Punctuation

Zafar Ullah
PCC,Islamabad
[email protected]
Overview of Punctuation

Punctuation consists of visual signs that

help a reader distinguish between words
and sentences and help the reader
understand the between words and
sentences and help the reader
understand the relationships between
different words. They help the reader to
understand the writer's intentions.
cont

In English, the following punctuation

marks are normally used:
period, question mark, exclamation
point, comma, semi colon,
quotation marks, single quotation
marks, italics, underlining,
hyphen, parentheses, brackets, ellipsis
 Punctuation Rap( music in which words are spoken, not sung)
Punctuation rap is a game we play.
It’s fun to do, and we can learn that way. The dash-the dash-he’s here, then he’s gone.
If you need to make a pause, then you bring him along.
Take the period, the period; he’s not hard to understand.
You’ll find him at the end of a sentence or command. Quotation marks are nosy (interested in affairs of Others.)
He marks abbreviations, shortens words that are long. They have no reservations
Don’t forget the period, he’s small but strong. About hanging around in any conversation,
You must put quotes around a thing that is said,
Question mark, question mark, what did you say? And also a poem or a story you’ve read.
He follows a question, that’s the only way.
The colon likes to show a list that will come,
Wow! Awesome! Rad! Hurray! His brother, the “semi” will not be outdone.
The exclamation point is next; he’s got something to say.The semicolon joins two sentences with no, and
He follows something loud, he’s excited to play. If you have too many commas, he can take a stand.
Don’t use him too much, he won’t be special that way.

The comma is next, he is used a lot

He can separate a list of some groceries you bought
You’ll find him in the middle of the year and the date,
Between two adjectives, or a city and state.

You can join two sentences with a “but” or an “and”

Just remember the comma, he will give you a hand.
There is one more place that our comma has been,
He comes after a clause that tells you when.
 Ful
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•The period comes at the end of
complete statements and commands.
• Do not connect two statements with a comma.
It is used in abbreviations:
 1290 College Rd.
 J. K. Rollings
 Ms. White
 Dr. Watson
The Question Mark

A question mark (?) is placed at the

end of a sentence which is a direct
question. Here are some examples:
What is the capital of Wales?
Does anyone have a pen I can
borrow?
Summary of question marks

• Use a question mark at the end of

a direct question.
• Do not use a question mark at the
end of an indirect statement.
• Use an internal question mark to
show that something is uncertain.
The Exclamation Mark

The exclamation mark (!), known

informally as a bang or a shriek, is
used at the end of a sentence or a
short phrase which expresses very
strong feelings of happiness,
surprise or sadness.
Examples
 What a lovely view you have here!
 That's fantastic!
 Johnny, don't touch that!
 Help!
 Good heavens!

 Don't use an exclamation mark unless it's absolutely

 necessary.
 * Use an exclamation mark after an exclamation, especially
 after one beginning with what a or how.
Fragments

 A fragment is a word or a phrase which stands by

itself but which does not make up a complete
sentence. Fragments are very common in ordinary
speech, in advertisements and even in newspapers.
 Will the Star Wars project ever be resumed?
Probably not.
 We need to encourage investment in
manufacturing. But how?
 Can England beat Australia? Absolutely!
Listing Comma
Use a listing comma in a list wherever you
could conceivably use the word and (or or)
instead. Do not use a listing comma
anywhere else.
• Put a listing comma before and or or only if
this is necessary to make your meaning
clear.
My favorite animals are giraffes, dogs,
cats, and birds.
The Gapping Comma

We use a gapping comma to show that one or

more words have been left out when the
missing words would simply repeat the words
already used earlier in the same sentence.
Here is an example:

Some Norwegians wanted to base their

national language on the speech of the capital
city; others, on the speech of the rural
countryside.
The Joining Comma
 It is used to join two complete sentences into a single
sentence, and it must be followed by a suitable connecting
word. The connecting words which can be used in this way
are and, or, but, while and yet. Here are some examples:
 Norway has applied to join the EC, and Sweden is
 expected to do the same.
 You must hand in your essay by Friday, or you will
 receive a mark of zero.
Bracketing (Isolating) Commas

 The rule is this: a pair of bracketing commas is

used to mark off a weak interruption of the sentence
- that is, an interruption which does not disturb the
 Smooth flow of the sentence.

 Schliemann, of course, did his digging before

modern archaeology was invented.
 Darwin's Origin of Species, published in 1859,
revolutionized biological thinking.
Summary of Commas
 Use a listing comma in a list where and ox or would
be possible instead.
 • Use a joining comma before and, or, but, yet or
while followed by a complete sentence.
 • Use a gapping comma to show that words have
been omitted instead of repeated.
 • Use a pair of bracketing commas to set off a weak
 interruption.
Colon
 The colon is used to indicate that what follows it is
an explanation or elaboration of what precedes it.
That is, having introduced some topic in more
general terms, you can use a colon and go on to
explain that same topic in more specific terms.
Schematically: More general: more specific.
 Several friends have provided me with inspiration :
Tim,Ian and, above all, Larry.
 Africa is facing a terrifying problem: perpetual
drought.
The colon is made with two
periods.
:
It is used for time. 11 35 pm
It comes before a list.
I will need the following items
:
from the store bananas,
grapes, watermelon, and lemons.
The Semicolon
 The semicolon (;) has only one major use. It is used to join
 two complete sentences into a single written sentence when
 all of the following conditions are met:
 1. The two sentences are felt to be too closely related to
 be separated by a full stop;
 2. There is no connecting word which would require a
 comma, such as and or but;
 3. The special conditions requiring a colon are absent.
 It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.
Summary of colons and
semicolons

Use a colon to separate a general
•

statement from following specifics.

• Use a semicolon to connect two
complete sentences not joined by
and, or. but, yet or while.
The Apostrophe
Contractions: short form .omission of one or
two words
He is= He’s
Unusual Plurals: How many s's are there in
Mississippi ?
Cross t’s and dot I’s.
1920’s fashion
 Possessives: England's navy, Ali’s book, two
weeks' work
The Hyphen
i.Most obviously, a hyphen is used to indicate
that a lonword has been broken off at the end
of a line:
We dismayed to listen to such inconse-
quential remarks.
ii.Compound words : brother-in-law
a green-eyed beauty (correct)
a green eyed beauty (incorrect)
Capital Letters
 I.First word of a sentence
 II. Every line of a verse
 III. All Proper Nouns
 IV. Nationalities
 V.Ethnical identities (Black, White)
 VI.Distinctive Historical Periods ( Stone Age)
 VII. Religious Terms , (Attributes of Allah)(Baptism)
 VIII.Festivals
 IX. Titles of books, films
 X. Roman Numerals
 XI. the first word of a direct quotation which is a sentence
 XII. a brand name
 XIII.Abbreviations (UNO)
The Dash
 The dash (-) is the long horizontal bar, noticeably longer than
 a hyphen.
 The dash has only one major use: a pair of dashes separates a strong
interruption from the rest of the sentence.
 An honest politician - if such a creature exists – would never agree to
such a plan.
 The destruction of Guernica - and there is no doubt that the destruction
was deliberate — horrified the world.
 When the Europeans settled in Tasmania, they inflicted genocide - there
is no other word for it - upon the indigenous population, who were wiped
out in thirty
 years.
Quotation Marks
 • Put quotation marks (single or double) around the
exact
 words of a direct quotation.
 • Inside a quotation, use a suspension to mark
omitted material and square brackets to mark inserted
material.
 • Use quotation marks to distance yourself from a
word or phrase or to show that you are using it
ironically.
 • Place quotation marks around a word or phrase
which you are talking about.
Italics
Most word processors can produce italics,
which are slanted letters - like these.
The Battle of New Orleans was fought in
January 1815, two weeks after the peace
treaty had been signed.
According to the linguist Steven Pinker,
'Many prescriptive rules of grammar are just
plain dumb and should be deleted from the
usage handbooks' [emphasis added].
Boldface
 Boldface letters are the extra-black ones - like
these.
 First, they are used for chapter titles and section
headings, exactly as is done in this book.
 Second, they are used for the captions to
illustrations, tables and graphs.
 Third, they are sometimes used to provide very
strong Emphasis.
Small Capitals
 Small capitals are just what they sound like: THEY
LOOK LIKE
 THIS. They have only one common use: certain
abbreviations
 are commonly written in small capitals. In particular,
the abbreviations BC and AD are usually so written:

 Alexander the Great died in 323 BC.

 Charlemagne was crowned in Rome on Christmas
Day, AD 800.
Parentheses
Parentheses (()), also called round brackets,
always occur in pairs.
Most commonly, a pair of parentheses is
used to set off a strong or weak interruption.
The destruction of Guernica (and there is no
doubt that the destruction was deliberate)
horrified the world.
Square Brackets

There is only one common use for

square brackets ([]).
They are used to set off an interruption
within a direct quotation.
The Ellipsis
The ellipsis (...), also called the suspension
or omission marks,has just two uses.
First, the ellipsis is used to show that some
material has been omitted from the middle of
a direct quotation..
Second, the ellipsis is used to show that a
sentence has been left unfinished.
The Slash
 The slash (/), also called the oblique, the virgule, the stroke,
 the solidus or the shilling mark.
 I. First, it is used to separate alternatives:
 Each candidate must bring his/her identity card.
 II. The slash may be used to represent a period of time:
 The 1994/95 football season was marred by frequent
 scandals.
 III. The slash is used, especially in scientific writing, to
 represent the word per in units:The density of iron is 7.87 g/cm3.
 IV. The slash is used in writing fractions, as in % or 3/4;
 in this use, it is often called the scratch.
 V. The slash is used in writing certain abbreviations. Write to me at
Sylvia Keller, c/o Andrea Mason.
 Thank You

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