PUNCTUATION

IMPORTANT FOR ALL

Introduction

• Punctuation marks are used to ‘chunk’ text up into meaningful units, marking a variety of grammatical boundaries. Punctuation is all about awareness of these grammatical chunks.

Explanation

• To split up texts into sentences, indicating clearly where each major chunk of meaning begins and ends, we use capital letters and full stops.

• Within the sentence, we use a variety of punctuation marks to show breaks between phrases, clauses and, sometimes, words.

• Punctuation marks can sometimes suggest the tone of voice in which a sentence should be read.

• There are also some punctuation marks (the hyphen and apostrophe) which work within words to help clarify meaning.

FULL STOP …

• We mark the start of a sentence with a capital letter and the end with a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark.

• EG: The big dog was barking.

QUESTION MARK ???

• Used at the end of an interrogative sentence.

• EG: Who was that?

• OR whose function is a question.

• EG: You’re leaving already?

EXCLAMATION MARK !!!

• Used at the end of a sentence (which may be exclamative, imperative or declarative) or an interjection to show strong emotion.

• Exclamative: What a pity!

• Imperative: Get out!

• Declarative: It’s a goal!

• Interjection: Oh dear!

DASH -

• A dash (-) can function like a colon to introduce a quotation or a list, an explanation or elaboration, or a summing up and two dashes can mark off a parenthesis

• Used to replace other punctuation marks (colons, semi-colons, commas) or brackets.

• Especially used in informal writing.• EG: It was a great day out – everyone enjoyed it.• Today I am going to go shopping – (it is so cold

outside, I must be mad) – mainly because I organised a party tomorrow night.

• (either side of parenthesis)

BRACKETS ( )

• A parenthesis is a word or phrase inserted into a sentence to explain or elaborate. It may be placed in brackets or between dashes or commas.

• Brackets: Sam and Emma (his oldest children) are coming next weekend.

• Dashes: Michael is generally happy – he sings in the mornings! – but responsibility weighs him down.

• Commas: Paul is, I believe, our best student.• The term parentheses (plural of parenthesis) can also

refer to the brackets themselves.

COMMA ,,,• Separates parts of sentences, sometimes corresponds

to a pause in speech.• EG: My favourite sports are football, motor cross

and badminton.• EG: I got home, had a bath and went to bed.• To mark off extra information = Jill, my boss, is full of

fun.• After a subordinate clause which begins a sentence =

Although it was cold, we didn’t wear our coats. • With many connecting adverbs (e.g. however, on the

other hand, anyway, for example). EG: Anyway, I decided not to go.

COLON :

• A colon (:) introduces a quotation or a list; an explanation or elaboration; or a summing up.

• List: Today I will buy: milk, jam, coffee and sugar.• It can also be used before a second clause to expand or

explain the first part of the sentence. Explanation: He was very cold: the temperature was below freezing.

• Summing up: It can therefore be concluded that: he was guilty of murder, guilty of theft, guilty of adultery and should be imprisoned

SEMI-COLON ;

• A semi-colon (;) finishes off one part of a sentence. • Used to separate two main clauses in a

sentence. EG: I liked the book; it was a pleasure to read. (It could be written as two separate sentences, but they are closely related).

• Also used to separate items in a list IF these items consist of longer phrases. EG: I need large, juicy tomatoes; half a pound of unsalted butter; a kilo of fresh pasta, preferably tagliatelli; and a jar of black olives.

INVERTED COMMAS “ ”

• Inverted commas (‘ ’) ( “ ”) mark quotations, direct speech, foreign words or words used in an unusual way. (Italics may sometimes be used similarly)

• “Hello, I am Joe,” replied the strange man. (speech)

• I don’t like their clothes, but ‘c`est la vie’. (foreign word)

• In the novel ‘Holes’, Stanley “was glad that he agreed to let X-Ray have anything he might find.” (quote)

HYPHEN -

• Sometimes used to join two parts of a compound noun. EG: city-centre.

• EG: break-in, write-off, mix-up, passer-by.

• Also with prefixes. EG: co-worker, non-smoker, and ex-wife, non-existent.

APOSTROPHE ‘

• An apostrophe is used for omitted letter(s) when a verb is contracted (i.e. shortened).

• I am = I’m• Who has = who’s• Would have = would’ve• Or not is contracted to join the verb = could not becomes couldn’t.• Also let’s and o’clock.• Formal writing tends to write them out full.• Possessive forms: the cat’s tail, mother’s iron.• Plural, put the apostrophe at the end: parents’ car.• Irregular plurals, add the s: children’s toys.

• GOOD LUCK

ELLIPSIS …

• Ellipsis is the term used for three dots (…) which shows that something has been omitted or is incomplete.• He said that he would “…maybe throw the

stone…” then he left.• It can also be used for suspense, not

immediately telling the rest of the story or having an open ending.

• It was very misty and as he turned the corner …