Basic
Punctuation
Punctuation marks
help make
meaning clear in
written texts.
They show the reader:
* where one chunk of meaning
ends and another begins
* where to pause or change tone
when reading aloud.
full stop shows the end
A sentence of a statement
* starts with a
capital letter
Three
* ends with a .
punctuation
* makes complete marks can show
sense. the end of a
question mark
shows the end of ?
sentence.
exclamation mark shows
!
a question * raised voice
* strong feelings
* an exclamation
The comma , separating
separating the off an introductory
items in a list ‘chunk’
Within a
I bought eggs, a pint of
sentence a comma Anyway, I decided
milk, tea and sugar. shows where one not to go.
chunk of meaning
Three weeks later,
James was born.
ends and Although she was only
separating the another begins… three, Robin knew
direct speech from her tables.
a reporting clause
marking off
extra information
separating off embedded in the
‘tag phrases’ and names sentence
This is great, isn’t it? Jill, my boss, is
How old are you, John? 28 years old.
Dash -
A dash gives a break
halfway between , and .
showing a sharp
break between two chunks
of meaning
e.g. It was great to see you
_
we must meet again.
marking off extra information
embedded in the sentence
e.g. On Monday – the first day of our
holidays – we explored the beach.
Brackets ( )
Brackets show
information which is extra
to the main text…
marking off extra
marking off extra information facts like dates
embedded in the sentence or dimensions
e.g. On Monday (the first day of our e.g. Elizabeth I (1553 – 1603)
holidays) we explored the beach. Mount Everest (8850 m)
Semicolon ;
A semi-colon gives a break
halfway between , and .
to separate two
main clauses
to separate lengthy
e.g. It was a great pleasure to meet you
yesterday; I hope we meet again soon. items in a list
e.g. I surveyed John Street: small, redbrick
houses; an ancient church; three brand new
bungalows, and a Victorian town house, gone to seed.
Colon :
A colon marks a break
where there is a feeling of
balance between the elements
on either side:
to introduce a list, an
example or a quotation to separate two main
clauses, where the second
clause expands on or
e.g. I surveyed John Street: small, illustrates the first
redbrick houses; an ancient church;
three brand new bungalows,
and a Victorian town house, gone to seed. e.g. It was very cold: the
temperature was below zero.
e.g. I love the first lines of ‘Jabberwocky’:
“’Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe…”
Direct Speech
comma before the speech marks
* Each new speaker on a ““It’s
I ,” said Cinderella.
late,”
new line.
* Speech marks (“ ”) round The prince smiled and
the direct speech. answered,, ““Yes,
Y but we have
all the time in the world.””
* Comma between direct
speech and reporting W
““What time is it?”
?” asked
clause…
Cinders. ““I
I must leave
* …unless there’s a ? or ! before midnight.””
* Direct speech begins with I you must go,”
““If ,” said the
a capital letter… prince,, ““you’d
y better hurry.
* …unless a sentence is It’s 5 to 12.””
I
interrupted by the
reporting clause. ““Oh
O no!”
!” cried Cinders.
Speech marks
to mark the to show
words in Speech a quotation
direct speech marks
are also called Wordsworth
wrote about an
“Hello,” said the cat.
quotation marks ‘inward eye’.
or inverted
to show commas and
that a word is being
used ironically or
may be used…
to show when you
‘oddly’ are talking about a
There were many ‘experts’
word or phrase
in the audience.
The word ‘exit’ is the Latin
for ‘he goes out’.
to indicate the
title of a book,
film, etc “” ‘’
Double and single speech marks.
Double marks are usually used in handwritten texts.
The book ‘Black Beauty’ was also Single marks are often used in printed texts.
made into a film.
Hyphen -
A hyphen links words or
parts of words
when they are put
together to make a
e.g. new word
when a word is split be- e.g. mother-in-law
tween two lines of print Irish-American
co-operation
Ellipsis …
an ellipsis is
three dots…
to show that a
sentence is unfinished
e.g. to show that a
sentence is…
to show that words
have been missed out
in a quotation
e.g. The hyphen differs from the
dash in that… it is half as long.
The comma splice a comma
splice
Robin was worn out, she curled up
on the ground and went to sleep.
Rule of thumb: Rule:
If you could substitute A comma cannot be
a full stop, a comma is used to separate two
probably wrong. You could use main clauses.
alternative punctuation:
Robin was Robin was Robin was Robin was
worn out. She worn out-she worn out; she worn out: she
curled up on the curled up on the curled up on the curled up on the
ground and ground and ground and ground and
went to sleep. went to sleep. went to sleep. went to sleep.
(see Sentence) (see Dash) (see Semicolon) (see Colon)
or you could add a conjunction, e.g.
Robin was worn out so she curled up on the ground and went to sleep.
The Apostrophe
omission possession
‘s shows ownership
In shortened forms the girl’s coat the children’s
of words, the
home
apostrophe shows the coat belonging
where letters have to the girl the home belonging
to the children
been missed out.
If the owner-noun is
a plural ending in s,
just add ‘
cannot should have you are
can’t should’ve you’re the girls’ coats the princesses’
hats
it is I will does not the coats the hats
it’s I’ll doesn’t belonging to belonging to
the girls the princesses
Other devices for helping make written
language easy to read and understand:
* the use of space
e.g. paragraphing
* organizational devices
e.g. bullet points
* presentational devices
e.g. italic print,
bold print,
underlining,
enlarged print,
CAPITAL LETTERS.
List of conjunctions
• After • Even if
• Although • Even though
• Before • Since
• Because • In order to
• When • So that
• Whenever
• Whereas
• While
List of connectors
• However • Indeed
• Nevertheless • Further
• Despite this • Then
• Therefore • Consequently
• Thus • Overall
• Hence • Beside this
• In addition • As a result
• Furthermore • Moreover
Karen decided to take a
vacation. Which she had wanted
to do for a long time. She asked
her supervisor for two weeks
off. Then she went to visit her
travel agent. Who gave her some
interesting ideas about
destinations.
After reviewing a number of
brochures Karen decided to
visit Italy. She asked her
travel agent to make an
airplane reservation. And also
several hotel reservations.
She flew into Rome on a sunny
day in June. While she was in
Rome.
She went on a number of tours.
And visited three museums. She
enjoyed eating Italian food at
some wonderful restaurants.
And made several new friends.
Because Karen enjoyed her
Italian holiday so much. She
plans to return to Italy for her
next vacation.
Practice 2:
1. After the student worked on the paper he took a break.
2. Phyllis Kase who sat next to me in class lent me her notes.
3. The students studied these punctuation rules later they took the
final test.
4. The newspaper did not publish the story however it appeared in
Time magazine.
5. Eric Lee the director of the program gave the students a
welcoming speech.
6. Lupita wants to lose weight so she walks two miles every day.
7. Terry sent the story to the instructor after he reviewed it
carefully.
8. The concert tickets were expensive we went to the movies instead.
9. The woman who went swimming at the beach was eaten by a shark.
10. Mindy Susan and Patricia sponsored the new program.
Thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at:
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