Punctuatio

ns
 Full stop

• The punctuation mark full stop (.) is used

to close sentences. A new sentence that
follows a full stop has a capital letter.
• Honesty is the best policy.
• Sweet are the uses of adversity.
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.
• Full stops are also used in writing
abbreviations. This is becoming less
common in British English.
• Examples are: oz. for ounce (s), Prof. for
professor, i.e. for in other words and e.g.
for for example.
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 Question marks

• Question marks (?) are used to close

direct questions. A new sentence that
follows a question mark has a capital
letter.
• What are you doing?
• Did you get my letter?
• Why do we try to reach the stars?
• Note that we do not use question marks
after indirect questions.
• He asked me if I had received his letter.
• I asked her what time it was.
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 Exclamation marks

• The exclamation mark (!) is placed at

the end of an utterance which is an
exclamation or which merely
expresses strong emotion.
• What a lovely painting it is!
(exclamation)
• How beautifully she sings!
(exclamation)
• You must leave at once! (strong
emotion)
 Comma

• Commas reflect pauses in speech.

• A listing comma is used to separate items in a series or list. In British English, the last two items in a list are not usually
separated by a comma unless these are long.
• The Three Musketeers were Athos, Porthos and Aramis.
• I went to China, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore.
• A joining comma is used to join two complete sentences into a single sentence. It is usually followed by a connecting
word like and, or, but, while or yet.
• We can go swimming, or we could stay here.
• I decided to come home earlier than I had planned, and the others spent the evening at the local disco.
• A gapping comma is used to show that certain words have been omitted instead of repeated.
• Jane decided to order the home-made steak pie and Alice, the duck special. (The omitted words are decided to order.)
• When subordinate clauses begin sentences, they are often separated by commas.
• After I left school, I went to London.
• If words or expressions interrupt the normal progression of a sentence, we usually separate them off by commas.
• John, however, did not turn up.
• We were, believe it or not, in love with each other.
• We use commas to mark off a noun or phrase in apposition.
• Milton, the great English poet, was blind.
• Paul, the apostle, was beheaded during the reign of Nero.
• Commas are used to mark off a participial phrase from the rest of the sentence.
• Driven by rain, we took shelter under a tree.
• Caesar, having conquered his enemies, returned to Rome.
• A non-defining relative clause is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.
• Sailors, who are generally superstitious, say it is unlucky to embark on a Friday.

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 Colon

• The punctuation mark colon (:) is almost always used after a complete
sentence. Its function is to indicate that what follows is an explanation or
elaboration of what precedes.
• We decided not to go on holiday: we had too little money.
• Mother may have to go into hospital: she has got kidney trouble.
• I decided to buy some clothes: I had nothing to wear.
• She decided to stay at home: it was raining.
• A colon is used when famous sayings are quoted.
• In the words of Murphy's Law: 'Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.'
Solomon says: 'Of the making of books there is no end.'
• A colon can introduce a list.
• We need three kinds of support: economic, moral and political.
• These are the things we have to take with us: a flask of tea, some biscuits,
sandwiches and fruit.
• The poets I like best are: Milton, Wordsworth, Shelly and Keats.
• A colon is never preceded by a white space, and it is never followed by a dash
or a hyphen.
• In British English, it is unusual for a capital letter to follow a colon (except at the
beginning of a quotation). However, this can happen if a colon is followed by
several complete sentences.
• In American English, colons are more often followed by capital letters.
 Semicolon

• Semicolons (;) are sometimes used instead of

full stops, in cases where sentences are
grammatically independent but the meaning
is closely connected.
• Some people work best in the mornings; others
do better in the evenings.
• Women’s conversation is cooperative; men’s is
competitive.
• The Hobbit was published in 1937; the first
volume of The Lord of the Rings followed in
1954.
• Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready
man; writing an exact man.
• Some are born great; some achieve greatness;
some have greatness thrust upon them.
 Hyphen

• Hyphens (-) are the short lines that we put between words.
• ex-husband
blue-green
• Uses
• 1. Two-word compound adjectives are hyphenated when the second word ends in -ed or -ing.
• green-hued
blue-eyed
broken-hearted
• Other two-word adjectives which contain the sense of 'between' are also often hyphenated.
• Indo-Pak relations
Anglo-French connections
blue-green (between blue and green)
The New York-Paris flight.
• Longer phrases used as adjectives before nouns are also often hyphenated.
• an out-of-work singer
• 2. Two-word compound nouns are hyphenated when the first word is stressed.
• running-shoes
bus-driver
paper-shop
• 3. The prefixes co-, non- and ex- are sometimes separated from what follows by hyphens.
• co-operation
non-alignment
ex-husband
• Notes
• Nowadays there is a growing tendency to avoid hyphens. Most common short compounds are now written as single
words with no separation between them.
• weekend
takeover
• Less common or larger compounds are written as completely separate words.
• living room
 Dash

• Dashes (–) are common in informal

writing. They can be used in the
same way as colons, semi-colons or
brackets.
• There are three things I can never
remember – names, faces and I
have forgotten the other.
• A pair of dashes is used to separate a
strong interruption to the sentence.
• My mother – who rarely gets angry –
really lost her temper
 Apostrophes

• We use apostrophes (’) for three main reasons.

• Missing letters
• It is used in writing a contraction to show the place of the omitted letters.
• can’t (= cannot)
it’s (= it is)
I’d (= I would/had)
who’s (= who is/has) Possessives
• We use apostrophes in writing most possessives.
• the girl’s father
three miles’ walk
two weeks’ work
my parents’ wedding
• Possessive determiners and pronouns do not have apostrophes.
• This is yours. (NOT …your’s.)
• Whose is that coat? (NOT Who’s …)
• Special plurals
• Apostrophes are used in the plurals of letters, and often of numbers and
abbreviations.
• Mind your p’s and q’s.
• It was in the early 1960’s.
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 Quotation marks

• Quotation marks (‘…’ “…”) are also called

inverted commas in British English.
• Quotation marks are chiefly used to set
off direct speech.
• ‘Can I help you?’ she asked.
• Pope says, ‘The proper study of mankind is
man.’
• We often use quotation marks round words
when we give them special meanings.
• A textbook can be a ‘wall’ between teacher
and class.
• People disagree about how to use the word
‘disinterested’.
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