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We use a variety of punctuation marks, such as full stop/period, comma, question mark, brackets, etc. in our writing to separate sentences, phrases, etc., and to clarify
their meaning. We need to familiarize ourselves with some basic rules in order to use these punctuation marks correctly.
EXAMPLE: When I saw her yesterday, she was wearing a flowery hat.
NOT: When I saw her yesterday. She was wearing a flowery hat. ("When I saw her yesterday" is an
adverb clause, which is not a complete sentence a full stop should not be used to end it.
A full stop is always placed inside quotation marks, whether or not it is part of the
quotation.
A comma is used:
to separate items in dates, that is day of week from the date, and day of month from the
year.
EXAMPLE: Jack is washing the car, and Jill is washing the dishes.
3. Question Mark
(?)
A question mark is placed at the end of a sentence to ask a question.
EXAMPLE: Who's that man wearing a cowboy hat? / Could you wait here for me, please?
EXAMPLE: Did you see the movie entitled "The three legged man?"
EXAMPLE: "Do you understand what I have been saying?" Jennifer asked me.
NOT: "Do you understand what I have been saying?", Jennifer asked me.
When a question is being reported and not directly asked, a period, not a question mark,
is used.
EXAMPLE: She asked, "What are you looking at?" (direct question with question mark)
EXAMPLE: She asked what I was looking at. (indirect question with no question mark)
4. Exclamation Mark
(!)
An exclamation mark is used after interjections or commands. (Aninterjection is a word
or phrase used to express a strong feeling.) It expresses an emotion such as surprise,
anger, fear, pain or pleasure.
EXAMPLE: What a complete waste of my time! / Sit over there and be quiet for an hour!
EXAMPLE: He's here! He's here! / We won! We won! / Quiet!
5. Colon
(:)
A colon is used before a list and usually after 'as follows.'
EXAMPLE: This box contains the following items: bandages, plasters, lotion, medicines and a pair
of scissors.
It is used to separate the hour from the minutes when telling time
to form contractions by showing the numbers or letters that have been left out.
Add 's to a single noun or name: uncle's pipe; George's girlfriend; dog's tail; Thomas's car.
Add 's to singular noun that end in s: actress's role; princess's lover; rhinoceros's skin.
Add 's to plural nouns that end in s: boys' bicycles; friends' houses; books' covers
Add 's to other plural nouns: children's toys; women's clothes; men's boots.
Add 's to a person's office or shop: I'll buy the pork at the butcher's. / I'll be visiting Tom's.
Add 's only after the second name: Jack and Jill's pail; Bonnie and Clyde's loot.
to form the plural of abbreviations: many Dr.'s; many M.D.'s; many Ph.D.'s.
for the plural of a number or letter: your p's; your c's; your 5's are too big.
8. Hyphen (-
)
A hyphen is used to join two words or more to form compound words.
All punctuation marks that belong to a quote are enclosed inside the quotation marks of
the quote.
EXAMPLE: He said to me, "I have read twice 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy."
A comma is used before the last quotation mark to separate the quote from the rest of
the sentence.
A full stop is put before the last quotation mark when this quote is the last part of the
sentence.
EXAMPLE: What does 'anthropophagi' mean? / He habitually says 'money cannot buy love.'
10. Dash (
)
A dash is sometimes used instead of a colon or a semi-colon.
EXAMPLE: "Quick! Go now the police are coming for you!"
When dashes are used in a sentence, commas are not used to separate interrupting
phrases.
EXAMPLE: She looked at the dresses a few of them deciding on the one she should buy.
NOT: She looked at the dresses, a few of them, deciding on the one she should buy.