Punctuation
Brackets
Brackets are symbols that we use to contain "extra information", or information that
is not part of the main content. Brackets always come in pairs—an "opening" bracket
before the extra information, and a "closing" bracket after it. There are two main
types of bracket: round ( ) and square [ ]. British English and American English define
them differently.
British English
( ) = round brackets or brackets
American English
( ) = parentheses
Round brackets are basically used to add extra information to a sentence.
1. explain or clarify
2. indicate plural or singular
3. add a personal comment
4. define abbreviations
Ex:
1) Tony Blair (the former British prime minister) resigned from office in 2007.
2) Please leave your mobile telephone(s) at the door.
3) Many people love parties (I don't).
4) The matter will be decided by the IOC (International Olympic Committee).
British English
[ ] = square brackets
American English
[ ] = brackets
We typically use square brackets when we want to modify another person's words.
Here, we want to make it clear that the modification has been made by us, not by
the original writer.
1. to add clarification:
o The witness said: "He [the policeman] hit me."
2. to add information:
o The two teams in the finals of the first FIFA Football World Cup were
both from South America [Uruguay and Argentina].
3. to add missing words:
o It is [a] good question.
4. to add editorial or authorial comment:
o They will not be present [my emphasis].
5. to modify a direct quotation:
o He "love[s] driving." (The original words were "I love driving.")
Dashes
1) To separate a word or phrase from the rest of the sentence for deliberate effect
Ex:
a) Crouched in front of me was – a mouse (suspense/drama).
b)I have said – more than once – that I would like you to be quiet (emphasis).
c) So I couldn’t be bothered to do that homework but I’m not going to tell– Oh, I
didn’t see you come in, sir! (interruption, sudden breaking-off of speech)
Hyphen
The word hyphen came from ancient Greek which literally means ”under one”. The
hyphen is a punctuation mark that is used to separate and join words in sentences.
Mostly hyphen and dashes are confusing. The hyphen is short while dashes are
longer.
Ex:
a two-way street
chocolate-flavoured peanuts
well-known movie
Ex-boyfriend
The mid-1990s
T-shirt
mid-August
all-exclusive
anti-marriage
Example sentences:
I’m buying all-exclusive of the torn shoes.
The anti-marriage campaign is over.
You are turning twenty-eight in August.
This car has a shell-like seat.
She has child-like behaviour.
When I woke up, she was semi-conscious.
The chocolate-flavoured peanuts are over.
Ellipsis (…)
An ellipsis (plural: ellipses) is a punctuation mark consisting of three dots.
Stories and novels use ellipses to a very different effect. An ellipsis can demonstrate
a pause in dialogue, a pause in narrative, or a character or a narrator trailing off.
Pause in dialogue - He stammered "I'm not sure what to do ..."
Pause in narrative - He was without hope ... desolate, empty ... the epitome of a
broken heart.
Character or narrator trailing off - Was the challenge too big to handle, or was it
just growing into something else like...?
A pause in text can appear in much the same way.
She wasn't angry ... she was just tired.
Italics
When you italicize a word or a phrase, it gets noticed. Italics are popularly used to
call attention to certain words in a text. If all the words looked the same, reading
would be a rather boring affair.
1. Emphasis: When you want to emphasize a certain word or phrase in a sentence. a)
She was the only girl in the class who got 100% on the exam.
b) He defeated one of them.
c) The price was low this year.
2. Titles of Works:
a) Shakespeare’s play ‘Hamlet’ is a tragedy.
b) One of Robert Frost famous poems is ‘Stopping by the woods on a snowy
evening’.
c) ‘Thirikadukam’ is a Tamil literary work written by Nalladhanar.
Apostrophe
We use the apostrophe to transform various words into plurals, contractions and
possessions.
1) To indicate when a letter or letters have been missed out of a word.
Ex:
a) I didn’t understand it.
b) It’s not fair.
c) You weren’t so cool at that time.
2) To indicate possession.
Ex:
a) the lion’s cub
b) mother’s love
c) Paul’s mobile phone
3) With the plural form of a noun that ends in ‘s’, the possessive case is shown by
adding an apostrophe after the – s (s’).
Ex:
a) It is a girls’ practical room.
b) They are the schools’ flags.
c) The cows’ grass was eaten by goats.
