Introduction to punctuation

Punctuation is used to create sense, clarity and stress in sentences.

You use punctuation marks to structure and organise your writing.

The most common punctuation marks are:

  Brackets and parentheses

  Capital letters and punctuation
  Hyphen and dash
  Apostrophe
  Quotation marks
  Colon and semi-colon
  Question mark
  Exclamation mark
  Nouns and using capital letters
  Period or full stop
  Comma
  Capital letters
You can quickly see why punctuation is important if you try and read this sentence which has no
punctuation at all:

perhaps you dont always need to use commas periods colons etc to make sentences clear when i
am in a hurry tired cold lazy or angry i sometimes leave out punctuation marks grammar is
stupid i can write without it and dont need it my uncle Harry once said he was not very clever
and i never understood a word he wrote to me i think ill learn some punctuation not too much
enough to write to Uncle Harry he needs some help
Now let’s see if punctuating it makes a difference!
Perhaps you don’t always need to use commas, periods, colons etc. to make sentences clear.
When I am in a hurry, tired, cold, lazy, or angry I sometimes leave out punctuation marks.
“Grammar is stupid! I can write without it and don’t need it.” my uncle Harry once said. He
was not very clever and I never understood a word he wrote to me. I think I’ll learn some
punctuation – not too much, enough to write to Uncle Harry. He needs some help!
Use the punctuation section to learn how to make your English clearer and better
organised.
 

perhaps you dont always need to use commas periods colons etc to make sentences clear when i
am in a hurry tired cold lazy or angry i sometimes leave out punctuation marks grammar is
stupid i can write without it and dont need it my uncle Harry once said he was not very clever
and i never understood a word he wrote to me i think ill learn some punctuation not too much
enough to write to Uncle Harry he needs some help
Now let’s see if punctuating it makes a difference!
 

Perhaps you don’t always need to use commas, periods, colons etc. to make sentences clear.
When I am in a hurry, tired, cold, lazy, or angry I sometimes leave out punctuation marks.
“Grammar is stupid! I can write without it and don’t need it.” my uncle Harry once said. He
was not very clever and I never understood a word he wrote to me. I think I’ll learn some
punctuation – not too much, enough to write to Uncle Harry. He needs some help!
Use the punctuation section to learn how to make your English clearer and better
organised.

Brackets and parentheses

Brackets and parentheses

The difference between a ‘bracket’ and a ‘parentheses’ can be a bit confusing. Generally, parentheses
refers to round brackets () and brackets to square brackets []. However, we are more and more used to
hearing these referred to simply as ’round brackets’ or ‘square brackets’. Usually we use square brackets
– [ ] – for special purposes such as in technical manuals. Round brackets – ( ) -, or ‘parentheses’ are used
in a similar way to commas when we want to add further explanation, an afterthought, or comment that is
to do with our main line of thought but distinct from it. Many grammarians feel that the parentheses can,
in fact, be replaced by commas in nearly all cases.
For example:

 further explanation – The government’s education report (April 2005) shows that the level of
literacy is rising in nearly all areas.
 comment – I visited Kathmandu (which was full of tourists) on my way to the Himalayas for a
trekking expedition.
 afterthought – You can eat almost anything while travelling in Asia if you are careful to observe
simple rules (avoiding un-boiled or un-bottled water is one of the main rules to be aware of.)

Capital letters and punctuation

Capital letters and punctuation

See also  The English4Today Grammar: Capitals (nouns) for how capital letters are used with
some nouns.
Capital letters are important ‘markers’ in English punctuation. They are used:
1. at the start of a sentence
 Bali is an Indonesian Island.
 It is a lovely day.
2. with proper nouns (particular persons, places and things):
 Her name is Mary.
 She lives in Spain.
 She was born on Tuesday the sixth of June, 1998. She lives at
10 Greenstoke Avenue, Newbay, Bristol.
3. with adjectives that come from proper nouns
 They live in a Georgian house.
 He loved Japanese films.
4. for the first and all of the main words in titles
 The Great Gatsby
 The Queen of England
 The Heart of Darkness
 The University of Delaware
 The Second World War
5. For the pronoun ‘I’
 In the future I hope that I will be able to visit Turkey.

Hyphen and dash

Hyphen and dash
Hyphen
A hyphen joins two or more words together (e.g. x-ray, door-to-door) while a dash separates words
into parenthetical statements (e.g. She was trapped – no escape was possible). Hyphens: Generally,
hyphens are used to avoid confusion or ambiguity but today most words that have been hyphenated quite
quickly drop the hyphen and become a single word (e.g. e-mail and email, now-a-days and nowadays). In
many cases though a hyphen does make the sense clear:

 I am thinking of re-covering my sofa (to put a new cover on it)

 I would like to recover my sofa. (perhaps from someone who has borrowed it as this means ‘to
get it back‘)
Hyphens and numbers 1. Use a hyphen with compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.

 fifty-one
 eighty-nine
 thirty-two
 sixty-five
 eighty-one
2. In written fractions place a hyphen between the numerator and denominator.

 two-fifths
 one-third
 three-tenth
 nine-hundredth
[Exception] if there is already a hyphen in either the numerator or the denominator, you omit the hyphen
between the numerator and denominator.

 sixty-nine eighty-ninths (not ‘sixty-nine-eighty-ninths’)

 twenty-two thirty-thirds
3. Use a hyphen when the number forms part of an adjectival compund:

 France has a 35-hour working week.

 He won the 100-metre sprint.
 Charles Dickens was a great nineteenth-century novelist.
Usage

Consult your dictionary if you are not sure but remember that current usage may be more up-to-date
(not uptodate) than your dictionary. There are some cases where hyphens preserve written clarity such as
where there are letter collisions (co-operate, bell-like) or where a prefix is added (anti-nuclear, post-
colonial), or in family relations (great-grandmother, son-in-law.)

Dash
Dashes can be used to add parenthetical statements in much the same way as you would use
brackets. In formal writing you should use the bracket rather than the dash as a dash is considered less
formal in most cases. However, they should not be overused nor used to replace commas although they
can be used to create emphasis in a sentence.
For example:

You may think she is a liar – she isn’t.

Apostrophe
Apostrophe
The apostrophe probaly causes more grief than any of the other punctuation marks put
together!

The problem nearly always seems to stem from users not understanding that the apostrophe has
two very different (and very important) uses in English.

 to show possession and ownership – e.g. Jack’s car. Mary’s father.

 to indicate a contraction – he’s (he is), we’re (we are), they’re (they are)
These two examples show the apostrophe being used for possession (sentence 1) and
contraction (sentence 2)
 Colombia’s coffee exports have risen steadily over the past decade.
 Colombia’s one of the main coffee producing countries in the world.
The POSSESSIVE APOSTROPHE
In most cases you simply need to add ‘s to a noun to show possession:
 a ship’s captain, a doctor’s patient, a car’s engine, Ibrahim’s coat, Mirianna’s book.
Plural nouns that do not end in s also follow this rule:
 the children’s room, the men’s work, the women’s club
Ordinary (or common) nouns that end in s, both singular and plural, show possession
simply by adding an ‘ after the s but proper nouns (names of people, cities, countries etc.)
can form the possessive either by adding the ‘s or simply adding the ‘:
 a. The Hughes’ home (or the Hughes’s home), Mr Jones’s shop (or Mr Jones’ shop), Charles’
book (or Charles’s book)
 b. the ladies’ tennis club, the teachers’ journal, the priests’ church (note that the priest’s
church would only be refering to one priest while the priests’ church refers to a group.)
General notes: Many people want to know how to form the possessive of their own name when
it ends in an ‘s’ or when refering to the whole family, e.g. The Jones’ children.
Today it is no longer considered incorrect to use either form (Jones’s or Jones’) and many large
organisations now drop the ‘ completely (e.g. Barclays Bank, Missing Persons Bureau) when
publishing their name.
The APOSTROPHE for CONTRACTION
The most common use of contracted apostrophes is for:

 has’nt = had not

 can’t = can not
 there’s = there is
 mustn’t = must not
 I’m = I am
 it’s = it is
 let’s = let us
  I’ve = I have (also they’ve, we’ve)
 she’s = she has or she is (also he’s)
Remember:
 it’s = it is (a contraction) while its = possession
 who’s = who is (a contraction) while whose = possession

Quotation marks
Quotation marks
Usage

Although you will still see the double quotation marks used to quote direct speech it is more and
more common to punctuate speech and direct quotations with single quotation marks with the
double quotation marks reserved for quoting ‘speech within speech’.

Example:

‘I haven’t spoken to Peter for months,’ Dianne said. ‘The last time I spoke to him he said, “I’m
going to Bahrain and won’t be back for about three years”, I’ve heard nothing since then’.

Notice that the comma is placed within the quotation marks and that double quotation marks are
only used when the quoted speaker is quoting someone else directly.

Other uses of the quotation mark

You will also have seen the single quotation marks used to mark out idiomatic expressions such
as:

I’ve always thought that he was very annoying, a bit of a ‘pain in the neck.’
They are also used outside of speech when quoting the title of a journal article:

‘The Migration Flight of the Lesser Tweazle‘, by Jeremey Adams, in The Bird Spotter
Magazine, July 2009.
Note that there are a number of ways of organising such things as bibliographies which set out
standard formats. Most organisations and academic institutions will prefer one of these or have
their own format published in a ‘style guide’.

Colon and semi-colon

Colon and semi-colon
Semi-colon

The Semicolon
The semicolon is somewhere between a weak full stop and a strong comma and used to join
phrases and sentences without having to use a conjunction (and, but etc.) where the phrases or
sentences are thematically linked but independent.
Look at this example.
Many great leaders; Churchill, leader of Britain during the Second World War; Alexander, the
great Roman Emperor and general; and Napolean, the brilliant French general, had great
strengths of character which were useful when their countries were at war but also great
weaknesses which did not serve them so well in times of peace.
Notice how the semicolon works with the comma to enclose the connected phrases while the
whole forms one logical sentence.

Colon

The colon expands on the sentence that precedes it.

There are many reasons for poor written communication: lack of planning, poor grammar,
misuse of punctuation marks and insufficient
vocabulary.
He collected a strange assortment of items: bird’s eggs, stamps, bottle tops, string and buttons.
Peter had an eclectic taste in music: latin, jazz, country and western, pop, blues and classical.

Question mark
Question mark
Question Mark
Use the question mark:
1. At the end of all direct questions
 What is your name?
 Do you speak Italian?
 You’re Spanish, aren’t you?
2. Do not use the question mark for reported questions
  He asked me what my name was.
 She asked if I was Spanish.
 Ask them where they are going.
General notes:
1. Don’t forget to place a question mark at the end of long sentences that contain a question
 Isn’t it true that global warming is responsible for more and more problems which are having a
disastrous effect on the world’s climate and leading to many millions of people in countries
that can least afford it having to contend with more and more hardship?
2. Sometimes a question mark can be placed within a sentence
 There is cause for concern – isn’t there? – that the current world economic balance is so fragile
that it may lead to a global economic downturn.

Exclamation mark
Exclamation mark
The exclamation mark is used to express exasperation,astonishment or surprise or to
emphasise a comment or short, sharp phrase.

For example:

 Help! Help!
 That’s unbelievable!
 Get out!
 Look out!
You can also use it to mark a phrase as humourous, ironic or sarcastic.
 1. What a lovely day! (when it obviously is not a lovely day)
 2. That was clever! (when someone has done something stupid)
Some general remarks:
 Don’t overuse the exclamation mark
 Don’t include a series of exclamation marks. E.g., I’ll never get it right!!!!