PUNCTUATION

 

. Full stop (BrE) period (NAmE)

• 1.        at the end of a sentence that is not a question of exclamation

Ø  I knocked at the door. There was no reply.

Ø  I knocked again.

• 2.       sometimes in an abbreviations

Ø  Jan.

Ø  e.g.

Ø  a.m.

Ø  etc.

• 3.       in internet and email addresses (said ‘dot’)

Ø  http://www.oup.com

, comma

• 1.        to separate words in a list, though they are often omitted before ‘and’:

Ø  a bouquet of red, pink and white roses

Ø  tea, coffee, milk, or hot chocolate

• 2.       to separate phrases or clauses:

Ø  If you keep calm, take your time, concentrate and think ahead, then you’re likely to pass your test

Ø  Worn out after all the excitement of the party, the children soon fell asleep.

3.                  before and after a clause of phrase that gives additional, but not essential information about the                 noun it follows:

Ø  The Pennine Hills, which are very popular with walkers, are situated between Lancashire and Yorkshire

(Do not use commas before and after a clause that defines the noun it follows)

Ø  The hills that separates Lancashire from Yorkshire are called the Pennines.

• 3.       to separate main clauses, especially long ones, linked by a conjunction such as and, as, but, for, or:

Ø  We had been looking forward to our holiday all year, but unfortunately it rained every day.

• 4.       to separate an introductory word of phrase

Ø  Oh, so that’s where it was.

Ø  As it happens, however, I never saw her again.

Ø  By the way, did you hear about Sue’s car?

• 5.       to separate a tag question from the rest of the sentence:

Ø  It’s quite expensive, isn’t it?

Ø  You live in Bristol, right?

• 6.       Before or after ‘he said’, etc. when writing down conversation:

Ø  ‘Come back soon’, she said.

• 7.       Before a short quotation:

Ø  Disraelli said, ‘Little things affect little minds’.

: colon

• 1.        To introduce a list of items:

Ø  These are our option: we go by train and leave before the end of the show; or we take the car and see it all.

2.                   In formal writing, before a clause or phrase that gives more information about the main clause.                 (You can use a semicolon or a full stop, but not a comma, instead of a colon here.)

Ø  The garden had been neglected for a long time: it was overgrown and full of weeds.

• 2.       To introduce a quotation, which may be intended:

Ø  As Kenneth Morgan writes:

The truth was, perhaps, that Britain in the years from 1914 to 1983 had not changed all that fundamentally.

                             Others, however, have challenged this view…

; semicolon

• 1.        Instead of a comma to separate parts of a sentence that already contain commas:

Ø  She was determined to succeed whatever the cost; she would achieve her aim, whoever might suffer on the way.

• 2.       In formal writing, to separate two main clauses, especially those not joined by a conjunction:

Ø  The sun was already low in the sky; it would soon be dark.

? question mark

• 1.        At the end of a direct question:

Ø  Where’s the car?

Ø  You’re leaving already?

Do not use a question mark at the end of an indirect question:

Ø  He asked if I was leaving.

• 2.       Especially with a date, to express doubt

Ø  John Marston (?1575-1634)

! exclamation mark (BrE) exclamation point (NAmE)

• 1.        At the end of a sentence expressing surprise, joy, anger, shock or another strong emotion:

Ø  That’s marvelous!

Ø  ‘Never!’ she cried.

• 2.       An informal written English, you can use more than one exclamation mark, or an exclamation mark and a question mark:

Ø  ‘Your wife’s just given birth to triplets.’

‘Triplets!?’

‘ apostrophe

• 1.        With s to indicate that a thing or a person belongs to somebody:

Ø  My friend’s brother

Ø  King James’ s crown/King James’ crown

Ø  The students’ books

Ø  The women’s coats

• 2.       In short forms, to indicate that letters or figures have been omitted:

Ø  I’m (I am)

Ø  They’d (They had/they would)

Ø  The summer of ’89 (1989)

• 3.       Sometimes, with s to form the plural of a letter, a figure or an abbreviation:

Ø  Roll your r’s

Ø  During the 1990’s

 

-       hyphen

• 1.        to form a compound from two or more other words:

Ø  hard-hearted

Ø  fork-lift truck

Ø  mother-to-be

• 2.       to form a compound from a prefix and a proper name:

Ø  pre-European

• 3.       when writing compound numbers between 21 and 99 in words:

Ø  seventy-three

Ø  thirty-one

4.                   sometimes, in British English, to separate a prefix ending in a vowel from a word beginning with             the same vowel:

Ø  co-operate

Ø  pre-eminent

• 5.       after the first section of a word that is divided between one line and the next:

Ø  decide what to do in order to avoid mis-

takes of this kind in the future

_ dash

• 1.        in informal English, instead of a colon or semicolon, to indicate that what follows is a summary or conclusion of what has gone before:

Ø  Men were shouting, women were screaming, children were crying – it was chaos.

Ø  You’ve admitted that you lied to me – how can I trust you again?

• 2.       singly or in pairs to separate a comment or an afterthought from the rest of the sentence:

Ø  He knew nothing at all about it – or so he said.

… dots/ellipsis

• 1.        to indicate that words have been omitted, especially from a quotation or at the end of a conversation:

Ø  …challenging the view that Britain…had not changed all that fundamentally.

/ slash/oblique

• 1.        to separate alternative words or phrases:

Ø  have a pudding and / or cheese

Ø  single/ married / widowed / divorced

• 2.       in internet and email addresses to separate the elements (often said ‘forward slash’)

Ø  http://www.oup.com/elt

‘’ “” quotation marks

• 1.        to enclose words and punctuation in direct speech:

Ø  ‘Why on earth did you do that?’ he asked.

Ø  ‘I’ll fetch it,’ she replied.

• 2.       to draw attention to a word that is unusual for the context, for example a slang expression, or to a word that is being used for special effect, such as irony:

Ø  He told me in no uncertain terms to ‘get lost’.

Ø  Thousands were imprisoned in the name of ‘national security.’

• 3.       around the titles of articles, books, poems, plays, etc:

Ø  Keat’s ‘Ode to Autumn’

Ø  I was watching ‘Match of the Day’

• 4.       around short quotations or sayings:

Ø  Do you know the origin of the saying: ‘A little learning is a dangerous thing’?

• 5.       in American English, double quotation mark are used:

Ø  “Help! I’m drowning!”

{ } brackets (BrE) parentheses (NAmE)

• 1.        to separate extra information or a comment from the rest of a sentence:

Ø  Mount Robson (12 972 feet) is the highest mountain in Canadian Rockies.

Ø  He thinks that modern music (i.e. anything written after 1900) is rubbish.

• 2.       to enclose cross-references:

Ø  This moral ambiguity is a feature of Shakespeare’s later works (see Chapter Eight)

• 3.       around numbers or letters in text:

Ø  Our objectives are (1) to increase output, (2) to improve quality and (3) to maximise profits.

[ ] square brackets (BrE) brackets (NAmE)

• 1.        Around words inserted to make a quotation grammatically correct:

Ø  Britain in [these] years was without

Italics

• 1.        To show emphasis:

Ø  I’m not going to do it – you are

Ø  …proposals which we cannot accept under any circumstances.

• 2.       To indicate the titles of books, plays, etc:

Ø  Joyce’s Ulysses

Ø  The title role in Puccini’s Tosca

Ø  A letter in The Times

• 3.       For foreign words or phrases:

Ø  The English oak (Quercus robur)

Ø  I had to renew my permesso di soggiorno (residence permit)