slideshow about punctuation

1. PUNCTUATIONS

2. Comma
01

3. primarily used to :
● pause before proceeding
● separate items on a list
● use more than one adjective
For example, in the following sentence the phrase or clause between the commas gives us
more information behind the actions of the boy, the subject of the sentence:
❖ The boy, who knew that his mother was about to arrive, ran quickly towards the opening
door.
Commas can also be used to note an interjection in a sentence.
Example:
❖ The criminal said the judge was an idiot.
❖ The criminal, said the judge, was an idiot.
The criminal is speaking in the first sentence. The judge is speaking in the second.
Comma ,

4. Commas with lists
When you have a list that contains more than two elements, use commas to separate them.
Example:
❖ The shopping trolley was loaded high with bottles of beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals
and cartons of milk.
❖ Julie loves ice cream, books, and kittens.
when you are listing three or more items, commas should separate each element of the list.
However, the final comma—the one that comes before the and—is optional. This comma is
called the serial comma or the Oxford comma.
Example:
❖ Simon needs bread, milk, and butter at the grocery store. (With serial comma)
❖ Simon needs bread, milk and butter at the grocery store. (Without serial comma)
When you have a list that contains only two items, don’t use a comma before the and.

5. Commas with but
Use a comma before the coordinating conjunction but if it is joining two
independent clauses:
❖ Incorrect : Cleo is a good singer but she’s an even better dancer.
❖ Correct : Cleo is a good singer, but she’s an even better dancer.
If but is not joining two independent clauses, leave the comma out.
❖ Incorrect : My teacher is tough, but fair.
❖ Correct : My teacher is tough but fair.
❖ Incorrect : Life is, but a dream.
❖ Correct : Life is but a dream.

6. Period/Full Stop
02

7. primarily used to :
● ending a sentence
● indicating an omission.
The primary function of a period is to signal the end of a sentence.
The secondary purpose of a period is to indicate that some information has
been removed, such as letters in a word. In particular, periods are often used in
abbreviations like etc., i.e., e.g., c., and et al.
Periods are also sometimes used for initials when only the first letter of a word or
name is present, such as in H. G. Wells.
Less frequently, a series of three full stops (an ellipsis) can be used to indicate
where a section of a quotation has been omitted when it is not relevant to the
text, for example:
❖ “The boy was happy… at the start of his summer holiday.”
Period / Full Stop .

8. Abbreviations and initials
there are a few uniform rules you can follow to make things easier:
● Abbreviations for specific time periods often use periods, including abbreviated months
(Jan., Dec.) and days (Mon., Sat.).
● Abbreviations for metric units of measures do not use a period (cm, kg). On the other
hand, abbreviations for non-metric units of measurement, like the American system,
use a period (in., lbs.).
● If a person uses initials for only part of their name, use periods (J. R. R. Tolkien). If a
person uses two or more initials to abbreviate their entire name, do not use periods.
(FDR, MLK).
● Latin abbreviations like etc., e.g., c., and i.e. always use periods.

9. Abbreviations and initials
There’s another rule worth mentioning as well. If a sentence ends with an abbreviation that
uses a period, do not add a second period. The period in the abbreviation is sufficient.
Example :
❖ They spent the day cleaning their living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc..
❖ They spent the day cleaning their living room, kitchen, bedroom, etc.
Even so, it’s perfectly acceptable to add a comma, semicolon, or colon after a period, as long
as the period is used for an abbreviation.
Example :
❖ Leafy green vegetables such as lettuce, spinach, kale, etc., are an excellent source of
nutrition.

10. Exclamation Mark
03

11. An exclamation mark indicates strong feeling within a sentence, such as fear, anger
or love. It is also used to accentuate feeling within the written spoken word.
For example:
❖ “Help! I love you!”
In this way, it can also be used to indicate a sharp instruction
❖ “Stop! Police!”
or to indicate humour
❖ “Ha! Ha! Ha!”
The exclamation mark at the end of a sentence means that you do not need a full
stop.
Exclamation Mark !

12. Exclamatory quotations
Using an exclamation point is usually quite simple—you just put it at the end of the sentence.
But it can get a little tricky when you also have a quotation mark at the end of the sentence.
Here are the rules:
Put the exclamation point inside the closing quotation marks if it applies to the words
enclosed by the quotation marks.
❖ “There’s a spider on my arm!” yelped Jeremy.
If the exclamation point applies to the sentence as a whole, then place it at the very end.
❖ And then the paramedics tried to tell Jeremy it was “only a spider”!

13. Question Mark
04

14. The main purpose of a question mark, perhaps unsurprisingly, is
to indicate that a sentence is a question. Direct questions often
(but not always) begin with a wh- word (who, what, when, where,
why).
❖ Why did the chicken cross the road?
❖ Who wants to know?
❖ Is it really that important?
Note that the question mark also serves as a full stop.
Question Mark ?

15. Question marks and quotation marks
When your sentence is a straightforward question, the question mark goes
at the very end and serves as the terminal punctuation mark. Keep the
question mark inside the quotation marks if it logically applies to what is
enclosed by the quotation marks.
Example:
❖ The chicken asked, “Why is everyone so concerned about where I’m
walking?”
❖ “What do you have to hide?” asked the nosy reporter.
If the question mark applies to the sentence as a whole instead of to the
phrase inside the quotation marks, put it at the very end.
❖ Haven’t you ever heard the expression “It’s a free country”?

16. Question marks and quotation marks
This holds true even when you have a quotation containing a question:
❖ “When I spoke to the chicken, she said ‘Why won’t you leave me alone?’” recalled the
reporter.
And for a quoted question containing a quoted statement:
❖ “What did the chicken mean,” the reporter wondered, “when she said ‘It’s a free
country’?”
When you have a question mark that applies to both the quoted phrase and the rest
of the sentence, just use one question mark:
❖ Who said “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

17. Quotation or
Speech Marks
05

18. Quotation or speech marks are used to:
● To mark out speech
● When quoting someone else's speech
For example:
❖ My grandpa said, "Share your chocolates with your friends."
❖ "George, don't do that!"
❖ "Will you get your books out please?” said Mrs Jones, the teacher, “and quieten down!"
It is worth noting that to report an event back does not require speech or quotation
marks.
For example:
❖ Mrs Jones told the pupils to take out their books and to quieten down.
“Quotation or Speech Marks”

19. Apostrophe
06

20. The apostrophe, sometimes called an inverted comma has two main uses. The
apostrophe indicates possession or ownership.
For example:
❖ The girl's hat was green, (girl is in the singular).
This shows the reader that the hat belongs to the girl.
❖ The girls' hats were green, (girls in this instance are plural, i.e. more than one girl,
more than one hat).
This indicates that the hats belong to the girls.
Another use of the apostrophe is to indicate where a letter is omitted:
For example:
❖ We're going to do this course. (We are going to do this course.)
❖ Isn’t this a fine example of punctuation? (Is not this a fine example of
punctuation?)
❖ The time is now 7 o’ clock. (The time is now 7 of the clock)
It’s indicates to the reader that a letter has been omitted.
For example:
❖ It’s a lovely day is an abbreviated way of saying: It is a lovely day.
Apostrophe ‘

21. Apostrophes and possessive nouns
The rules about forming possessive nouns probably cause the most apostrophe
confusion.They vary a bit, depending on what type of noun you are making into a possessive.
Here are the rules of thumb:
For most singular nouns, add -’s:
❖ The dog’s leash
❖ The writer’s desk
For most plural nouns, add only an apostrophe:
❖ The dogs’ leashes
❖ The writers’ desks
For plural nouns that do not end in s, add -’s:
❖ The children’s toys
❖ The geese’s migration route

22. Apostrophes and joint possession
What do you do with the apostrophe when you’re talking about things that belong to more
than one person? When one thing belongs to two or more people jointly, make only the final
name possessive:
❖ Bob and Jim’s bait shop (Bob and Jim co-own a bait shop.)
❖ Ryan, Jessica, and Elinor’s parents (All three have the same parents.)
When you’re talking about separate things that belong to different people but you’re
discussing the things together, make all the names possessive:
❖ Bob’s and Jim’s bait shops (Bob owns one bait shop, and Jim owns a different one.)
❖ Ryan’s, Jessica’s, and Elinor’s parents (Each has a different set of parents)

23. Semi-colon
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24. The semi-colon is perhaps the most difficult sign of punctuation to use accurately.
If in doubt, avoid using it and convert the added material into a new sentence.
As a general rule, the semi-colon is used in the following ways:
When joining two connected sentences.
For example:
❖ We set out at dawn; the weather looked promising.
or
❖ Assertive behaviour concerns being able to express feelings, wants and desires
appropriately; passive behaviour means complying with the wishes of others.
The semi-colon can also be used to assemble detailed lists.
For example:
❖ The conference was attended by delegates from Paris, France; Paris, Texas;
London, UK; Stockholm, Sweden; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Mumbai, India.
Semi-colon ;

25. Use semicolons to connect related independent clauses
You can use a semicolon to join two closely related independent clauses. The group of words
that comes before the semicolon should form a complete sentence, the group of words that
comes after the semicolon should form a complete sentence, and the two sentences should
share a close, logical connection
❖ I ordered a cheeseburger for lunch; life’s too short for counting calories.
❖ Martha has gone to the library; her sister has gone to play soccer.
The examples above are each made up of two complete, grammatically correct sentences
glued together.

26. Colon
08

27. The colon within a sentence makes a very pointed pause between
two phrases. There are two main uses of the colon:
It is most commonly used when listing.
For example:
❖ She placed the following items into the trolley: beer, fruit,
vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals and cartons of milk.
Or it can be used within a heading, or descriptive title.
For example:
❖ Human Resource Management: Guidelines for Telephone
Advisers
Colon :

28. Should you capitalize the word after a colon?
In British English, the word following a colon is not capitalized unless it is a proper noun or
an acronym.
In American English, styles differ, but it is best to capitalize the first word after a colon if what
follows forms a complete sentence.
❖ There were warning signs that he might not finish the marathon: He barely trained in the
days leading up to the race, and he wore the wrong shoes that day.
You should also capitalize the first word after a colon if it’s part of a proper noun.
❖ There was only one team she wanted to play for: Seattle Storm.
No matter what stylebook you’re following, you should never capitalize the word after a
colon if it begins a list.