Quietly, she ran past the sleeping
man. (adverbs)
•Wow, my sister came home from
college. (interjections)
•If I see your sister, I'll call you.
(subordinate adverb clauses)
2. Commas with Lists
When you list three or more things,
use commas between the words.
•I would like grapes, apples, and
cookies.
•Are we having fish, chicken, or beef
for dinner?
3. Commas Between Multiple Modifiers
(Adjectives & Adverbs)
•My new car ran quietly, quickly, and
smoothly.
•I love this warm, fuzzy, pink
sweater!
•It was a bright, sunny day.
4. Commas with Numbers
When a number is over 999, use commas
to separate the numbers.
•I paid $3,500 for my new boat.
•The house is $600,000.
5. Commas with Dates and Addresses
•November 1, 2015
•I live in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
•Send the package to 5154 Smith
Street, Los Angeles, California 92674.
6. Commas with Quotations
When you are quoting someone's exact
speech, you must use quotation marks and a comma.
•My sister exclaimed, "You came
home!"
•"I missed you," I said.
7. Commas Joining Independent Clauses
When you join two independent
clauses, use a comma and a coordinating conjunction. When you have two
independent clauses joined only by a comma, it's called a comma splice. You
should avoid comma splices.
•I love cats, but I also love dogs.
•Can you come, or should I go?
•My sister had a ballet performance,
and my brother had an orchestra concert.
8. Commas Setting Off Nonrestrictive
(Nonessential) Elements
Nonrestrictive elements add
information to the sentence, but they are not essential to the meaning of the
sentence. We could remove them from the sentence, and the sentence would still
make sense. You can read more about this on the appositives page.
•My sister, a French teacher, lived
in France for two years.
•Michael and Randy graduated from UWEC, my alma mater.
RULES FOR PERIODS(.):
1. Ending Sentences
Use these to end declarative
sentences and imperative sentences.
•The sun is shining today.
•Open the door.
2. Abbreviations (shortened forms of
words)
•I spoke with Sgt. Johnson about the
troops.
RULES FOR QUESTION MARKS(?):
1. Ending Question Sentences
This kind of punctuation is used in
sentence asks a question. Any time you ask a question, end the sentence with a
question mark.
•Should I use a question mark on this
sentence? (Yes!)
2 In a question tag.
·
He sings well, Doesn’t He?
·
It was a tough job, wasn’t it?
RULES FOR EXCLAMATION MARKS(!):
1. Use these at the end of
exclamatory sentences (sentences that show emotion).
•We won the game!
2. You can use either an exclamation
mark or a comma after an interjection.
•Yes! We won the game!
RULES FOR SEMICOLONS(;):
1.
Use these to separate two complete sentences that are closely
related.
•I went to the play; my cousin was
the main actor.
RULES FOR COLONS(J:
1. Colons are used for introducing
Lists. We also use colons to indicate a subtitle or to indicate a subdivision
of a topic
•There are three ways that I love to
relax: reading magazines, practicing yoga, and taking baths.
2. You can use a colon to introduce a
single thing when you want to emphasize it.
•After shopping for eight hours, I
finally found them: the perfect pair of jeans.
3. Between Two Complete Sentences
This is only a legit move if the second
sentence states a logical consequence of whatever is stated in the first
sentence.
•Jim ate brownies constantly: He
gained seven pounds.
RULES FOR APOSTROPHES(‘):
The rules are pretty simple. There
are only three times when you should use apostrophes.
1. When you want to make something possessive
(to show ownership), use an apostrophe.
•That is the television's remote
control. (The remote control belongs to the television.)
•Don't ever go into the teachers'
lounge. (The lounge belongs to the teachers.)
2. To Show Omission
Contractions use apostrophes to stand
in the place of missing letters.
•I can't stand the smell of bananas!
(can't = cannot)
•It's already five o'clock! (o'clock
= of the clock)
•The students shouldn't use cell
phones in class. (shouldn't = should not)
3. Use apostrophes to make lowercase
letters plural.
•Dot the i's and cross the t's.
RULES FOR QUOTATION MARKS(“ “):
1. Quoting Exact Speech: Whenever you
quote someone's exact speech, you must use quotation marks.
•The police officer said, "Where
are you going?"
•"I'm going to work," I
replied.
2. Use quotation marks to show the
titles of magazine articles, chapters, short stories, essays, poems, and songs.
•"Columbus" is a great
poem.
•Our homework tonight is to read
Chapter 6, "The Lovely Rose Garden."
•Sydney sang "The Star-Spangled
Banner" at the football game.
RULES FOR CAPITAL LETTERS:
1. We use capital letter in
the beginning of a sentence.
·
Laxman was a famous middle order batsman.
·
cheetah is the fastest animal
2. We use capital letters at
the beginning of proper nouns. Proper nouns include personal names (including
titles before names), nationalities and languages, days of the week and months
of the year, public holidays as well as geographical places:
·
Dr David James is the consultant at Leeds City Hospital.
·
They are planning a long holiday in New Zealand.
·
Can she speak Japanese?
3. We use capital letters for
the titles of books, magazines and newspapers, plays and music:
·
‘Oliver’ is a musical
based on the novel ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens.
·
The Straits Times is a daily English language newspaper in
Singapore.
·
They are performing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.
4. We use capital letters for
“abbreviations”, and “Acronyms”.
·
UNO appoints Sachin as a brand ambassador for UNICEF
RULES FOR DASHES (-):
1.
Dashes are more common in informal writing. They can be used
in similar ways to commas or semi-colons. Both single and multiple dashes may
be used:
·
Our teacher – who often gets cross when we’re late – wasn’t
cross at all. No one could believe it!
·
Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening – we really
enjoyed it.
RULES FOR BRACKETS():
1.
Brackets have a similar function to dashes. They often add
extra, non-essential information:
·
Thrip low (pronounced ‘Trip low’) is a small village in the
eastern part of England.
2.
We use brackets around dates and page numbers in academic
writing:
·
Heaton (1978) gives a convincing explanation of how
hurricanes are formed (pages 27–32).
RULES FOR FORWARD SLASHES (/):
1.
We often use forward slashes in internet addresses and to
indicate and/or in academic references:
·
You can find the figures you need on www.bbc.co.uk/finance
Banks (1995/1997) has already
researched this aspect of Roman history.