Punctuation marks are symbols used to clarify meaning in writing. Early Greeks had little punctuation and wrote continuously with no spaces between words. Later, the Romans introduced dots between words and capitalizing first letters of paragraphs to make text easier to read. In the Middle Ages, punctuation broke down as few could read and write. Eventually words were separated and new sentences started with larger letters. Proper use of punctuation marks like periods, commas, colons helps clarify meaning and prevents reading problems. Improper punctuation can cause confusion, but these issues are still encountered today and require teaching readers proper punctuation rules.

1. Listen and watch

4. A Short History of Punctuations
Pages 18-19
EARLYGREEKSHAD HARDLYANYPUNCTUATION
FONOITCERIDEHTDEGNAHCNEVEDNA*
THEIRWRITINGATTHEENDOFEACHLINELATER
GNITIRWFOYAWAOTDEGNAHCYEHT*
THATFAVOREDRIGHTHANDEDPEOPLEANDSHOWED
WHEREANEWPARAGRAPHBEGANBYUNDELINING
THEFIRSTLINEOFITLATERTHEGREEKPLAYWRIGHT
ARISTOPHANES , INVERTEDMARKSTOSHOW , WHERE
THEREADERSSHOULDTAKEBREATH:
THE . ROMANS . MADE . WRITING . MUCH . EASIER .
TO . READ . BY . PUTTING . DOTS . BETWEEN . WORDS .

5. AND . BY . MOVING . THE . FIRST . LETTER . OF . A .
PARAGRAPH . INTO . THE . LEFT . MARGIN . THEY .
ADAPTED . SOME . OF . THE . GREEK . MARKS. SUCH . AS .
THE . COLON . MARK . TO . INDICATE . PHRASE .
ENDINGS:
INTHEEARLYMIDDLEAGESTHISSYSTEMOFPUNCTUATIO
N
BROKEDOWNBECAUSEVERYFEWPEOPLECOULDREAD
ANDWRITE BUTWRITERSKEPTASPACEATTHEENDOF
ASENTENCEANDCONTINUEDTOMARKPARAGRAPHS
EVENTUALLY WORDS WERESEPARATED AGAIN AND
NEW SENTENCES BEGAN WITH A LARGER LETTER

6. a. What have you observed as unusual in the
informative article?
b. What is it all about?
c. What punctuation marks are described in the
article?
d. What problems in reading and writing are caused
by improper capitalization and punctuation
marks?
e. Are these problems encountered even in today’s
world?
f. How do we solve such problems?

7. A Short History of Punctuations
Early Greeks had hardly any punctuation and even
changed the direction of their writing at the end of each
line. Later, they changed to a way of writing that favored
right - handed people and showed where a new paragraph
began by underlining the first line of it. Later, the Greek
playwright Aristophanes, invented marks to show there
readers should take breath. The Romans made writing
much easier to read by putting dots between words and
by moving the first letter of a paragraph into the left
margin.

8. In the early Middle Ages, this system of punctuation
broke down because very few people could read and write
but writer kept a space at the end of a sentence and
continued to mark paragraphs. Eventually, words were
separated again and new sentences began with a larger
letter.

9. CORRECT USAGE OF
DIFFERENT PUNCTUATION
MARKS

11. Punctuation drill

12. Group Task
With your group mates, rewrite the
given news article with the correct
punctuation marks.

13. A SHORT HISTORY OF PUNCTUATIONS
Based on the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical
Services Administrations PAGASA monitoring as of Tuesday morning
Angat Dams water level was at 161.46 meters down by 10 centimeters
from last Mondays 161.56 meters
The seesaw state of Angat Dam was triggered by the insufficiency of
rainfall over the Angat watershed even if it has been raining in the past
few weeks in other parts of the country
Meanwhile the water level at La Mesa Dam has increased from 73.44
last Monday meters to 73 72 meters on Tuesday
According to PAGASA weather specialist Meno Mendoza the weather
bureau does not expect the formation of a low pressure area inside the
country within the next two to three days
But the habagat will continue to bring cloudy skies with isolated rain
showers and thunderstorms over Metro Manila Cavite Laguna Batangas
Rizal Quezon Zambales and Bataan
The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with
isolated rain showers due to localized thunderstorms
Mendoza said warm and humid mornings will persist but sudden heavy
rains or thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon or evening that may
cause flash floods or landslides in low-lying or mountainous areas

14. Angat’s water level dips slightly despite rains
Based on the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical
Services Administration’s (PAGASA) monitoring as of Tuesday morning,
Angat Dam’s water level was at 161.46 meters, down by 10 centimeters
from last Monday’s 161.56 meters.
The seesaw state of Angat Dam was triggered by the insufficiency of
rainfall over the Angat watershed even if it has been raining in the past
few weeks in other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the water level at La Mesa Dam has increased from 73.44
last Monday meters to 73.72 meters on Tuesday.
According to PAGASA weather specialist Meno Mendoza, the weather
bureau does not expect the formation of a low pressure area inside the
country within the next two to three days.
But the habagat will continue to bring cloudy skies with isolated rain
showers and thunderstorms over Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna,
Batangas, Rizal, Quezon, Zambales, and Bataan.
The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with
isolated rain showers due to localized thunderstorms.
Mendoza said warm and humid mornings will persist but sudden heavy
rains or thunderstorms are possible in the afternoon or evening that may
cause flash floods or landslides in low-lying or mountainous areas.

15. 1. What are Punctuation Marks?
2. Why are they important?

16. MRS. CHARLINE ANN V. PONCE