This document defines and explains the common punctuation marks used in English, including periods, commas, semicolons, colons, question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks, apostrophes, hyphens, dashes, brackets, and capital letters. It provides examples of how each punctuation mark is used, such as using periods at the end of sentences and in abbreviations, commas to separate items in lists and introduce additional information, and quotation marks to indicate words being quoted.

1. Punctuation Marks
in English

2. Definition of punctuation
marks
 Is the system of
symbol that we use
to separate
sentences and parts
of sentences ,
making their
meaning clear.

3. Why we are using punctuation
marks ?
 In verbal communication , to
put an emphasis on sentences
we can use pause or change
tone of our voice. Similarly we
use punctuations to put an
emphasis in written
communication. Punctuation
are series of symbol used
almost in all language . These
symbol are very important as
they can completely change
the meaning of the sentence

4. THE FULL STOP OR PERIOD(.)
at the end of a sentence:
- E.g. I’m going for a walk.
 sometimes after an
abbreviation:
- E.g. Marton Rd. / Mrs. White /
Dr. Evans
 as the decimal point in £3.5
million figures and amounts
of money. This is usually read
out as ‘point’
- E.g. £3.5 million

5. THE FULL STOP OR PERIOD(.)
to separate parts of email and
web addresses. This is read out
as ‘dot’:
- E.g.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org

6. THE COMMA (,)
 between items in a list:
- E.g. I need peas, butter, sugar and
eggs.
when you want to add extra
information:
-E.g. Mr. Farhat, the chairman of the
company, proposed the vote of
thanks.
To indicate words of address:
- E.g. Sir, I wish to get your
appointment.

7. THE COMMA (,)
 to show a pause in a long They didn’t
want to eat before sentence:
- E.g. They didn’t want to eat before
I’d arrived, but I was an hour late.
 before tag questions:
- E.g. You do love me, don’t you?
 To separate quoted sentences
- E.g. He said, “I love you.”
 To separate day and date, and date
and year.
- E.g. Saturday , the 1st March; 6th
September,1979

8. THE SEMI COLON (;)
 Indicates a longer pause than a
comma
 Used to separate independent
clauses not joined by a
conjunction.
- e.g. The chief guest came; the
Principal greeted him; then he walked
up to the dias.
 to separate two parts of a
sentence:
- E.g. I spoke to Linda on Monday; a
sentence she can’t come to the
meeting tomorrow.

9. THE COLON(:)
 Marks more complete pause than a semi-
colon.
 to introduce a list or a quotation in a
sentence:
- E.g. You need the following: paint,
brushes, water, cloths.
 in the US following the greeting in a
business Letter:
- E.g. Dear Customer:
Dear Mr. Stein:

10. Used after a question.
(interrogation):
- E.g. Who are you?
How are you?
What are you doing?
 to show doubt:
Sidney Morgan (1898? – 1972) was
little known until after his death.
THE QUESTION MARK(?)

11. THE EXCLAMATION MARK(!)
at the end of a sentence in
order to show surprise shock,
etc.
- E.g. I can’t believe it!
- Ouch! Yes!
- WoW! OMG!
to indicate a loud sound:
- E.g. Bang!

12. THE INVERTED COMMAS(‘ ’)
THE APOSTROPHE(‘)
Used to indicate the possessive
case. Eg. India’s future, Boys’
school
To indicate omission of certain
letters. Eg. Don’t go there. Seven
O’clock
Used before and after the
words quoted.
Eg. She said, “I cannot
satisfy all your fancies.”

13. THE HYPHEN(-)
 Used in compound words
Eg. Accounts-officer, telephone-directory,
self-help
THE DASH(--)
Suggests a sudden break in thought
eg. I want to tell you--but I think this can be done
later.
Two dashes are used to indicate parenthesis.
eg. A deep sense of gratitude--I have no words to
describe it -- overwhelms me

14. THE BRACKETS () []
 Used to separate a phrase or clause from the
main sentence
Eg. He gave up drinking(he had no other choice)
because the doctor warned him
THE CAPITAL LETTERS{A,B…}
 To begin sentences
 For names of people, places, mountains, rivers
 For nations and nationality
 For names of days, months, festivals and historical eras
 At the beginning of a sentence that is put in quotes eg. He
said, “This is a good book.”
 At the beginning of every line of poetry

15. Thank you for
listening