f punctuation punctuation 7 ‘uation punctuation punctuation tiTwe Pieri) eE eee in Masten pmctustion punctuation , commas, and more, and punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation yinetuation punctuation our writing on the page. : von eee ions about q ation ation iso available: punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation punctuation mietwation fectuation rtnation P ctuation OXFORD inn Pecrracreats tng a > the essential guide to punctuation marks cere! and how to use them £4.90 nerOXFORD Contents Punctuation Stop Start witha capital letter Sentences Phrases and Clauses Comma Semicolon Colon Writing speech Brackets Dash Apostrophe Paragraphs More about Paragraphs Writing Playseripts Writing Addresses Big and Bold Headlines Punctuating Poetry Index 34Punctuation ‘yen you write you put your thoughts inta sentences. To show where your sentences begin and end, and how they should be read, you need punctuation, Without any punctuation, writing would look ike this: 1 chapter one jade come back sam yelled his voice was lost in the noise of the river tumbling under the bridge if you could call those two narrow planks and wobbly ral a bridge there was a large sign warning people that it wasnt safe danger it said but sams clown of a sister was already half-way across what should sam do he had two choices to go after her or run back to the camp-site and tell their mum and dad they had told jade and sam not to play near the river then he heard the loud splash that made his mind up for him Try reading ft. You wil probably find this very citfcult Hora isthe eame bit of story Compare it withthe frst ane, How many differences can you 896? oO CHAPTER ONE “Jade, come back!” Sam yelled. His voice was lost in the noise of the river, tumbling under the bridge ~ if you could call those two narrow planks and wobbly rail a “bridge” “There was a lange sign warning people that it wasn’t safe, DANGER, it said; but Sam's clown of a sister, was already half-way across. What should Sam do? He had two choices: to go after her, or run back to the camp-site and tell their mum and dad, (They had told Jade and Sam not to play near the river) Then he heard the loud splash that ‘made his mind up for him. |All the cifrences that you can find between pisces 1 and 2 are known as punctuation, Speaking ‘Speaking is quite ciferent trom writing, In speaking you can add expression to what you say. Expression means what you do with your voice, or with your hands and face, while you are talking. You can make your voice go up or dawn; you can make it loud or sof. You can pause. You can hesitate. You can repeat things. inn yous eh. su on hve mich no othr sat, Tho sree cn quite muddled. * there was this girl .. on the bridge right ....and a boy ... shouting... et... come back . .. I think he shouted come back .... it was difficult to hear with the river... you know... the river’s going so fast and there’s noise and... all waves and that... and then she’s gone .... just a splash... ‘This person tes the same story as the one on page 4, but i's quite diferent from a written story, “Ty reading it loud, with pauses where the dots are Writing When you are wring you have lots of time, You can put everthing tly into sentences. You can go back and change things that you don’ tke But in wring there are no voices or faces or hands to give expression, Written words are Just fat on the page. To bring I to He, you need these: >? | ,-()*” . ‘ bo 5 Look back at tha story on page 4, and see haw many punctuation rarks you can find “Thoy are called punctuation marksStop. It's the smallest possible sign you can waite = just a dot ~ but it has one of the biggest jobs to do, ‘The Americans cal it a period. In French its a point. In Gorman i's punkt. In English i's called a full stop. " Whether @ sentence is short or long, it needs a full stop at the end. Jade slipped. She landed in the river with a splash. She tried to swim to the bank, but the water was flowing fast and swept her quickly downstream, away from the bridge and straight towards the rumbling thunder of Rushbrook Falls. She ‘tumbled down several small rapids, and over water-slides made of smooth, slippery rock. It was a fast ride. Ifit hadn't been cold and territying, it might have been fun. How many sentencas are there in ths bit of story, How short is the shortest? How long isthe longest? {As well as ordinary ful stops, there are two special fll stops. ‘They come at the end of certain sentences, This ise question mark It's used only after questions. Where's Jade? Is she all right? ‘This is an exclamation mark, { It is used for sentences which have anger or surprise or urgency in them. ° What a stupid thing to do! Look out! ‘>You can find out more about questions and exclamations on pages & and 9, y OOo Start with a capital letter When you start a naw sentence, you should use a capital letter ‘The diferent letters ae also know as upper ‘ease and lower case. Inthe old days Printers kept the type in wooden cases, one above the other. The capital laters wer in the uoper case; the ordinary laters in the lower case. Upper case’ ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Loner cese: abcdefghijkImnopqrstuvwxyz ‘To get a capital latter on a keyboard, you have fo hold down the shift key while you type. There is usualy a shift key on each side of the etter keys. The [25D sien on itis SHtFt or <> OOO Proper Nouns - Names Proper nouns - the words which name people, plaoes or things ~ also ‘begin with a capita letter, wherever they come in a sentence, Where is Jade? There is a small footbridge over the River Rushbrook. It was the last day of September. Names in English begin with a capital letter \Which words in these sentences are names? What are they names of? ‘The word Lis alvays written as @ capita, whether is at the beginning (of a sontance or not warned her to be careful. She said I was just being fussy.Sentences ‘There are four main kinds of sentence: 1 Statements ‘These ara sentences which tol you somathing: ‘There is a waterfall near the bridge. It’s dangerous to swim here. Luckily Jade’s brother heard her fall into the river. ‘Most statements end in a ful stop, but sometimes, # they are meant with alot of feeling, you can use an exclamation merk: Jade's fallen in! 2 Questions ‘These are sentences which ask you something Where is the nearest telephone? ‘What happened? A Is there another bridge before the falls? (Questions, as you would ‘expect, end with a quastion _"—>. marks and Ike all sentences they begin with a capital letter. 3 Commands Commands tl you what todo ~ or not 10 oo Stay away from the edge. Don’t swim in the river. [An urgent or angry command can have an exclamation mark Hang on! Don't ever do that again! Commands ean be very short ~ sometimes as short as one word: Stop. Go. Run. Swim. Think of some more one-word commends. 4 Exclamations “These are sentences which say something with surprise or amusement or annoyance Exclamations sound a bit ke questions, but they don't need answering. They often bogin with the words How... or What. How stupid of her! What a fool that girl is! Was she lucky Sam heard her fall in! ‘And they always end in an exclamation mark. What a surprise! some statements and ‘commands can ‘also end with an excamation mark, But don't ‘overdo I, Ike the writer of this postcard, Long or Short Sentences can be as short or as long as you Ike, These are short Jade fell off the bridge. She landed in the river. The water was icy. The current was fierce. Notice thet even though they ere shor, they sil need full stops between ther. ‘This one is much longer and says much more. Suddenly Jade slipped and fell off the bridge, down into the icy water of the river, where the fierce current swept her off her feet and carried her away downstream towards the wild rapids and the waterfall. You can put 48 much information into one long sentence as you can put into several snort ones. ‘Good wing Is @ mixtura of short, medium, andl long sentences.Phrases and Clauses ‘There are lots of ways of making sentences longer. You can add extra wards or extra phrases. Or you can jon whole sentences together to make longer ones, ‘A sentence that is pat of @ longer sentence is called a elause. ‘Adding Phrases Apirase i a group of words that makes sense but isnot a sentence with a big splash sa phase You could add t to the sentence: Jade fell into the iver to make a new sentence: Jade fel into the river with a big splash ‘When you add a phrase to sentence, it doesn’t have tobe on the end, {could go at the beginning: With a big splash Jade fell into the river. (Or even inthe middle: Jade fell, with a big splash, into the river. ‘You can add two or more phrases to the same main sentence: All of a sudden, Jade fell, with a big splash, off the bridge into the river. Because phrases 2 nt sentences, thy don't have to on capt letra ful ston, Don't we Jade fel off the bridge. With a big splash. X ‘This should not be two sentences; it should be one, with only one ful stop. Joining Clauses Whole sentences ~ clauses - can be added together to make longer ones, s longer ones, using words called conjunctions. Conjunations are joining words. ‘The most common conjunction sand The water was icy. The current was fierce. ‘© The water was icy and the current was fierce 4 sentence There is no fl stop before and, because a conjunction makes the two sentences into one, There are lois of conjunctions ~ not just and. Some of the others are: or but because for when so as than before after i Tike since until unless although whether while Jade fell off the bridge because it was slippery. She tried to swim to the bank but the current was too strong, She'd better get out or she'll be over the falls! When Sam heard the splash, he ran to get help. ‘Unless he gets help quickly, it will be too late. In the last two ofthese sentences the conjunction is at the beginning, Find out whether all conjunctions can go at the ‘beginning ~ or only some of them. Remember that aconuncton makes one seierce ot we. 8 dont mt Jade fel off the bridge. Because it was slippery.X When Sam heard the splash. He ran to get help. X wComma , 1088 ~ particularly longer sentences — easier to | The jab of the comma is to make sent read, ‘When you are reading aloud, commas usually mark a sight pause, or change of voice. Try reading tne sentences on these two pages aloud, and istening fo the commas in your voice, | Commas in Lists \When things are written in alist, they are called items. Instead of writing and between every item, you can use commas: ‘The shop on the campsite sold eggs, bacon, cheese, milk, lettuce, tomatoes, | sausages, beans, cold drinks, and crisps. tre a tote oc prune Jade, her brother, her mum, hor dad, the dog ands inenig were all Sayingiecarevan | in the Rushbrook Valley. Here are ists of what Jade did, and how she felt, after fling in the river: She bobbed, bounced, slithered, and tumbled down the rapids, She felt cold, wet, foolish, and scared, Some people lave out the last comma its flowed by and, For exam: | She felt cold, wet, foolish and scared ' I's up to you whether you put the last comma in oF not, Look out for lists when you are | reading, and see what diferent writers do, Names and Descriptions Often when you name someone, or something, you need a descristion as wel ‘comma i usatul between the name and the description the Johnsons’ dog, Wagger Hulk, the guinea pig Jade's brother, Sam whe are the names here, and which are the desccptions? @ Joins Commas are also useful to show the jins ina sentence: for example, where a phrase or clause has been added, or two sentences made into one, With a splash, Jade hit the water. When she first fell in, she didn’t know where she was. The river was dangerous to swim in, although it wasn’t deep. ‘Commas are partcualy important wihen the sentence has an extra part stuck in the ‘idole, When this happens thers should be @ comma before and afer the extra part ~ like this: Sam, who had heard the splash, ran to get help. ‘The waterfall, which he could hear in the distance, was the big danger: \Whet isthe main sentence in each ofthese, and what is the extra part? Commas and Conjunctions <> Some writers put commas before conjunctions wien sentences are joined, and some on't.The writer of these sentences ain't It wasn’t deep but it was moving fast. Did Jade jump in or did she fall? Sam will have to get help before it’s too late. owt these with @ comma before junction. Decide which you tke batter —Semicolon ; AA semicolon marks a bigger break than a comma, but is not aé final as a full stop, Unlike 2 comma, a semicoion can go between two sentences, Use a semicolon if the sentences aro alike, or belong together, All rivers are dangerous; some are more dangerous than others. ‘The bridge is slippery; hold on tight. She was cold; she was scared; she was wet. Unlike fu stops, semicolons can come in the mile of santences. Use them only when you want a strong break between two parts of your sentence: “She was told not to go near the river; but you know Jade!” ‘There was a loud splash; then a cry for help. “I told her not to leave the campsite; I told her not to cross the river; and I told her to be back at the caravan by tea-time.”

< a, SSP GOR xys, caravans, tents \When its means there's something belonging to it, ‘there's no apostrophe. \When i's short for itis, there is an apostrophe. \ For example: 1s time you took the dog for its walk. aParagraphs PParagraphs are blocks of writing, sometimes as short as one sentence, tut usually a few ‘sentences long. The job of paragraphs is to break your writing up, making it easier to reac) ‘and understand. ‘To mark the beginning of a new paragraph, you start a new line. FRead the piece of story on the opposite page. How many paragranhs are there? New Face? New Place? ‘There are lots of reasons for starting @ new paragraph, but usually it Is because of some ‘change in what you are writing about. In the bit of writing opposite, there are three people. One is in the ver, the othar two are ‘on the bank. Whan the story switches from the river to the bank, or from Jade to her brother, or fom Sar to the fisherman, or back to the river, a new paragraph starts, This hes the reader to understand what's going on. Paragraph 4 Paragraph 5 CHAPTER TWO Meanwhile, what was Jade doing? She tried to do three things, very quickly, one after the other. First she tried to stand up, since the water ‘was quite shallow; but before she knew it, the fierce current had knocked her off her feet. Next she tried to swim, but the power of the ‘water made that impossible: she was swept out into the middle of the river, and away down the rapids like a bobbing cork. Lastly she tried to shout for help, but with the roar of the water ~ well, you can imagine, What Jade didn’t know was that Sam had seen it all happen. He ran, as fast as his young legs would carty him, down the bank and along the riverside path. He didn’t know how he would help; he just knew that he had to do something, and do it fast, It was just a stroke of luck that he saw the fisherman, sitting under his striped umbrella. ‘The fisherman had had a bad morning, Not one fish had bitten his line, and he was thinking seriously of packing up for the day. He didn’t see Jade shoot past because she was hidden by some rocks. But he did hear Sam shouting to her: “Jade, come back.” He looked up to see a frightened boy running towards hin, As if Jade could come back! Jade couldn’t even stop. It was bad enough where she was, but around the next bend of the river, it became even wilder, with dips and drops and tumbling white waves. The banks ‘were steep and rocky. At one point the stream divided into two branches, with a tall rocky island in between. Jade saw it ahead and wondered which side the stream would take her. Not that it mattered. much, Both sides ended up at the same place: the place where the river disappeared altogether, and plunged over Rushbrook Falls “Help!” called Jade again. But only a heron, standing at the edge on one leg, heard her as she whisked by. It opened its big, grey-blue wings and flapped heavily away.More about paragraphs PParagrephs can be used to show changes of time ~ as well as changes of people end places. Il the write jumps ahead in time, or beck in time, there should be a new Paragraph You offen see paragraphs beginning with phrases ik Next day Later that morning When she was much younger A long time ago .. Look at the nex! bitin the story. Whereis the jump in time, and how long i? The island was now straight ahead of her. Itwas round, green, and grassy, ‘worn smooth by the water, but on the right-hand side there were trees and bushes growing, some with low branches that stuck out over the water. Jade thought that if she could grab one of them she could pull herself out. She started to swim to the right. The island loomed. The river split. Jade made one last, huge effort. One branch shot past, too high. The next one snapped as she grabbed It. The third one held. And so did Jade. ‘Two minutes later she was sitting on a large rock, soaking wet and shivering with the cold ~ but safe. And there on the bank was Sam, waving at her and holding something that looked like a small radio. It was the fisherman's mobile phone. © There ars no fixed rules to tel you how many paragraphs @ piece of writing should have. itis very much up to you~ the writer ~ to decide, When you are veacing, look at what other writers do, Ask yourslf questions ike, Why is this @ new paragraph? What was that paragraph about? What change isthe writer making here? indent ‘Wen you start a new paragraph, you start @.new line. You can also begin the now paragraph a litle way over to the right, The space between the margin and the first word Of the paragraph Is called an indent. indent “Help!” called Jade again, But only a heron, standing at the edge on one leg, heard her as she whisked by. It opened its big, grey-blue wings and flapped heavily away. Dialogue - Conversation ‘What people say to each otha in @ story I called alalogue. This is pronounced calog ang just means conversaton ‘When you we dielegue you need speech marks to show whats boing sad (You can find aut all about speach marks on pages 16 and 17.) But itis also helpful to use paragraphs to show who is speaking, ‘This conversation was shouted across the river: “Jade,” yelled Sam, “are you all right?” “Yes,” she answered. “I'm fine. How did you know I was here?” “L saw you fall in, and followed you.” “Sam, you're so clever.” “You're not,” Sam said. “You're going to be in big trouble when you get back.” Jade shrugged her shoulders. “It won't be the first time,” she aid. She looked around and saw ‘water on all sides. “What bothers me right now is how I'm going [Notice that there is @ new paragraph every time the speaker changes, tram Jace to Sam {and back to Jade, eto. it means there ae lots of very shor paragraphs, but it helps the reader to folow the conversation.Writing Play Scripts {ell the actors and producer what 10 do; and fines, which tell the actors wnat to say. Jade is standing on the rock. Her brother is om the bank. It is difficult to hear because of the noise of the water, so they are both inn yu 0th pao, you ae phen ase ne srt aw dactons wich | Sing SAM _ Jade, ate you all right? JADE Yes, I'm fine. How did you know I was here? SAM __ saw you fall in, and followed you SAM You're not. You're going to be in big trouble when you get back. | JADE Sam, you're so clever. | JADE (shrugging her shoulders) It won't be the first time. She looks around and sees water on all sides. What bothers me right now is how I'm going to get off here. You | may not have noticed, but this is an island SAM (holding up the mobile phone to show Jade) Don't worry. I've made a 999 call, Help’s on its way. Be here any | minute, While Sam is speaking, there is the sound of a helicopter approaching. Both the children look up. The camera zooms in on the helicopter as it hovers overhead. A policewoman in a blue helmet comes down on arope. Writing Addresses When you send a letter to someone, you wate their address on the envelope. Addresses have spacial punctuation: each part of the address begins on a new lina ‘There are two ways to write addresses. You can choose: Jade Johnson, Jade Johnson 14, Heron Road, 14 Heron Road OXFORD, OXFORD 0x21 3X0. 0x21 3X0 ‘This is how everyone used to write When computers print addresses ‘addresses before the days of they look lke this. Now lots of computers. Many people stil do, psople write adresses this way, ‘and it ooks smart. too. How mary diferences can you see between the old way and the new way? Which one do you like better? Letters \When you wie letter to someane you should put your adress and the date ~ but not your name ~ at the top, on the right-hand side. This is 60 the receiver wil know where to waite back to, Here is the letter Jade wrote to the policewoman who rescued her from the island: your address, topiaht 14, Heron Road, OXFORD, Sate. below the 0x21 5X0 ‘comma here Sth September, 1999 Dear Sergeant Shorter Thank you very much for rescuing me from the river and for coming £0 quickly It was fun being lifted into the helicopter, but it wasn't fun being in the water. | know | am a very lucky gir, and | will be more careful vent Ime. a ne Yours sincerely, Jade Johneon abig and Bold Every page inthis book has @ heading. Headings have to they are often in big type or bold ype —or both. Headings work best if they are on a separate line, with the next tine Alot of computers lick ere to make letters bigger Somefont Wo 12 © fe menus Uke this roy stand out, catch attention, 90 ue oF word processor, you can make your headings stand out by choosing nt font-size forthe letters, ‘hk here to make thom bole When you are witing, you make a heading stand out by uncertining it~ with a ue How to Write a Heading Notice tat in @ heading, all the main words begin with a capital eter Emphasis ‘Sometimes in your wring you want some wo to standout in some way This is caled emphacia, Here are sone of th words can be emphasized: bold talc bold and italic undedinect Te wasn't just cold in the river, it was absolutely freezing! Every sentence should end with a full stop. “Never mind when I get off this island. Tell me how I get off.” we ‘words have beer Yow do you emphasize a By do you think they are emphasized? word when you are speaking? (© have more importance than athers, or 8 alreen Headlines 1 use headlines like these to altract the Newspaper writers ~ called journalists ~ o readers interest River rescue drama yesterday by a police helicopter near the fearsome Rostorook Falls. She sembled fut of the water just foot from the Brink, fonly to find herself stundod’on a small Inland inthe mide ofthe eps. was her Guie-thnking brother, Sam, wh ried the Heard a Splash Eigheyetrol Sm sys he tapped bathe head ett was in eable Think of some other headlines you eo Making a Point Some writing is not written in sentences one efter the other It is cut up into separate pointe that look lie ehort paragrenhs, | Riverside campsite|- giving you the best + Great for family holidays | + Tents and caravans welcome + Clean, modern toilet and shower blocks + Large children’s play area + River and spectacular waterfall nearby 2Punctuating Poetry Poets ike to be ciffeent. They sometimes use punctustion in very unusual ways. Some don't use it ata ‘The usuel way to write postry isin lines and verses. The frst word on each tne begins with a capital later, even if it isn’t the start of 8 sentence. Poets often use diferent indents {o give their verses a ‘shape’ ‘Who has seen the wind? Lunes Neither I nor you: But when the leaves are trembling ‘The wind is passing through. Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I coast But when the trees bow down their heads ‘The wind is passing by. Christina Rossetti Having Fun Not all wrting has to be serious. And not al writing has to keep to the rules. Especialy poetry. In poetry you can use words ~ and punctuation ~ to create ideas and pictures in almost any way you tke ‘So, now that you've got to the end of the book and learnt all these rues, have some fun ‘breaking them ~ lice Jade cid when her teacher asked the class to wrt about their polidays. ids eas toy) er 4 hg sy the NE beans troy ? vith 4 @ lade Johnson Tus Jae! adress apostrophe belonging bola face brackets baalot point colon command ‘commas with names conjunction contraction sesh Giatogue cemphass ‘exclamation mark sul stop headings Index ose Adozos hae spi punction when you we them a he ep 7 ‘Teter and cv onaone sn apestoge ke acon ttt writen val ith tos of » fae tom mare scoueson ot shan ere oti Res best Stow stews {om poaeni » “Tw eony, dk ype you us for heatngs eis ale bu orbokd 28 oe Yeu wi tins ree rat when ey mayb ator * ‘voting bot oe we neo. fue ports ar her ist of oman, ech stg o aw 2 iteventtowarge coo bse Acausisalie asenerce Youn on cawentonehetomaie 11 (puesto Acobni purcaton mark vino fw pt ic, ih a 6 thor bette © bere cree Acorma (8 a puncaionmaihatis wedi indcaie pases. or 1218 Ciara to emtonce oto om where vee crouse ‘tim toon red othe nce. Acomman,o ings’ svene tala you cr ees 8 yortsewonarg onto a Yoo ute com tatwotn ta ae ra Youcon so conras between nore enda deasipion-og.ack 2 ‘word ear bu whl, wien ved oo word nts soe or onto. ‘consacon i a herein, uel of wo wr nto, For 2 Sate dont becomes Sort ‘cash amas he hi wich aks a reo arapton. 6 Balog means convertion, spec when tis how wth 2s Erotestng sang means malin snd out 2 sn exchratn's serene tat sae soma ina epi ° Shwt ected cr erroyed way, awit wah a xoematen fatale An oramsten are) kd o ston ta endef ewan 8 Miotimee eprecing ows tutes ceugecr Tet so he pncton marked to show ha od ofa 5 Toeace ti oo nd at sre sone eon wo ‘Aredia yup ona expo ie a DO asic ot 2 ‘alata vot te cray wake aon #healine indent Inverted commas tae Tower ease paragraph period phrase posts, pootry possession ‘punctuation mark ‘question ‘question mark serpt semicolon ‘speech marks, stage directions upper case Alpe, bold eading at the top ofa story or paragraoh ma Fomspier or maganne or sovertser =n “+ meaning the person who is speaking, mo] is ahs wen 2s 3 capt ete. ‘nde ia he shor gs tat you leave teen the merg an he fiat word paling tb aflen eed when you ea = new paragraph. Inverted commas are speach marks. need mes upsice down ‘2 soma speech rks ook ke canras upside down hac wing i antec rar ho top to make took eront from te ret of he pit areure & [ove enonasis Lower cas eters are smal fs, not caps =a © . ’ paregraoh i 8 boc of wating wah one coasectng a unning trough You ste new parayaph when thre fa bres or change what you re wring about In Amara ul eop i es apnea Aphrace casting of words that makes sense but sot afl Poets keto be citron when & come to punctuation. They ten Dre otto ale. Possession maar belonging fo, fn shown is Engiah by an apasiophe +. Proper reuns ar tho name of people, paces cr hegs, arc are ‘wetlen wth a capt ater ate begieing, ‘One ot te sae that ie uae in punctuation: ul etep, comma, ac ‘Acuastion sa gontence thet asks someting Mt shu end itn question mat ‘question mak (7) ¢ used Yo show thatthe speaker or wre fasting set. Ser meens writing. lie eo used Yo mean the ines and dretons foray of. - semicon 8 punctusten mark thats rot as song 8A soo Dulisstonge than a comm. ‘Speech marks" "are uted in wig to show where somonne’ ‘etl nord ae boing used. Dreeton, of stage crecons, te acer where 10 go and what 0 ‘doin ay ot, A ctatoment is santance tht tls the reader ote some fermston. Itcan be rus, ola, or st a9 open Uppercase eters are capt eter: ABC. ete. page 20 22.2625 0 20 2