Rules of Punctuation Marks in English Language Grammar

The Period (Full Stop)

(a) Marks the end of a sentence (except for questions and exclamations). A sentence is a complete unit of sense, which can stand on its own. (It may consist of only one word as in greetings like “Hello.” Commands like “Stop.” [Where the subject you is understood], and replies like “No.”.)

To test whether a group of words is a sentence, you should read it out to yourself; if is conveys a complete meaning, then you can probably put a period at the end.

(b) Indicates an abbreviation

e.g. Co. etc. i.e a.m

Capital letters

(a) At the beginning of every sentence.

(b)At the beginning of a passage of direct quotation (see subsection 6 below)

(c) For proper nouns (i.e., names of particular persons, places, things) and for months of the year and days of the week:

c. Jane, Africa, Sydney, July, Tuesday

(d) For adjectives derived from proper nouns (especially places and people: e.g. English, French, and Victorian (except for common compounds like Venetian blinds and Brussels sprouts, where the adjective has lost its original emphasis).

(e) For the forest and all main words in any kind of title: books, play, poems, e.g. Far from the Maddening Crowd), films, newspapers, magazines (e.g. Time) names of ships, houses, a person’s title (e.g., Prime Minister of Australia) the titles of institutions and businesses. Abbreviations of titles (e.g. Gov.).

(f) At the beginning of each line of verse (except in some modern poetry)

(g) For the pronoun I. (h) for He, His, when referring to God.

Commas

(a) To Separate words, phrases or clauses in a list

(I) A series of nouns:

e.g. His room was littered with books, pens, papers and maps.

(II) A series of adjectives:

e.g. He was a quiet, gentle, unassuming man.

When one adjective describes the other or when the last adjective is “closely linked with its noun, there should be no comma:

e.g. the deep blue sky; a new state college (Contrast a thin, white hand)

(III) A series of adverb:

e.g. try to work quickly, confidently, and efficiently.

(IV) A series of phrases:

e.g. we spent an enjoyable day visiting the zoo, rowing on the lake, and picnicking in the park

(V) A series of verbs or clauses:

e.g. He took a long run-up, slipped on the wet grass and landed short of the sandpit.

(It is better with larger groupings to put a. comma before the and.)

The comma is also used between two longer clauses joined by and or but, especially when the subjects of the clauses are different.

(b) Before and after a phrase or clause in apposition (i.e., when placing a group or words after a noun to give a fuller explanation of it):

e.g. Wally Lewis, the football player, scored a try.

(a) To mark off the person(s) addressed or called to (whether by name or other description):

e.g. Look out, Fred! Now, you fool, you’ve missed it!

(b) To bracket off insertions or afterthoughts. (Dashes or parentheses may be used for this.) Use commas on either side of the parenthetical expression:

e.g. Sunday, as everyone knows, is a day of rest.

e.g. well, err, no, I don’t think I will, thank you.

e.g. they played well, didn’t they?

(d) To mark off a participial phrase:

e.g. seeing the lion, Caesar screamed.

(e) To mark off adverbial clauses, especially when they start the sentence, except when they are very short. (Adverbial clauses are introduces by words like although, if, because.)

e.g. Although you may not realize it, you need two commas in this sentence, because it contains two adverbial clauses.

(f) To mark off an adjective clause which merely comments but does not limit or define:

e.g. The boys, who were fooling, were punished.

(Without commas this would mean that only the boys who were fooling were punished; with commas, it means that all the boys were fooling and were punished. The commas act like brackets.)

Note: Don’t put a comma between the subject and its verb.

Wrong: What he wrote, was illegible.

Right: What he wrote was illegible.

The Semicolon

(a) To separate clauses which could stand as sentences but which are closely related especially:

(I) When the second clause expands or explains the first:

e.g. Neither of us spoke; we merely waited in silence to see what would happen.

(II) When the clauses describe a sequence of actions or different aspects of the same topic;

e.g. There was a sharp, bracing air; the ground was dry; the sea was crisp and clear.

(III) Before independent clauses beginning with even so, so, therefore, for instance nevertheless, then, etc.:

e.g. He took great rare; even so, he made a few errors.

(IV) To suggest a contrast:

e.g. I like swimming; my sister hates it.

(In all the above examples periods could have been used but would have been too abrupt)

Note that the clause after the semicolon always begins with a small letter.

(b) To mark off a series of Phrases (or clauses) which themselves contain commas.

e.g. You will need the following: some scrap paper; a pen, preferably blue or black; some envelopes; and some good, white, unlined writing-paper.

The Colon

(a) To introduce a list

e.g. Speaking at Caesar’s funeral, Anthony addresses the crowd: “Friends, Romans, countrymen….”

It may also be used:

(b) Before a clause which explains the previous statement. The colon has the force of the word “namely” or “that is”:

e.g. God creates: man destroys.

(d) To introduce a climax of concluding clause:

e.g. After pondering the choices before him, he came to a decision: he joined army.

(e) To make a pointed connection:

e.g. Jeremy became a director in just three months: his father was the chief shareholder.

The Hyphen

(a) When attaching a prefix (e.g., self-explanatory, anti-hero) and especially when confusion might result as with “re-sign” and “re-form”.

(b) When forming compound work from two or more other words:

e.g. son-in-law, a half-eaten biscuit, and a couldn’t-care-less attitude, red-hot-smoking-jacket

Distinguish “fifty-odd people” from “fifty odd people.

The Dashes

Two dashes are used when breaking off a sentence to insert an afterthought or an explanatory comment or short list:

e.g. In August last year-I was with my family at the time-I had a serious accident. Nothing-food, plates, cutler, pan’s-could be left unattended.

A single dash may be used

(a) When breaking off a sentence for an abrupt change of thought or when “tagging on” another construction:

e.g. The following day we had better luck – but that is another story

(b) To emphasize a repeated word:

e.g. The new regime imposed rigid laws-laws which the police found difficult to enforce.

e.g. Toothbrush, can-opener, matches, soap pads- these are often forgotten by inexperienced campers

Question Mark

This is used for all direct questions:

e.g. What are you doing? You will come, won’t you? But not for reported questions: e.g. I wonder what he is doing. Ask him who did it.

(Don’t forget the question mark at the end of a long question)

Exclamation mark

(a) Use and exclamation point at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or common.

“No!” he yelled. “Do it now!”

(b) An exclamation mark may be used to close questions that are meant to convey extreme emotion, as in

What on earth are you doing! Stop!

We have some really (!) low-priced rugs on sale this week.

Note that there is no space between the last letter of the word so emphasized and the parentheses. This device should be used rarely, if ever, in formal text.

(d) An exclamation mark will often accompany mimetically produces sounds, as in

“All night long, the dogs woof! In my neighbor’s yard” and

“The bear went Ger.! And I went left.”

(e) If an exclamation mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make sure that the exclamation mark is also italicized or underlined.

My favorite book is Oh, the Places You’ll Go!

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title’s exclamation mark. The exclamation mark will also suffice to end the sentence.) It the exclamation mark is not part of a sentence-ending title, don’t italicize the exclamation mark:

I’ve asked you not to sing la Marseillaise!

In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all, and in newspaper writing the exclamation point is virtually nonexistent

Quotation Marks

(a) When the subject and verb start the sentence, they are followed by a comma and the first word spoken has a capital letter:

e.g. They said, “We are going away.”

(b) When quoting someone’s words or from a book:

e.g. “To be, or not to be” begins a famous speech from Hamlet.

Take care, when quoting from a book/play/poem that your own sentence leads naturally into the quotation.

(c) Further, punctuation around quoted speech or phrases depends on how it fits into the rest of your text. If a quoted word or phrases fits into the flow of your sentence without a break or pause, then a comma may not be necessary.

The phrase “lovely, dark and deep” begins to suggest ominous overtones

(d) If the quoted speech follows an independent clause yet could be part of the same sentence, use a colon to set off the quoted language:

My mother’s favorite quote was from Shakespeare: “This above all, to thin own self be true.”

(e) Around titles of short stories

I read the story “White Knight at the Battlefield” to him already.

(f) Around titles of Poems

Your poem “The Wave” was certainly very touching.

(g) Around titles of songs

My favorite song is “The Yellow Submarine.”

(a) Around titles of articles

That article “Why you Should Bring Your Own Lunch” was about unhealthy lunches.

(b) Around titles of chapters