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ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN A NUTSHELL

Grammar enables us to understand the mechanism of sentence

construction.
A sentence is a group of words which tell us something about a person or a thing.

PARTS OF SPEECH
1. Noun 2. Pronoun 3. Adjective 4. Adverb 5. Verb 6. Preposition
7.Conjunction 8. Interjection.

NOUNS: When we use a word to name something or somebody, we are using it as a

noun. In simple terms remember Noun is a naming word.
Five kinds of nouns:
Proper Noun: We can use words to name a person, a place, a particular building or thing.
Such nouns are called proper nouns.
i) Chennai – (Place) ii) Senthil (Person) iii) The Ripon Building (Building) iv) Hero
Honda – (a thing) v) Jimmy (a pet dog)
Common Nouns: We can use words to name a species of class of things.
Tiger (a species of cat family) Man (species of human beings) car (a class of four
wheeler)
Collective or Group Nouns: We can use words as nouns to refer to a group of things.
A fleet of cars, a crowd of people, a bunch of idiots, a company of soldiers
Abstract Noun: We can use words to name a state of things or affairs, feelings, concept,
ideas and other mental and emotional process. Such naming words are called abstract
noun.
Fear, love, patience, difference, number
Material Noun: We can use words to name materials:
Gold, silver, wood, steel, brass etc.,
Count and Uncount Nouns: There are things which we can count and things which we
cannot count. For instance we can count the number of students in a class but we cannot
count the amount of water in a well.
Count Nouns: Names of things that can be counted are called count nouns.
Student, building, pens, books, people etc.
Uncount Nouns: Names of things that cannot be counted are called uncount nouns.
News, water, information, milk, sky etc.
Two forms of count Nouns:
Singular – One in number: A book, one book, a pen, a cycle.
Plural - Two or more in number: Two books, several people, many books.

PRONOUNS: These are basically placeholders for nouns in sentences. They function
grammatically just like nouns, but the things to which they refer are context-dependent.
They come in several flavors:
Personal Pronouns: I, we (1st person), you (2nd person), he, she, it, they (3rd
person)
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Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those. (These words can also be used
as adjectives.)
Relative Pronouns: who, which, that, in phrases such as “the man who won” and
“the book that I read.”
Interrogative Pronouns: who, which, what used as question words, as in “Who is
she?” and “What do you want?”
There’s also the impersonal pronoun one, as in “One should get lots of sleep.”

ADJECTIVES: The are words that modify or qualify the meaning of a noun or are
words that give us additional information about nouns such as small, red, and important
are called adjectives. The articles a, an, and the are a particular type of adjective; called
determiners. They determine/point out in an additional way what we are talking about.
A and an can mean ‘one’: A friend of mine;
A/an can also mean ‘per’: 50 kms an hour, 3 meals a day.
A/an can also mean ‘all’: A dog can be dangerous sometimes.
A, an are used only with singular count nouns. They are used only once in a speech
writing. The second time we are speaking about the same thing we use ‘the’.
A man came to see you. The man waited for some time and left.
Remember we use a / an according to sound and not spelling. ‘U’ in university is
pronounced ‘you’. It is not a vowel. If ‘U’ is pronounced as ‘ah’ as in umbrella we use
‘an’. In honest ‘h’ is silent, we pronounce it as ‘onest’. The sound is ‘ah’ therefore we use
’an’.
‘The’ is called specific determiner because it points out a specific or definite way what
we are talking about. ‘the’ in fact, is a short and weak (less emphatic) form of ‘this ‘that’
‘these’ and ‘those’.
Emphatic: this book; that book; these books; those books
Non-emphatic: the books; the book
Remember we can use ‘the’ with singular and plural nouns.
We use ‘the’ when we are speaking about things that are unique. i.e., only one by nature.
For instance we have only one Sun, earth, sky etc., Therefore we say ‘the Sun’; ‘the
Earth’; ‘the Sky’.
We use ‘the’ before the name of rivers:
The Krishna, The Cauvery, The Tungabhadra.
We use ‘the’ before the names of ranges of mountains:
The Himalayas, the western ghats, The Vindhyas.
Remember ‘The’ is not used before names of single mountains. Thus ‘the
Tiruvannamalai’ is incorrect.
We Use ‘the’ before:
Names of musical instruments: The violin, the guitar, the piano
Names of powerful posts: (which are only one of its type) The Chief Minister, the Prime
Minister, The President
Superlative adjective: The most intelligent student, the best book, the tallest person
Names of famous buildings: The Red Fort, the LIC building, the Tajmahal
Names of famous books, especially religious books: The Gita, The Bible, The Koran, The
Ramayana.
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With words like ‘first’ ‘second’ etc which are called ordinal numbers:
The first theatre, the second row, the tenth bench.
With ‘last’ and ‘next’ eg., The next building, the last customer.
Before names of newspapers: eg., The Hindu, The Indian Express, The tribune, The
Times of India, The Prajavani.
Where ‘the’ is not used:
We don’t use ‘the’ before proper nouns: Krishna, not The Krishna
We don’t use ‘the before names of places:
India, not the India, Bangalore, not the Bangalore, Chennai, not the Chennai.
Determiners II:
The words some, any, few, little, are called general Determiners.
The words this, that, these and those, are called demonstrative determiners.
The words my, our, your, his, her, its, their, are called possessive determiners.

VERBS: These are words that describe actions, states of being, etc. (The action can be
abstract as well as physical, as in the word “describe” in the previous sentence.)
Two Form of verbs: Regular Verb where d or ed is added. ask – asked, love-loved
Irregular verb where different form is added. See – Saw, get-got
Tenses:
There are Three Tenses: Present Tense, Past Tense, Future Tense
Simple Present: The simple present is neither nor present. It is neither present nor past,
nor future. We can call it a general tense.
We use the simple present to speak about, People’s habit/ customs, Eternal Truths,
Everyday activities, Activities that in your view are permanent, Activities that go
according to a time-table.
Negatives in the simple present are made by adding ‘do not’, ‘does not’ to the verb.
Questions in simple present are made by beginning the sentences with ‘do’ and ‘does’
Simple Present + Time is also used for speaking about arranged, planned actions in the
future. But this is mostly used in written English.
Eg., The Prime Minister arrives tomorrow.
Present Continuous is used for activities that are happening now/now-a-days.
Present Continuous + Time is used with an adverb of time to speak about a future
action. It indicates that arrangements for this action have already been made and
therefore, the action is certain to take place.
Ashok is leaving for Delhi on July 4th. (He has bought the ticket)
We are going for a movie tonight (We have booked the tickets)
She is getting married this November (All arrangements have been made)
Present Perfect:
Is used when we want to speak about a just completed action.
He has just left, We have just taken our dinner.
Is used for a past action which has a result now.
Vinod you look different! Sir, I have removed my moustache!
Is used for speaking about action that started in the past and is still happening (now)
I have studied in this school for 8 years (I’m still studying here)
Present perfect continuous : is used when we are speaking about the duration of a
present action or we are telling people when the action began.
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I have been working - present perfect continuous.

I am living here (now – duration not mentioned)
I have been living here for the last 7 years (duration)
I have been living here since 1995 (when it started)
Simple Past: is used to tell what happened. Eg., I left home at 8 am yesterday
Past continuous is used to tell us what was happening. In this structure we do not tell
anything about when the action started or when it ended. Eg., I was waiting for you
We used the past continuous alongwith a simple past when we are speaking about two
actions – one background and one main action.

Eg., The telephone rang. (main action)

When I taking bath (background action.
The telephone rang when I was taking a bath.
Past Perfect: We use the past perfect to speak about an action that happened earlier to the
one we are talking about.
Eg., I went to Ramesh’s house on 17th. Ramesh invited me on 14th.
17th is the later action and 14th is the earlier action. So, while talking about the earlier
action, we use the past perfect.
Past Perfect Continuous: We use the past perfect continuous to speak about the duration
or the starting time of an action that was continuing in the past.
Eg., I had been living in Pune since 2005.
Her eyes were red. She had been crying.
Simple Future: We use the Simple future (with ‘will) to tell what we intend to do, what
we promise to do or what we are likely to do. Eg., She will go to Delhi from Mumbai.
Future Continuous: We use this tense to speak about some continuing action in the
future. Eg., Don’ go in the afternoon. He will be sleeping.
Future Perfect: We use this tense when we want to say that an action will have been
completed by a certain time in future. It is usually used with expressions like ‘by this
time tomorrow’, ‘by July’
Eg., I will have repaired the Scooter by tomorrow evening.
Future Perfect Continuous: We use this tense to speak about the duration of an action
that will be happening in the future.
Eg., I will have been working in this company for 8 years this September.
Passive Voice: Sometimes you may be speaking about something which is not doing any
action but receiving the effect of somebody’s action.
Suppose you say: Kamal is awarded Padmashri.
Here Kamal is not doing any action. He is the person receiving the action.
Sentences where the subject is not doing any action but receiving the action. Where the
subject is passive, are said to be in the passive voice.
List of passive voice structures according to tenses.
Simple Present: Movies are released on Fridays.
Present continuous: The movie is being released.
Present perfect: The movie has been released.
Simple Past: The movie was released.
Past Continuous: The movie was being released.
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Indirect Speech: When we tell somebody what someone else said or instructed or asked,
we use a special sentence structure called reported speech or indirect speech.
The indirect speech consists of two sentences joined by ‘that’.
The first sentence is the Speaker’s sentence. It usually begins like this:
He said, He told, Leela said, They told, He asked.
The second sentence is the sentence carrying the message of what someone else said.
Ravi told Raj “I am from Andhra”
In the indirect speech it becomes: Ravi told Raj that he was from Andhra.
The conjunction ‘that’ in some cases is optional.: Ravi told Raj he was from Andhra.
We should note that when we use a past tense reporting verb like ‘said’ or ‘told’ we also
change the verb in the message sentence into past tense.
Thus ‘I am from Andhra’ becomes ‘He was from Andhra’.
If the reporting verb is in the past tense, the following changes will take place:
Am – was, is – was, are – were, was – had been, were – had been, will be – would be,
has – had, have – had, had – had, can – could, will – would, may – might, must – had to,
have to – had to, might – might, should – should, would – would, here – there,
now – then, yesterday – the previous day, tomorrow – the next day

Past Perfect: The movie has been released.

Simple Future: The movie will be released.
Future Perfect: The movie will have been released

ADVERBS: These are words that modify words other than nouns. Usually they modify
verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, as the word “completely” does in these sentences:
I agree completely. (modifies the verb “agree”)
Completely happy people are rare. (modifies the adjective “happy”)
It was completely badly done. (modifies the adverb “badly”)
Occasionally they can modify other parts of speech:
He is really into Indian music. (“really” modifies the preposition “into”)
Many adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding –ly: complete, completely.

PREPOSITION: These are words such as in, on, into, out, of, on behalf of, for, by,
with, from, to, about, etc. Prepositions show, time, place, position, method etc., called
its object. The unit formed by a preposition and its object (with modifiers) is called a
prepositional phrase. Prepositional phrases modify other words in the sentence, that is,
they function as adjectives and adverbs. For example, “in the big room” is a
prepositional phrase that can be used as follows:
The table in the big room is round. (modifies the noun “table”)
He stood in the big room. (modifies the verb “stood”)
The following are commonly used prepositions:
At, except, after, with, along, into, among, in, amidst, like, around, for, as, onto,
above, of, between, to, below, over, before, near, beyond, towards, beneath, within,
without and to.
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CONJUNCTION: These are words such as and, but, or, because, although, etc., that
join words or parts of sentences. Some words can be used as either prepositions or
conjunctions, such as after: Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases or
sentences.
I have joined the summer English course.
I want to improve my English.
I have joined the summer English course because I want to improve my English.- is
conjunction.

INTERJECTION: These are words which express strong feelings or emotions such as
oh, well, alas, (strong feelings )etc., that can be stuck into a sentence but are structurally
separate from the rest of the sentence.
Oh. God! Nonsense! What a beautiful day! Alas!

MODAL WORDS:
Can, could, would, should, may, might, must, have to, used to, ought to
Can: with the meaning ‘able to’. I can speak Hindi, She can type at 60 words per minute.
When we want somebody’s permission. Can, I come in Sir?
With the meaning ‘it is possible’, ‘is it possible’- Can we win this match? Yes, we can.
Can you come today? Yes, I can.
With the expression ‘Can you please..’ to give instruction in a polite way.
Can you wait please? Can you please come tomorrow?
Could: We use ‘could’ with the meaning ‘was able to’ or ‘were able to’ and could not
with the meaning ‘was not able to’ or ‘were not able to’
Could you reach the station in time? Ans: No. We could not.
Could he get through the exams? Ans: Yes. He could.
I could understand what he was saying. But I could not do anything.
When we want somebody’s permission. Here ‘could’ is in present tense and it conveys
more politeness than ‘can’
Could I come in Sir?
Could I use your telephone?
Should: We use ‘should’ when we want to give somebody a piece of advice or when we
want to put gentle pressure on somebody to do something.
Ravi, you should study now.,
You all should come to the class by 10 tomorrow.
Would: We use ‘would’ with the meaning ‘used to’. That is, we use ‘would’ to speak
about a past habitual or regular activity.
He would work only in the morning and would have the rest of the day free to himself.
Would like:We use ‘would like’ with the meaning ‘want’. It is a ‘present tense
expression’ and it is a stylish way of saying ‘I want’.
I want some water – I would like to have some water.
I want to meet the manager – I would like to meet the manager.
What would to like to have for Dinner?
Would you: We use ‘would you’ to give an instruction or order in a very polite way.
Would you wait? Would you, please, come tomorrow?
Would rather : We use ‘would rather’ to show what we prefer to do.
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I would rather go into business. I would rather be a doctor than a clerk

Ought to: Like ‘should’ we also use‘ought to’ to give advice or put gentle pressure on
somebody to do something.
You ought to obey your parents. You ought to look for a good job.
Used to: We use ‘used to’ like ‘would’ for past habitual or past regular activity.
He used to eat a lot. She used to come to my house. Now she has stopped.
May: We use ‘May’ when we want to ask for somebody’s permission to do something.
May I borrow your pen please? May I come in Sir?
We use ‘May’ when we are not sure about what we are saying.
I may go to Mumbai next week. (not sure) I am going to Mumbai Next week (sure)
Might: We use ‘Might’ when our doubt is greater.
I might go to Mumbai next week (very doubtful) It might rain
Must: We use ‘Must’ to say there is a compulsion or pressure on somebody to do
something. You must bring the files tomorrow.
He must be a graduate.
You must report for duty on 10th of this month.
Must be: We use ‘must be’ when we have strong reasons to believe that something is
like what you are describing.
Suppose your friend speaks good Hindi and therefore, you think that he is a north Indian.
You express your belief like this:
You must be North India.
Have to: We use ‘have to’ when we want to say that there is a compulsion or pressure on
somebody to do something.
You have to meet Mr. Subodh at the station.
Had to: ‘had to’ is past tense of ‘have to’:
He had to go to his native place.
Sorry, I could not come yesterday. I had to attend a marriage.

Capital Letter:

We are going to start our look at English by looking at Capital letters.

When do we use a capital letter?
We always use a capital letter at the start of a sentence.
We always use a capital letter for the names of places, people and titles (proper nouns).
We always use a capital I for talking about yourself
Try these examples. Put the capital letters in the correct places
where is the toy shop? - Where is the toy shop?
can you meet me at peter's house on friday? - Can you meet me at Peter's house on
Friday?
the great ship titanic pulled out of southampton into the english channnel. –
The great ship Titanic pulled out of Southampton into the English Channel.
"where are you going" asked mr fern. - "Where are you going?" asked Mr Fern.
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There’s a time for everything, and that includes capitalizing words. If you want to know
just when capitalization is called for in writing, read the steps below. Once you know the
rules, memorize them. Getting them right will make a lasting impression. Getting them
wrong will too.
Instructions
Step 1
Begin each sentence with a capital letter, including sentences inside quotation marks.
Examples: The meeting will be held next week.What she said was, “Never call me in the
morning.”
Step 2
Use capital letters when a title includes a proper name or a numeral. Examples: Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and Pope Paul III
Step 3
Use a capital letter in the first word and all words of importance in titles published.
Example: The Miracle Worker
Step 4
Capitalize titles of people such as Senator Dean Skelos, and capitalize an important title
without a name. Example: Vice President
Step 5
Use a capital letter as the first letter of the days of the week and in months and holidays.
Examples: Monday, February, and Easter
Step 6
Use capital letters in the names of historical events, historical statues, historical
monuments, and historical papers. Examples: The Boston Tea Party, The Liberty Bell,
The Washington Monument, The United States Constitution.
Step 7
Use capital letters in names that are of a geographical nature such as Mediterranean Sea
and when writing building names like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Step 8
A capital letter should be the first letter in the name of an agency of the government. The
names of institutions, company names, and the names of organizations should be
capitalized as well. Examples: The Air Force, John Hopkins Medical Institution, Canon
U.S.A., Organization for Security in Europe
Step 9
When a noun is part of a name such as Calhoun High School, it should be capitalized.Use
a capital letter in the case of a proper noun and in words that come from that proper noun.
Examples: Texas and Texan
Step 10
Use capital letters when naming religions, gods, and any language. Examples: Hindu and
Buddha
Step 11
Use capital letters in department names. Example: Department of Public Affairs
Step 12
When Mom, Dad, Grandmother, or Grandfather is used in place of a name, the first letter
is capitalized. Aunt and Uncle are also capitalized when a name follows.
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PUNCTUATION

The principal marks of punctuation are:

The Comma [,]
The Semicolon [;]
The Colon [:]
The Period [.]
The Interrogation [?]
The Exclamation [!]
The Dash [—]
The Parenthesis [()]
The Quotation [" "]

There are several other points or marks to indicate various relations, but properly
speaking such come under the heading of Printer's Marks, some of which are treated
elsewhere.

Of the above, the first four may be styled the grammatical points, and the remaining five,
the rhetorical points.
Apostrophe
The Apostrophe should come under the comma rather than under the quotation marks or
double comma. The word is Greek and signifies a turning away from. The letter elided or
turned away is generally an e.

In poetry and familiar dialogue the apostrophe marks the elision of a syllable, as "I've for
I have"; "Thou'rt for thou art"; "you'll for you will," etc. Sometimes it is necessary to
abbreviate a word by leaving out several letters. In such case the apostrophe takes the
place of the omitted letters as "cont'd for continued."

The apostrophe is used to denote the elision of the century in dates, where the century is
understood or to save the repetition of a series of figures, as "The Spirit of '76"; "I served
in the army during the years 1895, '96, '97, '98 and '99." The principal use of the
apostrophe is to denote the possessive case. All nouns in the singular number whether
proper names or not, and all nouns in the plural ending with any other letter than s, form
the possessive by the addition of the apostrophe and the letter s. The only exceptions to
this rule are, that, by poetical license the additional s may be elided in poetry for sake of
the metre, and in the scriptural phrases "For goodness' sake." "For conscience' sake," "For
Jesus' sake," etc.

Custom has done away with the s and these phrases are now idioms of the language. All
plural nouns ending in s form the possessive by the addition of the apostrophe only as
boys', horses'. The possessive case of the personal pronouns never take the apostrophe, as
ours, yours, hers, theirs.
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Colon
The Colon except in conventional uses is practically obsolete.

It is generally put at the end of a sentence introducing a long quotation: "The cheers
having subsided, Mr. Bryan spoke as follows:"

It is placed before an explanation or illustration of the subject under consideration: "This

is the meaning of the term:"

A direct quotation formally introduced is generally preceded by a colon: "The great orator
made this funny remark:"

The colon is often used in the title of books when the secondary or subtitle is in
apposition to the leading one and when the conjunction or is omitted: "Acoustics: the
Science of Sound."

It is used after the salutation in the beginning of letters: "Sir: My dear Sir: Gentlemen:
Dear Mr. Jones:" etc. In this connection a dash very often follows the colon.
It is sometimes used to introduce details of a group of things already referred to in the
mass: "The boy's excuses for being late were: firstly, he did not know the time, secondly,
he was sent on an errand, thirdly, he tripped on a rock and fell by the wayside."
Comma
Comma: The office of the Comma is to show the slightest separation which calls for
punctuation at all. It should be omitted whenever possible. It is used to mark the least
divisions of a sentence.

A series of words or phrases has its parts separated by commas:—"Lying, trickery,

chicanery, perjury, were natural to him." "The brave, daring, faithful soldier died facing
the foe." If the series is in pairs, commas separate the pairs: "Rich and poor, learned and
unlearned, black and white, Christian and Jew, Mohammedan and Buddhist must pass
through the same gate."

A comma is used before a short quotation: "It was Patrick Henry who said, 'Give me
liberty or give me death.'"

When the subject of the sentence is a clause or a long phrase, a comma is used after such
subject: "That he has no reverence for the God I love, proves his insincerity." "Simulated
piety, with a black coat and a sanctimonious look, does not proclaim a Christian."

An expression used parenthetically should be inclosed by commas: "The old man, as a

general rule, takes a morning walk."

Words in apposition are set off by commas: "McKinley, the President, was assassinated."
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Relative clauses, if not restrictive, require commas: "The book, which is the simplest, is
often the most profound."

In continued sentences each should be followed by a comma: "Electricity lights our

dwellings and streets, pulls cars, trains, drives the engines of our mills and factories."

When a verb is omitted a comma takes its place: "Lincoln was a great statesman; Grant, a
great soldier."

The subject of address is followed by a comma: "John, you are a good man."

In numeration, commas are used to express periods of three figures: "Mountains 25,000
feet high; 1,000,000 dollars."

Dash
The Dash is generally confined to cases where there is a sudden break from the general
run of the passage. Of all the punctuation marks it is the most misused.

It is employed to denote sudden change in the construction or sentiment: "The Heroes of

the Civil War,—how we cherish them." "He was a fine fellow—in his own opinion."

When a word or expression is repeated for oratorical effect, a dash is used to introduce
the repetition: "Shakespeare was the greatest of all poets—Shakespeare, the intellectual
ocean whose waves washed the continents of all thought."

The Dash is used to indicate a conclusion without expressing it: "He is an excellent man
but—"

It is used to indicate what is not expected or what is not the natural outcome of what has
gone before: "He delved deep into the bowels of the earth and found instead of the hidden
treasure—a button."

It is used to denote the omission of letters or figures: "J—n J—s for John Jones; 1908-9
for 1908 and 1909; Matthew VII:5-8 for Matthew VII:5, 6, 7, and 8.

When an ellipsis of the words, namely, that is, to wit, etc., takes place, the dash is used to
supply them: "He excelled in three branches—arithmetic, algebra, and geometry."

A dash is used to denote the omission of part of a word when it is undesirable to write the
full word: He is somewhat of a r——l (rascal). This is especially the case in profane
words.

Between a citation and the authority for it there is generally a dash: "All the world's a
stage."—Shakespeare.
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When questions and answers are put in the same paragraph they should be separated by
dashes: "Are you a good boy? Yes, Sir.—Do you love study? I do."

Exclamation
The Exclamation point should be sparingly used, particularly in prose. Its chief use is to
denote emotion of some kind.

It is generally employed with interjections or clauses used as interjections: "Alas! I am

forsaken." "What a lovely landscape!"

Expressions of strong emotion call for the exclamation: "Charge, Chester, charge! On,
Stanley, on!"

When the emotion is very strong double exclamation points may be used: "Assist him!! I
would rather assist Satan!!"

Parenthesis
Marks of Parenthesis are used to separate expressions inserted in the body of a sentence,
which are illustrative of the meaning, but have no essential connection with the sentence,
and could be done without. They should be used as little as possible for they show that
something is being brought into a sentence that does not belong to it.

When the unity of a sentence is broken the words causing the break should be enclosed in
parenthesis: "We cannot believe a liar (and Jones is one), even when he speaks the truth."

In reports of speeches marks of parenthesis are used to denote interpolations of approval

or disapproval by the audience: "The masses must not submit to the tyranny of the classes
(hear, hear), we must show the trust magnates (groans), that they cannot ride rough-shod
over our dearest rights (cheers);" "If the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), will not be
our spokesman, we must select another. (A voice,—Get Robinson)."

When a parenthesis is inserted in the sentence where no comma is required, no point

should be used before either parenthesis. When inserted at a place requiring a comma, if
the parenthetical matter relates to the whole sentence, a comma should be used before
each parenthesis; if it relates to a single word, or short clause, no stop should come before
it, but a comma should be put after the closing parenthesis.

Period
The Period is the simplest punctuation mark. It is simply used to mark the end of a
complete sentence that is neither interrogative nor exclamatory.

After every sentence conveying a complete meaning: "Birds fly." "Plants grow." "Man is
mortal."

In abbreviations: after every abbreviated word: Rt. Rev. T. C. Alexander, D.D., L.L.D.
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A period is used on the title pages of books after the name of the book, after the author's
name, after the publisher's imprint: American Trails. By Theodore Roosevelt. New York.
Scribner Company

Question Mark
The Mark of Interrogation is used to ask or suggest a question.

Every question admitting of an answer, even when it is not expected, should be followed
by the mark of interrogation: "Who has not heard of Napoleon?"

When several questions have a common dependence they should be followed by one
mark of interrogation at the end of the series: "Where now are the playthings and friends
of my boyhood; the laughing boys; the winsome girls; the fond neighbors whom I
loved?"

The mark is often used parenthetically to suggest doubt: "In 1893 (?) Gladstone became
converted to Home Rule for Ireland."

Quotations
The Quotation marks are used to show that the words enclosed by them are borrowed.
A direct quotation should be enclosed within the quotation marks: Abraham Lincoln said,
—"I shall make this land too hot for the feet of slaves."

When a quotation is embraced within another, the contained quotation has only single
marks: Franklin said, "Most men come to believe 'honesty is the best policy.'"

When a quotation consists of several paragraphs the quotation marks should precede each
paragraph.

Titles of books, pictures and newspapers when formally given are quoted.

Often the names of ships are quoted though there is no occasion for it.

SemiColon
parts of compound sentences. It is much used in contrasts:

"Gladstone was great as a statesman; he was sublime as a man."

The Semicolon is used between the parts of all compound sentences in which the
grammatical subject of the second part is different from that of the first: "The power of
England relies upon the wisdom of her statesmen; the power of America upon the
strength of her army and navy."

The Semicolon is used before words and abbreviations which introduce particulars or
specifications following after, such as, namely, as, e.g., vid., i.e., etc.: "He had three
defects; namely, carelessness, lack of concentration and obstinacy in his ideas." "An
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island is a portion of land entirely surrounded by water; as Cuba." "The names of cities
should always commence with a capital letter; e.g., New York, Paris." "The boy was
proficient in one branch; viz., Mathematics." "No man is perfect; i.e., free from all
blemish."