Punctuation: Commission, IELTS Practice Tests, Last Wednesday, in July, Americans, Graniceri

PUNCTUATION
When we speak, we have the possibility to use a pause or a pitch of the voice to make it easy for
others to understand what we are saying. In writing, we can make use of punctuation, making it
effortless for the readers to grasp the meaning of what is written.
When it comes to punctuation, we have rules that absolutely must be followed, as well as
conventions, the latter giving the writer more freedom to express his/her ideas.
The punctuation marks that are most commonly used in English are:
 Capital letters (A, B, etc.)
 Full stop (.)
 Colon (:)
 Semi-colon (;)
 Comma (,)
 Apostrophe (‘)
 Speech/ Quotation marks (‘’) (“ ”)
 Dash (-)
 Brackets ()
 Slashes (/)
 Exclamation marks (!) and question marks (?)
Capital letters
Also called upper-case letters, capital letters are used in several situations:
 When we begin a sentence: They were free to choose their own path.
 For names of people (including titles), countries, cities, organizations, titles of books/
magazines/ plays/ newspapers/ music, days of the week, months (but not seasons),
nationalities, streets, languages: Dr. John Smith, Romania, Suceava, European
Commission, IELTS Practice Tests, last Wednesday, in July, Americans, Graniceri
street, Japanese, The Herald, Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony
Note 1: In titles of books and films, small, less important words such as a/an/the, like, and
prepositions do not usually appear in capital letters, except for the situation when they
actually are at the beginning of the title:
E.g.: Like Father, like Son
His Oscar-awarded film is called ‘In the Desert’
Note 2: There are some words which can be written both in capital letters, or in small
letters/ lower case letters:
1. Jobs - E.g.: She is an experienced marketing consultant (when we talk about
general use)/ She was appointed Marketing Director (when we talk about job
title)
2. Seasons - E.g.: in winter, in Winter
3. Decades - E.g.: the sixties, the Sixties
4. Compass points - E.g.: the north of Romania (place description), the Far East
(name of the place)
 For the personal pronoun I, regardless of its position within a sentence: It is I who spoke
first.
Full stops (.)
 When ending a sentence: He left the room without saying a word.

 For abbreviations, indicating that some letters in a word are missing (less common
practice nowadays, though): e.g. (for example), i.e. (that is), etc. (etcetera), Prof. Taylor
(professor), M.P. (Member of Parliament)
 In initials of personal names: J. Edgar Hoover
 With indicating time, prices and decimals: At 2.30 yesterday the gas price rose 1.2%, to
$3.2 a gallon.
Note 1: Full stops are not commonly used when the last letter of the abbreviation coincides
with the last letter of the word: Mr Thompson (Mister), Dr Grey (Doctor)
Note 2: in some situations of abbreviations, full stops can be omitted, being a matter of style:
2 pm, the US
Colon (:)
 When introducing a list/ an enumeration of things

E.g.: Some things surprised him the most: her bags, the letter in her hand, the flowers
and …
 When introducing a quote
E.g.: As H. Jackson Brown, Jr. said: ‘Love is when the other person’s happiness is more
important than your own.’
 When indicating a subdivision of a topic, or a subtitle
E.g.: Florence: A bird’s eye view of the city
Tom Flannery: The man who sailed the Atlantic in a canoe
 Sometimes, when introducing direct speech, though commas are more frequently used
E.g.: Tom said: ‘I promise to make you proud, mom’
 Between two sentences, in a phrase, when the latter sentence brings an example, more
information, justifies or explains the former one
E.g.: Clean and polish your car: it will make it more appealing to prospective buyers.
Semi-colon (;)
 When separating two main clauses whose meaning is linked, but which are
grammatically different (a full stop would mark a break that would be too strong)
E.g.: Once he was the son of a poor weaver living in Scotland; now he owns the biggest
oil company in Texas.
Note: In contemporary English, semi-colons have been replaced by commas and often
full stops, which are more commonly used
Comma (,)
 When separating different items in a list

E.g.: He showed me pictures, videos and signed documents.
Note: It American English it is common to use a comma before and
She seemed so open-minded, so bright, and so talkative, that everyone was trying to
be around her.
 When separating introductory words, such as linking phrases
E.g.: To my mind, it would be better to use alternative, renewable sources of energy
which are
Note: when used in the middle of a sentence, linking words commonly have commas
before and after them
E.g.: Others, however, are opposed to using phones during classes.
 When linking clauses with relative pronouns, but only in non-defining relative clauses,
which bring extra information
E.g.: That man, who in fact saved the girl from the burning building, was arrested for
trespassing.
 When separating yes/no responses, tags, vocatives, interjections, discourse markers and
when introducing direct quotes
E.g.: He’s a really talented pianist, isn’t he?
Do you like fish? Yes, I do.
Help me clean this room, Tom, will you?
Well, how about having a picnic on the beach?
Wow, what a stupendous painting!
Then, he said, ‘Don’t move or I’ll shoot!’
Note: When the words in the direct speech come first, a comma is commonly used befor
closing the quotation marks
E.g.: ‘Try to be more careful next time,’ his mother added.
 In large numbers (not in all languages, though): 2,000,000 dollars (two million dollars)
Apostrophe (‘)
 When indicating possession (except for the possessive pronoun its)

E.g.: The child’s toys (singular noun – apostrophe comes before the -s)
My parents’ car (plural noun ending in –s, apostrophe comes after the -s)
The Children’s feet (plural noun not ending in –s, apostrophe comes before the -s)
Note: In abbreviations we don’t use an apostrophe before the –s, when indicating plural
and not possession
E.g.: the 1800s, CDs
Speech/ Quotation marks (‘’single quotation marks) (“ ” double quotation marks)
 When indicating a quote, what someone said (both types of inverted commas/ quotation
marks can be used, though the single ones are more common)
E.g.: ‘Go to your room,’ he told Mary, ‘and do your homework’
 When drawing attention to a word whose meaning we want to question
E.g.: I was not at all convinced by his ‘apologies’, he didn’t really mean them.
 Sometimes, when referring to titles of films, newspapers, books, songs, etc. (very often
replaced by italics)
E.g.: I read in ‘The Times’ that the governor is about to resign.
The book The Catcher in the Rye was crucial for my personal development.
Note: when it comes to chapters in a book, articles or titles of short stories, single
inverted commas/ quotation marks are more frequent.
E.g.: Her last chapter entitled ‘Homecoming Queen’ blew me away.
Dash (-)
 Mostly used in informal writing, their goal being to add extra information
E.g.: I’ve already talked to him – as a matter of fact, I talked to him this morning, before
reaching school.
Brackets ()
 When adding extra, non-essential information (similar to dashes)

E.g.: That year (1950) he left home to look for a job in New York.
 When indicating page numbers, dates, most commonly in academic writing
E.g.: J.K. Rowling (2015) speaks about a world of children wizards who heal the world
of its wrongdoers (pages 25-130).
Slashes (/)
 When writing internet addresses, or/and, very often, in academic references

E.g.: www.healtheworldtoday.co.uk/contact
M. Vince (2013/2015) has enlarged upon the topic of prepositional phrases.
Exclamation marks (!)
 Most commonly used in informal writing, to indicate surprise, shock, pleasure, etc.
E.g.: I couldn’t believe my eyes!
Wow, your dress is amazing!
Question marks (?)

 When ending a question
E.g.: Do you really want to get thereafter all you’ve been through?

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PUNCTUATION

Full stops (.)

 When ending a sentence: He left the room without saying a word.

 When introducing a list/ an enumeration of things

 When separating different items in a list

 When indicating possession (except for the possessive pronoun its)

Speech/ Quotation marks (‘’single quotation marks) (“ ” double quotation marks)

 When adding extra, non-essential information (similar to dashes)

 When writing internet addresses, or/and, very often, in academic references

Exclamation marks (!)

Question marks (?)

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