Punctuation: 1 Capital Letters

UNIT
2.11
Punctuation
Accurate punctuation and use of capital letters help the reader to understand
exactly what the writer meant. While some aspects of punctuation, such as the use
of commas, can be a matter of individual style, correct punctuation in areas such as
a quotation is vital.
1 Capital letters
It is difficult to give precise rules about the use of capital letters in modern English, where
there is a trend to use them less. However, they should always be used in the following cases:
(a) The first word in a sentence In the beginning . . .
(b) Days and months Friday 21 July
(c) Nationality words France and the French
(d) Names of people/places Dr Martin Lee from Sydney
(e) Book titles (main words only) Power and the State
(f) Academic subjects She studied Biology and Mathematics
(g) Names of organisations Sheffield Hallam University
2 Apostrophes (’)
These are one of the most confusing features of English punctuation. They are mainly used
in two situations:
(a) to show contractions He’s the leading authority on Hegel.
NB: contractions are not common in academic English.
130 Part 2: Elements of Writing
(b) with possessives The professor’s secretary (singular)

Students’ marks (plural words ending in ‘s’)
Women’s rights (for irregular plurals)
NB: It’s is the contraction of it is It’s possible the course will be cancelled.
The possessive form is its Civilization and its Discontents (Freud)
3 Semicolons (;)
Semicolons are used to show the link between two connected phrases, when a comma would
be too weak and a full stop too strong:
Twenty people were interviewed for the first study; thirty-three for the second.
Nobody questioned the results; they were quite conclusive.
Semicolons are also used to divide up items in a list when they have a complex structure, as
in a multiple citation:
(Maitland, 2006; Rosenor, 1997; New Scientist, 2006b; University of Michigan, 2000).
4 Colons (:)
(a) to introduce explanations The meeting was postponed: the Dean was ill.
(b) to start a list Three aspects were identified: financial, social and ethical.
(c) to introduce a quotation As the Duchess of Windsor said: ‘You can never be too rich
or too thin.’
5 Commas (,)
These are one of the commonest punctuation marks, but also the hardest to provide guidance
for. Comma use is partly a matter of individual style. It is useful to think of commas as providing
a brief pause for readers, to give them a chance to make sense of a chunk of text. Overuse can
slow down the reader, but equally a lack of commas can be confusing.
Some instances of comma usage are:
(a) after introductory words or phrases:
However, more cases should be considered before reaching a conclusion.
(b) around examples or comments:
Certain crops, for instance wheat, are susceptible to diseases.
Nationalism, it is widely recognised, has a positive and negative side.
2.11: Punctuation 131
(c) with conjunctions:

Three hundred people were interviewed, but only half the responses could be used.
(d) in lists:
Tomatoes, beans, cabbages and potatoes were all genetically modified in turn.
6 Quotation marks/inverted commas (“. . .”/‘. . .’)
(a) Single quotation marks are used to emphasise a word:

The word ‘factory’ was first used in the seventeenth century.
The Swedish ‘third way’ or the welfare state . . .
to give quotations from other writers:
Goodwin’s (1977) analysis of habit indicates that, in general, ‘It will be more difficult
to reverse a trend than to accentuate it.’
to show direct speech:
‘Can anyone find the answer?’ asked the lecturer.
Longer quotations are usually indented (i.e. have a wider margin) and/or are set in smaller
type.
(b) Double quotation marks are used to show quotations inside quotations (nested
quotations):
As Kauffman remarked: ‘his concept of “internal space” requires close analysis’.
NB: American English uses double quotation marks to show standard quotations.
(c) In references, quotation marks are used for the names of articles and chapters, but book
or journal titles normally use italics:
Russell, T. (1995) ‘A future for coffee?’ Journal of Applied Marketing 6: 14–17.
䉴 See Unit 1.8 References and Quotations
7 Full stops (.)
These are used to show the end of a sentence:

The first chapter provides a clear introduction to the topic.
They are also used with certain abbreviations, when they are the first part of a word:
govt./Jan./p. 397
132 Part 2: Elements of Writing
But do not use full stops with acronyms such as:

BBC/UN/VIP
䉴 See Unit 3.2 Abbreviations
8 Others
Hyphens (-) are used with certain words, such as compound nouns, and certain structures:
A well-researched, thought-provoking book.
Her three-year-old daughter is learning to read.
Exclamation marks (!) and question marks (?):
‘Well!’ he shouted, ‘who would believe it?’
Brackets or parentheses () can be used to give additional detail, without interfering with the
flow of the main idea:
Relatively few people (10–15 per cent) were literate in sixteenth-century Russia.
9 Practice A
䊏 Punctuate the following sentences.
(a) the study was carried out by christine zhen-wei qiang of the national university
of singapore
(b) professor rowans new book the end of privacy 2014 is published in new york
(c) as keynes said its better to be roughly right than precisely wrong
(d) three departments law business and economics have had their funding cut
(e) as cammack points out latin america is creating a new phenomenon democracy
without citizens
(f) thousands of new words such as app enter the english language each year
(g) the bbcs world service is broadcast in 33 languages including somali and
vietnamese
(h) she scored 56 per cent on the main course the previous semester she had
achieved 67 per cent
2.11: Punctuation 133
10 Practice B
䊏 Punctuate the following text.
the school of biomedical sciences at borchester university is offering two

undergraduate degree courses in neuroscience this year students can study either
neuroscience with pharmacology or neuroscience with biochemistry there is also a
masters course which runs for four years and involves a period of study abroad
during november and december professor andreas fischer is course leader for
neuroscience and enquiries should be sent to him via the website

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UNIT

(b) with possessives The professor’s secretary (singular)

(c) with conjunctions:

6 Quotation marks/inverted commas (“. . .”/‘. . .’)

(a) Single quotation marks are used to emphasise a word:

䉴 See Unit 1.8 References and Quotations

7 Full stops (.)

These are used to show the end of a sentence:

But do not use full stops with acronyms such as:

䉴 See Unit 3.2 Abbreviations

䊏 Punctuate the following sentences.

䊏 Punctuate the following text.

the school of biomedical sciences at borchester university is offering two

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