PUNCTUATION

Explanation

Punctuation is necessary in written communication to convey the meaning of the writer clearly
without any ambiguity. Some of the most commonly used punctuation marks and their usage are
as follows:

a. Period or Full stop (.)

b. Question mark (?) used at the end of a sentence
c. Exclamation mark (!)
d. Comma (,)
e. Semicolon (;) internal marks
f. Colon (:)
g. Quotation mark (“ ”) enclosing marks
h. Parenthesis [( )]
i. Apostrophe (‘)
j. Hyphen (-) marks of individual words and terms.

a. Period (.)
(i) A period is used at the end of a sentence that marks a statement, a command, or a
request.
e.g. He dances well. – Statement
You should complete the work. - Command
Please, give me your book. - Request

(ii) It is used after initials and most abbreviations.

Prof. W. H. Mishra

No. 103 Std.

b. Question mark (?)
(i) Is used at the end of direct questions.
e.g. Have you received any mail from your son?
(ii) Is used within parenthesis to indicate uncertainty.
Chaucer, 1343(?)-1400

c. Exclamation mark (!)

(i) It is used at the end of words, phrases or sentences to show surprise, strong
emotion etc.,
e.g. How beautiful the dress is!
The attender (!) solver this problem.

d. Comma (,)
(i) Comma is used to separate items in a series.
e.g. My teacher can speak Tamil, Telugu, French, German and English.
(ii) It is used after independent clause joined by a co-ordinate conjunction (and, but,
or, either, neither, nor and the like) to a subordinate clause.
He is known for his punctuality, but he comes late nowadays.
(iii) It is used with relative clause.
e.g. The engine, which was an old model, stopped functioning.
(iv) It is used to separate an adverb or an if clauses when these come at the beginning
of the sentence.
A comma is not used when an adverbial clause comes at the end of a sentence.
e.g. If you complete the work in time, you will be given an incentive.
You will be given an incentive if you complete the work in time.
(v) A comma is used to set off ‘sentence adverbs’ when these come in the middle of a
sentence.
e.g. My brother had, surprisingly, visited me.
(vi) A comma is used to set off quotation, name of the person or thing addressed and
mild interjections such as yes, no, well, ok.
e.g. Amit said, “I am going home”
 If you want, Ms. Elisa, you can continue to work.
Well, I don’t want to answer that.
(vii) It is used to separate a question tag from the rest of the sentence.
e.g. He sings well, doesn’t he?
They act well, don’t they?
e. Semicolon (;)
(i) Semicolons are mostly used in the place of full stops, between grammatically
independent sentences, but closely connected in meaning.
e.g. Some engines need lubrication more often; some others do not need
so often.
(ii) It is used to separate independent clauses joined by traditional connectives
such as: also, however, thus, moreover, for example, in fact, on the other
hand.
E.g. The workers are not satisfied with the management; however, they
are unwilling to go on a strike.
f. Colon (:)
(i) A colon is used before a list or series of items.
e.g. Generally, writing can be classified as follows:
expository, descriptive, narrative and argumentative.
(ii) It is used before explanation.
e.g. we decided not to go for our: Our vacation ends in two days.
(iii) It is used to introduce quotations.
e.g. Newton’s third law : “Every action has an equal and opposite
reaction.”
(iv) It is used to set off the main title from the sub-title.
e.g. Letter Writing : Business Letters : Social Letters.
g. Quotation marks (“ ”)
(i) Quotation marks or inverted commas are used to enclose direct speech.
e.g. He said, “I want a cup of coffee”
(ii) These are used to enclose direct quotations.
e.g. “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” is an oft-quoted line of Keats.
 (iii) Single quotation marks are mostly used when a word is used in an unusual
way.
e.g. Generation gap can be a ‘wall’ between the parents and children.
(iv) For a quotation within quotation also single quotation marks are used.
e.g. Mother told the child, “Say ‘Hello’ to Uncle”
(v) Quotation marks are used to enclose titles.
e.g. The most famous play of Shakespeare is “Romeo and Juliet”
h. Parentheses ( ( ) )
(i) Parentheses are used to enclose additional information.
e.g. Dr. Abdul kalam (b. 1973) is called ‘India’s Missile Man’
(ii) They are used to enclose numbers or letters that mark items in a list.
e.g. There are two types of letters.
They are (i) Formal and (ii) Informal.
(iii) Parentheses are used to enclose information about references.
e.g. World Oil Consumption was down by 5 percent this year. (see fig.
1.5)

i. Apostrophe (‘)
(i) The apostrophe is used in contracted form
e.g. he’ll (he will) we’re (we are)
Can’t (cannot) they’ve (they have)
(ii) It is used to indicate that some letters and numbers are left out
e.g. 28 January,’72
(iii) It is used in plurals of letters and numbers.
e.g. In 1980’s, he was a student.
(iv) The apostrophe is used in plural forms of words which normally do not have
plurals.
e.g. No If’s and but’s in this matter.
(v) It is used in possessive forms.
eg. God’s grace
Everyone’s duty.
 Note: The ‘s’ may be omitted in a name ending in ‘s’

Dickens’ novels

j. Hyphen (-)
(i) A hyphen is used to separate parts of compound numbers and fractions.
Eg. Eighty-seven students One-fourth of the total mass
(ii) A hyphen is used to separate parts of many compound nouns, compound
adjectives and compound verbs.
Compound nouns : steam-engine, motor-car.
Compound adjectives : hard-brittle metal, soft-loving person
Compound verbs : automated-washing.

(iii) In some words, prefix is separated from the root word by a hyphen.
Self-evaluation post-modernism
Semi-automatic pre-planned

k. Capitalization
The following are usually capitalized
(i) The first letter of a sentence.
Eg. Noise pollution is a serious problem.
(ii) The first letter of a quotation.
Eg. Rama shouted, “I have cleared all the papers”
(iii) Proper nouns,
Eg. Names of persons : Dinesh
Places : New Delhi
Things : Samsung T.V.
(iv) The title used before and after a name
Eg. Prof. Martin Lloyd
Ms. Kathy Samuel, Barrister – at - Law
(v) ‘I’ and ‘O’ when they are used as words.
Eg. When I reached home, I was shocked.
 “O, gentle breeze, take my message”.
(vi) The names of months, days of the week and special days.
Eg. Sunday, January, Christmas, New Year’s Day
(vii) The names of historical events and documents.
Eg. World War I the Green Revolution
First War of Indian Independence.
(viii) Words that refer to God, religion, religious group, sacred books.
Eg. The Almighty, Buddhism, Lord Jesus, The Bhagavat Gita,
Protestants.
(ix) The names of mountains, peaks, bodies of water, planets and buildings.
Eg. Mt. Everest, Mars, The Nile, Empire State building
(x) The titles of books, chapters, newspapers, plays, poems, stories and the like.
Lord of the Flies (book)
The New Indian Express (newspaper)
The Merchant of Venice (play)
The Solitary Reaper (poem)
EXERCISE:

Punctuate the following passage:

1. coal still provides almost 30% of the worlds energy needs two thirds of the worlds
reserves are in china russia and the usa india and australia are major producers to.

2. We want provide more access points of credible agents for students who want to
study in Singapore says magdalene lee director education services division of the
singapore tourism board.

3. BHAVINI a public sector undertaking of the department of atomic energy are

charged with the construction operation and maintenance of the fast breeder reactors
in the country

4. Misbah said if we can survive this match we will definitely play better in the next
match at bangalore.

5. what do you know about a bats ability to fly at night some animals has a sort of
kinesthetic sense which helps them to move about at night.
Answers:

Punctuate the following passage:

1. Coal still provides almost 30% of the world’s energy needs. Two thirds of the world’s
reserves are in China, Russia and the USA. India and Australia are major producers too.

2. “We want to provide more access points of credible agents for students who want to
study in Singapore” says Magdalene lee Director Education Services Division of the Singapore
tourism board.

3. BHAVINI, a public sector undertaking of the Department of Atomic Energy is charged

with the construction, operation and maintenance of the Fast Breeder Reactors in the country.
4. Misbah said, “If we can survive this match, we will definitely play better in the next
match at Bangalore”.

5. What do you know about a bat’s ability to fly at night? Some animals have a sort of
kinesthetic sense which helps them to move about at night.