Punctuation

By; Sir Irshad

 Punctuation
Definition;
 Punctuation is the use of conventional signs, and
certain typographical devices as aids to the
understanding and the correct reading, both silently
and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts
 Also known as pointing or punctuation marks
 They are also used in writings to divide texts into
phrases and sentences and make the meaning clear.
 Importance

Punctuation is one of the most important aspects of

written English. We use punctuation to show
 Pauses
 Change in tone
 Emphasis … etc.
 Examples

Observe the following examples;

 A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
 The murderer protested his innocence an hour after he was
hanged.
The murderer protested his innocence. An hour after, he was
hanged.
 The inspector said, “The teacher is a fool.”
“The inspector,” said the teacher “is a fool.”
 Types of Punctuation

Following are the most important punctuation in

English Grammar;
1.End Punctuation
2.Semicolon
3.Colon
4. Dash
5.Comma
6. Quotation
7. Hyphen
8. Apostrophe
9. Ellipsis
10.Slash
11.Parenthesis
12.Brackets
13.Braces
 End Punctuation

 Most common punctuation in English language.

 Used at the end of a sentence.
 They are of three types;
i. Full stop
ii.Question mark
iii.Exclamation mark
 Full stop/Period


Looks like a small dot .
 It tells you when the sentence is complete and you
can take a breath.
 Used at the end of Statements,commands, indirect
questions.
 Also used in abbreviations.
 Examples
Statements
 I like to eat pizza.
 The baby's name is Grace.
Commands
 Pick up the blue ball.
 Turn left at the next light.
Indirect questions

She asked me why I didn't go to school yesterday.
 I wondered why Bob wasn't there.
Abbreviations

U.S.A. (United States of America)

Mr. (Mister)
 Question Mark ?

At the end of a sentence that asks a question
(interrogative sentence).

Looks like a hook with a dot under it ?
Appears at the end of;

W/H questions

"do" and "be" form of questions
 Tag question
 Rhetorical question
 Incomplete sentences
 Yes/No questions
 Examples

W/H questions

Where is the gas station?
 How much did you score on the test?
"do" and "be" form of questions

Do you know her name?

Is she the teacher?
Tag question

You paid the bill, didn't you?

Lisa is not here, is she?
Rhetorical question

Who cares?
 Are you kidding me?
Incomplete sentences
 Do you want to eat Pizza? chicken? Hamburgers?
Yes/No questions
 You promise to call me every day?
 See you there at 8:00 tonight?
 Exclamation Mark !
 Used at the end of an emotional sentence(strong feelings or
urgency).
 It is a simple vertical line above a period !
 Usually used at the end of Incomplete sentences.
e.g. Alas! I missed the catch.
 Not to be used in formal writings.
Appear at the end of
 Warnings
 Direct orders
 Fear Anger
 Happiness Surprise
 Examples
Warning
 Watch out!
 Beware!
Direct order
 Do not Enter!
 Stand up!
Fear
 That dog is going to bite me!
Anger
 Shut up!
 Examples Contd….

Surprise
 The bus is early today!
Happiness
 It is good to see you again!
 Semicolon ;

Looks like a period over a comma (;)
 Used to avoid unnecessary pauses.
 Connects two statements in a single sentence.
 Connects two related, or similar, sentences.
 Connects items in a list if there are already commas in
the sentence(to avoid too many commas)
 No letter is capitalized after semicolon(unless noun).
 They do not appear with conjunctions, though they are
used with conjunctive adverb.
 Examples
Two statements in a single sentence.
 Maria is a very kind person; she visits David in the
hospital everyday.
Two related, or similar, sentences.
 My shirt is green. My brother's shirt is blue.
 My shirt is green; my brother's is blue.
Avoid too many Commas
 My favorite teachers are Mrs. White, my math teacher;
Mrs. Smith, my reading teacher; and Mr. Johnson, my
music teacher.
 Examples Con…

Conjunctive adverb
 We will drive to school; then we will go to the
museum.
 I ate all of my vegetables; therefore, I should get
dessert.
 Colon :

 Two equal dots on top of one another with a small

space between ( : )
 Commonly used to introduce words, phrases, lists,
names or quotations.
 A colon gives emphasis to whatever you are
introducing
 Reader must come to a full stop at the colon(which
increases attention)
 Also be used after the salutation of a formal letter.
 Colon : Con…

 Colon is never used to separate a preposition from

its object.
 Never put a colon after a verb in a sentence.
 Never use colon after such as.
 Examples
Listing
 I like many healthy foods: carrots, broccoli, apples,
spinach and oranges.
Emphasis
 Richard was the best person for the job because he
had experience in one key area: teaching.
Salutation
 To Whom It May Concern:
Dear Selection Committee:
 Dash - / —


Looks like a little line - or —
 Used as a pause between passages of text or
specific words
 Used for emphasis,a break in narrative, to associate
a former statement with a following statement.
 In conversation, it denotes a short break in speech.
 No spaces before or after a dash
 Types of Dashes

 Em Dash
 En Dash
Em Dash ( — )
 It is about the same width as the letter "M"

Is longer than the hyphen or the en dash.
Used;
 strong break
 interruption or an immediate change of thought
 Types of Dashes Con….

 separate a word or phrase(used in pairs, before and

after the word/phrase)
 used alone to separate one end of the sentence from
the main sentence
 Examples

Strong break/Separation

The tea—and I rarely drink tea—was warm and delicious.

Most workers—at least the ones that I know—came to the
meeting.
Single em dash

Leave the dishes—I will wash them later.

They are getting divorced. But I'm not surprised—they
were always arguing.
 En Dash

 Same width as the letter "N"(hence the name)

 Shorter than em dash
Used to
 show a range of numbers.

show a period of time.
 show distance.
 game scores
 Examples

Range of numbers.
 Please pick a number from 1–50.

The instructions were on pages 20–22 in your textbook.
Period of time.

I lived in Georgia from 2001–2011.
 The meeting will be held May 2–May 4 at the Hilton
Hotel.
 Examples Con…

Distance.
 Europe–USA is a long flight.
 We live on the Pak–Afghan border.
Scores.
 Our team won 22–19.

The score at the end of the game was 2–5.
 Hyphen -


A hyphen is a short line -
 used to connect the parts of a compound word
 Also to a split word such as numbers and job titles
 The hyphen is shorter than the en dash and the em
dash.
 Examples

 Brother-in-law
 Seventy-eight
 Vice-president
 Ex-wife

Mid-April …. etc
 Comma ,

Looks like a small knob ,

Used for Pauses and breaking sentences into
manageable chunks
Commonly used;

When listing items in a sentence(separate words or
phrases)
e.g. The colors in my bedroom are blue, green, and
yellow.
 To separate two adjectives( should be replaceable with
‘and’)
e.g He is a little, short man
The man is little and short.
 When we use an -ly adjective
e.g. We walked the dog for a friendly, elderly lady.
 When writing a date
e.g. He was born on March 17th, 1981.

When writing a location
e.g I am traveling to Austin, Texas, to visit my sister

Directly addressing someone.
e.g Yes, teacher, I will finish my work.
Do you like horses, Joe?

Around degrees or titles with names
e.g. John Smith, M.D.
Sally Ford, Ph.D.
 Apart an introductory word
e.g Yes, I would love to go to the park today!
Well, I never thought I would see a tiger.
 With an introductory phrase to set it apart from the
main sentence.
e.g In about two weeks, I will finally be 18 years old.
To prepare for the competition, Tim surfed every day.

With a coordinating conjunction to connect two
independent clauses in a compound sentence.
e.g My little brother likes candy, so I bought him a lollipop.

When writing a quote
e.g. My mom said, "Be nice to your sister."
 When writing a Tag Question
e.g. You like horses, don't you?
His name is Bill, isn't it?
 Around a description
e.g. Mr. Johnson, my math teacher, told us to study for
the test tonight.
 Around two contrasting phrases
e.g. That ball is mine, not yours.
The puppy is cute, but messy.
 When writing letters(greetings and closing)
e.g. Dearest Mother,
Sincerely,….etc
 Quotation ‘’ / “”

 Looks like apostrophes ‘’ or “”

 Used when using the words of someone else
 Quotation marks are always used in pairs. If you
open a quotation, you have to close it.
They are of two types
 double quotation marks
 single quotation marks
Single quotation marks are used to quote someone who
is quoting someone else
Double quotation marks are used to directly and
exactly quote the words of someone
e.g My mother said, 'The baby started talking today.
The baby said, "Mama".'
The teacher asked us, 'How many of you have read the
story "The Brown Horse" in your textbook?'
 Uses of single quotation marks ‘’

For a quotation or title (article, story, or poem) within a
quotation.
e.g. ' "The Red Balloon" is my favorite story', my father
said.

to highlight words or phrases in an ironic way(also
known as scare quotes)
e.g The kids stayed 'completely silent' through the entire
concert.

When letter is being used as a letter or a word is used as
a word.
e.g. Capitalize the 'A' in her name.
 Uses of Double quotation marks “”

 To quote exact words from spoken or written language.

e.g. Anthony J. D'Angelo said, "Develop a passion for learning. If you do,
you will never cease to grow."
 To show titles. The titles can be of short stories, poems, articles,
chapters, etc.
e.g. My favorite poem by Emily Dickinson is "There Is Another Sky.

To show that a word is used as a word, or that a letter is used as a
letter.
e.g. Look up the word "calm" in the dictionary.
"Face" comes from Latin
(this point is interchangeable)
 Apostrophe '


It looks like a comma but appears at the top '
Used to
I. Indicate possession (ownership) by a noun.
II. Represent missing letters in a contraction.
 Never used with possessive pronouns i.e.
His, her, they etc
 Indicate possession


Use an apostrophe with an "s" after a singular noun to
show ownership of the object by that noun
e.g. dog's house => the house of the dog
Tom's bike => the bike belongs to Tom

To show plural possession, make the noun plural and
add an apostrophe

Some words will require an apostrophe plus an "s"

If the plural noun ends in an "s", do not add another
e.g. the members of two churches => the churches'
members
the hats of three boys => the boys' hats
the toys of two children => the children's toys
the wings of ten geese => the geese's wings
 Missing letters or numbers

 Used in place of missing letters in contractions or

shortened forms of words or numbers.
e.g.
cannot => can't
is not => isn't
1960 => '60
1998 => '98
 Ellipsis …

Looks like three dots/full stops …
 Ellipsis is the singular form of the word, meaning one.

Ellipses is the plural form of the word
Usage
 to show an omission, or leaving out, of a word or words in a quote
e.g.
"After school I went to her house, which was a few blocks away, and then came
home."
"After school I went to her house … and then came home.
 to show a pause or create suspense
e.g.She opened the door . . . and saw . . . a cake!
I was thinking . . . maybe we should call home.
 To show a break, or trailing off, of a thought
e.g.
I know I saw my keys somewhere . . .
"I'm not sure what to do . . .," he said.
I never thought . . .
 Slash /

Looks like a slanting line /

Can also be called a virgule, forward slash, slant, oblique dash or diagonal.
Usage;

For fractions e.g.
2/3 = two-thirds
1/2 = one-half

to separate the day, month, and year e.g.
16/11/12 (November 16, 2012)
17/3/1980 (March 17, 1981)

Abbreviations e.g
w/o = without
n/a or N/A = not applicable or not available
 To show the word "or" e.g
Each child will take his/her science project home tonight.
Each child will take his or her science project home tonight
 to show the word "per" in measurements e.g.
$3.87/gallon = Three dollars and eighty-seven cents per
gallon
 to separate lines of poetry or rhymes in regular text e.g
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, / How I wonder what you
are. / Up above the world so high, / Like a diamond in
the sky.
 Parentheses ( )
 Resemble two semi circles ( )
 Parentheses (plural),Parenthesis (singular)
 Used to to enclose information that can be left
out(not essential).
 additional, or extra, information.
 the information in parentheses may or may not be a
complete sentence but must make sense.
e.g. Sam (the boy from the school) helped me with my
homework.
The children won their baseball game. (It was
exciting!)
 Brackets [ ]


Resemble half squares [ ]

Typically used for editorial comments, corrections, and
clarifications.

Extra information, by an editor
e.g. She drove 60 on the highway to town.
This could mean 60 miles per hour, 60 kilometers per hour or
something different.

an editor could help the reader understand :
She drove 60 [miles per hour] on the highway to town
 Braces { }

 Braces look like curly brackets.

 Braces are more common in mathematics and
science.
e.g.
5X{(4+3)2+2}
The End