1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

PunctuationSignsandSymbols
See also: WhentoUseCapitalLetters .

Punctuationisthesystemofsignsorsymbolsgiventoareaderto
showhowasentenceisconstructedandhowitshouldberead.
Sentencesarethebuildingblocksusedtoconstructwrittenaccounts.
Theyarecompletestatements.Punctuationshowshowthesentence
shouldbereadandmakesthemeaningclear.
Everysentenceshouldinclude,atleast,acapitalletteratthestartafull
stop,exclamationmarkorquestionmarkattheend.Thisbasicsystem
indicatesthatthesentenceiscomplete.

TheBasicSignsofPunctuation
thecomma,
thefullstop.
theexclamationmark!
thequestionmark?
thesemicolon
thecolon:
theapostrophe'
quotationmarks
thehyphen
brackets()or[]
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

1/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

theslash/

TheComma(,)
Thecommaisusefulinasentencewhenthewriterwishesto:
pausebeforeproceeding
addaphrasethatdoesnotcontainanynewsubject
separateitemsonalist
usemorethanoneadjective(adescribingword,likebeautiful)
Forexample,inthefollowingsentencethephraseorclausebetweenthecommasgivesusmore
informationbehindtheactionsoftheboy,thesubjectofthesentence:

Theboy,whoknewthathismotherwasabouttoarrive,ranquicklytowardstheopening
door.
Notethatifthephraseorclauseweretoberemoved,thesentencewouldstillmakesensealthough
therewouldbealossofinformation.Alternatively,twosentencescouldbeused:

Theboyranquicklytowardstheopeningdoor.Heknewthathismotherwasaboutto
arrive.

Commasarealsousedtoseparateitemsinalist.
Forexample:

Theshoppingtrolleywasloadedhighwithbottlesofbeer,fruit,vegetables,toiletrolls,
cerealsandcartonsofmilk.
Notethatinalist,thefinaltwoitemsarelinkedbythewordandratherthanbyacomma.

Commasareusedtoseparateadjectives.
Forexample:

Theboywashappy,eagerandfullofanticipationatthestartofhissummerholiday.
Ascommasrepresentapause,itisgoodpracticetoreadyourwritingoutloudandlistentowhereyou
makenaturalpausesasyoureadit.Moreoftenthannot,youwillindicatewhereacommashouldbe
placedbyanaturalpause.Although,therulesofwhereacommaneedstobeplacedshouldalsobe
followed.
Forexample:

However,ithasbeensuggestedthatsomebeesprefertreepollen.
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

2/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

FullStop(.)
Afullstopshouldalwaysbeusedtoendasentence.Thefullstopindicatesthata
pointhasbeenmadeandthatyouareabouttomoveontofurtherexplanationsora
relatedpoint.
Lessfrequently,aseriesofthreefullstops(anellipsis)canbeusedtoindicatewhereasectionofa
quotationhasbeenomittedwhenitisnotrelevanttothetext,forexample:

Theboywashappyatthestartofhissummerholiday.
Asinglefullstopmayalsobeusedtoindicatetheabbreviationofcommonlyusedwordsasinthe
followingexamples:
TelephoneNumber=Tel.No.
September=Sept.
Pages=pp.

ExclamationMark(!)
Anexclamationmarkindicatesstrongfeelingwithinasentence,suchasfear,angeror
love.Itisalsousedtoaccentuatefeelingwithinthewrittenspokenword.
Forexample:

Help!Iloveyou!
Inthisway,itcanalsobeusedtoindicateasharpinstruction
Stop!Police!
ortoindicatehumour
Ha!Ha!Ha!
Theexclamationmarkattheendofasentencemeansthatyoudonotneedafullstop.
Exclamationmarksareapoorwayofemphasisingwhatyouthinkareimportantpointsinyourwritten
assignmentstheimportanceofthepointwillemphasiseitselfwithoutasequenceof!!!inthetext.An
exclamationmarkshouldonlybeusedwhenabsolutelyessential,orwhentakenfromadirectquote.
Theexclamationmarkshouldbeusedsparinglyinformalandsemiformalwriting.

QuestionMark(?)
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

3/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

Thequestionmarksimplyindicatesthatasentenceisaskingaquestion.Italways
comesattheendofasentence:
Forexample:

Areweattheend?
Notethatthequestionmarkalsoservesasafullstop.

Semicolon()
Thesemicolonisperhapsthemostdifficultsignofpunctuationtouseaccurately.If
indoubt,avoidusingitandconverttheaddedmaterialintoanewsentence.
Asageneralrule,thesemicolonisusedinthefollowingways:
Whenjoiningtwoconnectedsentences.
Forexample:

Wesetoutatdawntheweatherlookedpromising.
or

Assertivebehaviourconcernsbeingabletoexpressfeelings,wantsanddesires
appropriatelypassivebehaviourmeanscomplyingwiththewishesofothers.
Thesemicoloncanalsobeusedtoassembledetailedlists.
Forexample:

TheconferencewasattendedbydelegatesfromParis,FranceParis,TexasLondon,UK
Stockholm,SwedenColombo,SriLankaandMumbai,India.

Colon(:)
Thecolonwithinasentencemakesaverypointedpausebetweentwophrases.There
aretwomainusesofthecolon:
Itismostcommonlyusedwhenlisting.
Forexample:

Sheplacedthefollowingitemsintothetrolley:beer,fruit,vegetables,toiletrolls,cereals
andcartonsofmilk.
Oritcanbeusedwithinaheading,ordescriptivetitle.
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

4/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

Forexample:

HumanResourceManagement:GuidelinesforTelephoneAdvisers

Apostrophe()
Theapostrophe,sometimescalledaninvertedcommahastwomainuses.
Theapostropheindicatespossessionorownership.
Forexample:

Thegirl'shatwasgreen,(girlisinthesingular).
Thisshowsthereaderthatthehatbelongstothegirl.

Thegirls'hatsweregreen,(girlsinthisinstanceareplural,i.e.morethanonegirl,more
thanonehat).
Thisindicatesthatthehatsbelongtothegirls.
Anotheruseoftheapostropheistoindicatewherealetterisomitted:
Forexample:

We'regoingtodothiscourse.(Wearegoingtodothiscourse.)
Isntthisafineexampleofpunctuation?(Isnotthisafineexampleofpunctuation?)
Thetimeisnow7oclock.(Thetimeisnow7oftheclock)
Notethatacommonmistakeistoconfuseitswithits.
Its indicatestothereaderthataletterhasbeenomitted.
Forexample:

Itsalovelydayisanabbreviatedwayofsaying:Itisalovelyday.
Notethatinmostformalwriting,thepracticeofusingabbreviatedwordsisinappropriate.

Seealso:CommonMistakesinWritingformoreonusingapostrophescorrectly.

QuotationorSpeechMarks(.)
Quotationorspeechmarksareusedto:
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

5/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

1. tomarkoutspeech
2. whenquotingsomeoneelse'sspeech.
Forexample:

Mygrandpasaid,"Shareyourchocolateswithyourfriends."
"George,don'tdothat!"
"Willyougetyourbooksoutplease?saidMrsJones,theteacher,andquietendown!"
Itisworthnotingthattoreportaneventbackdoesnotrequirespeechorquotationmarks.
Forexample:

MrsJonestoldthepupilstotakeouttheirbooksandtoquietendown.

Hyphen()
Thehyphenisusedtolinkwordstogether.

TOP

Forexample:
subpart

eighteenthcenturypeople
weekend

Follow Us
secondclasspost

genderneutral
nonverbal
Thehyphenisalsousedwhenawordissplitbetweentwolines.Thehyphenshouldbeplaced
betweensyllablesattheendoftheupperlineandindicatestothereaderthatthewordwillbe
completedonthenextline.
ComputerapplicationssuchasWordProcessorscanbesettoautomaticallyhyphenatewordsforyou,
althoughitismorecommontouseextraspacingtoavoidhyphenation.

Brackets()
Bracketsalwayscomeinpairs()andareusedtomakeanaside,orapointwhichis
notpartofthemainflowofasentence.Ifyouremovethewordsbetweenthe
brackets,thesentenceshouldstillmakesense.
Forexample:

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

6/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

Thestrategy(orstrategies)chosentomeettheobjectivesmayneedtochangeasthe
interventioncontinues.
Anotherexampleisasfollows:

Wecandefineclassasalargescalegroupingofpeoplewhosharecommoneconomic
resources,thatstronglyinfluencethetypesoflifestyletheyareabletolead.Ownershipof
wealth,togetherwithoccupation,arethechiefbasisofclassdifferences.Themajor
classesthatexistinWesternsocietiesareanupperclass(thewealthy,employersand
industrialists,plustopsexecutivesthosewhoownordirectlycontrolproductive
resources)amiddleclass(whichincludesmostwhitecollarworkersandprofessionals)
andaworkingclass(thoseinbluecollarormanualjobs).(Giddens,1997,p.243)

SquareBrackets[]
Adifferentsetofsquarebrackets[]canbeused:
toabbreviatelengthyquotations
tocorrectthetenseofaquotationtosuitthetenseofyourownsentence
toaddyourownwordstosectionsofanabbreviatedquotation.

Toabbreviatelengthyquotationsinanessayorreport
Wecandefineclassasalargescalegroupingofpeoplewhosharecommoneconomic
resources,thatstronglyinfluencethetypesoflifestyletheyareabletolead.Ownershipof
wealth,togetherwithoccupation,arethechiefbasisofclassdifferences.Themajor
classesthatexistinWesternsocietiesareanupperclass[]amiddleclass[]anda
workingclass[].
(Giddens,1997,p.243)

Toadjustaquotationtosuityourownsentence
Forexample,ifyouwerewritingaboutclassstructure,youmightusethefollowing:

AccordingtoGiddens,(1997,p.243)the[o]wnershipofwealth,togetherwithoccupation,
arethechiefbasisofclassdifferences.
Note,thatwhenusingsquarebrackets,onlytheoccasionalletterasintheaboveexampleorthe
occasionalword(forexamplewhenchangingthetenseofthesentence)wouldbeplacedinsquare
bracketsinthisway.

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

7/8

1/4/2015

TheBasicsofPunctuation|SkillsYouNeed

Slash(/)
Manypeopleusetheslashinsteadofor,andetc.,butthisisnotalwayshelpfultothe
reader.Thereis,however,amodernconventioningenderneutralwritingtouses/he.
Slashesareimportantsymbolsinwebaddresses(URLs).ThefullURLforthispageis
http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

MoreWritingSkills:
Spelling | Grammar | WritingStyles
TheImportanceofStructure | CommonMistakesinWriting
MoreSkillsYouNeed:
StudySkills | NoteTaking | EffectiveReading | TransferableSkills
ClichstoAvoid | GenderNeutralWriting

http://www.skillsyouneed.com/write/punctuation1.html

8/8