WRITING MECHANICS:

PUNCTUATION

A QUICKIE REVIEW
The Period, Exclamation Point and
Question Mark…You tell me!
 Used at the end of a sentence, and to
indicate an abbreviation.
 Used to indicate emphasis or strong
emotion.
 Used after direct questions.
The Semicolon
 Used to join to closely related sentences:
 Julie plays the piano; Mark plays the drums.
 I will arrange for a guest speaker; Arlene will
take care of the refreshments.
The test for correct semicolon use is to see
whether a period would be grammatically
correct in its place. If not, the semicolon
has been misused.
This is the reason semicolons appear before
words of transition such as however and
therefore.
Words of Transition
 The following Accordingly, Also, Anyhow, As
a result, At the same time,
words are NOT Besides, Consequently, For
subordinators (e.g. example, Furthermore, Hence,
but), though they Henceforth, However, In
addition, Indeed, In fact, In
can have the same other words, Instead, Likewise,
meaning. You Meanwhile, Moreover,
Nevertheless, On the contrary,
cannot use them to On the other hand, Otherwise,
combine Still, That is, Then, Therefore,
Thus.
sentences.
Words of Transition
 Do not try to use a word of transition
to join two short sentences. This
results in a run-on sentence.
 I felt sick therefore I stayed home.
 I felt sick, therefore I stayed home.
 I felt sick; therefore I stayed home.
 I felt sick. Therefore, I stayed home.
The Colon
 Used after formal introductory statements.
They alert the reader as to what follows.
 Formal lists:
 When evaluating an applicant, consider the
following: employment history, education, and
references.
 Formal assertions:
 A letter refusing credit should be positive: you
hope to continue business on a cash basis.
 Quotations:
 Secretary’s World reports: “Secretaries are
members of the fastest-growing job group
(average job openings are expected to expand to
325,000).”
More Colon Uses
 Salutations:
 Dear Mr. Richards:
 Between title and subtitle:
 Quid Pro Quo: Something for Something
 Who what where when why
For And Nor Which whether
But Or Yet So while
If

The Comma Since so that

How
As after although
Before because
Once
 Indicates a pause. Their use is Unless until
Than that though
determined by sentence structure and
meaning.
 S V, coordinator S V:
 Sam speaks, and Bill listens.
 subordinator S V, S V:
 When Sam speaks, Bill listens.
 Careful! When the subordinator is in the
middle, there is usually no comma:
 Sam speaks as Bill listens.
More Comma Uses
 Used after an introductory expression, such
a word of transition:
 Indeed, Sam likes to dominate all conversation.
 Used after an introductory phrase:
 In general, Bill likes to be silent.
 As interesting as it sounds, it doesn’t tempt me.
 Used to separate items in a series or list:
 To look your best, feel your best, and be your
best require a personal program of sound diet
and exercise.
Comma Rules
 Do NOT use if a coordinator appears before
each item:
 I am tired and hungry and annoyed.
 A special case would be when adjectives
are listed before a noun:
 The store employs courteous, knowledgeable,
helpful salespeople.
 But CHECK: if you can’t insert ‘and’
between the words, there is no comma:
 They offer the lowest retail prices in town.
 More Comma Ideas
 Contrasted Elements:
 The chairman of the board, not the stockholders,
made the decision.
 Parenthetical Expressions: ‘I think’ can be
removed from the
 The affidavit, I think, is ready to be typed.
sentence without
 It is, in fact, a convincing legal argument.altering the
meaning.
 Appositives
 The president of the company, Rafa Hadoman,
started
The president and out as a sales trainee.
Rafa Hadoman
are one and the
same person.
The Hyphen
 Used to join two or more words into a
compound:
 Do-it-yourself instruction booklets.
 A wait-and-see attitude.
 Used with compound numbers and
fractions:
 Thirty-eight, four-fifths
 Used with prefixes such as ex-, all-,
self-, and pro-.
Material garnered from Barron’s
Business English, 4th Edition, by
Andrea B. Geffner.