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Unit 7 - Punctuation Mark

The document provides a comprehensive overview of punctuation marks, categorizing them into groups for clarity. It details fourteen punctuation marks, including their uses and examples, such as periods, commas, and quotation marks. The information aims to enhance understanding and organization in written language.

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17 views4 pages

Unit 7 - Punctuation Mark

The document provides a comprehensive overview of punctuation marks, categorizing them into groups for clarity. It details fourteen punctuation marks, including their uses and examples, such as periods, commas, and quotation marks. The information aims to enhance understanding and organization in written language.

Uploaded by

anjan4184
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PUNCTUATION MARKS

Punctuation marks are symbols that are used to aid the clarity and comprehension of written
language. They help the reader understand the meaning of the statements better. They event make the
writing more organized. There are fourteen punctuation marks. They have been classified into five groups
for convenient understanding. They are as follows:

SENTENCE ENDING PUNCTUATION MARKS


Out of fourteen, there are three punctuation marks, which are used as sentence endings.
1. Period or Full stop (.)
1. It is used at the end of declarative or assertive sentences and any telling or statement that is to
be complete.
Ex. Jack and Jill went up the hill.
In case of tremors, leave the building immediately.

2. It is used after many abbreviations


Ex. Dr. for doctor, Mr. for mister, Jr. in Martin Luther King Jr.
Prof. Kishore arrived from Washington D. C. at 8 p.m.

3. Used in decimal number


Ex. 4.2, 10.005

4. Used at the end of indirect question.


Ex. Ravi asked what it was.
I asked my sister if she had a friend.

2. Question mark (?)


1. It is used to indicate direct question and is used at the end of interrogative sentence.
Ex. How are you practicing English grammar?
Didn’t he use to live in Bangalore?
He should quit smoking, shouldn’t he?

3. Exclamation mark (!)


1. Used in exclamatory sentences.
Ex. What a beautiful sunset it was!
“No!” he yelled. “Do it now!”

2. Used at the end of interjections


Ex. Hurrah! Alas! Ouch! Holy cow! Etc.

PAUSING PUNCTUATION MARKS


4. Comma (,)
1. It is used after introductory words or phrases.
Ex. However, most cases should be considered before reaching a conclusion.

2. It is used around examples or comments.


Ex. Nationalism, a widely recognized phenomenon, has always a positive result.

3. It is used with conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect two independent clauses.
Ex. There were three hundred people, but only a few could succeed.
He hit the ball well, and ran towards the third base.
4. It is used to set off phrases that express contrast
Ex. Some say world will end in ice, not fire.
It was her money, not her personality, which first attracted him.

5. It is used to separate lists or elements within sentences.


Ex. Ravi wanted to purchase tomatoes, beans, cabbage and potatoes.

6. It is used to bifurcate numbers.


Ex. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ….

7. It is used in long numbers.


Ex. 54,56,783 and Rs. 10,287

8. It is used in dates.
Ex. 25th, August 2019 August 25, 2019

9. It is used between city and state.


Ex. Mysore, Karnataka Bombay, Maharastra Delhi, India

10. It is used after salutation and closing in letter writing.


Ex. Respected Sir, Thanking you,

11. It is used to avoid confusions


Ex. For most the year is already finished.
For most, the year is already finished.

5. Semicolon (;)
1. It is used to connect independent clause and it shows closer relationship between clauses.
Ex. I won gold medal; I knew I could win it.

2. It is used to sort out a monster list.


Ex. There were citizens from Majestic, Bangalore; Vantikoplu, Mysore; Kelagote,
Chitradurga; and Betageri, Gadag.
There are four professors in students’ welfare committee: Dr. Jagadish, PSMA; Dr.
Devappa, Plant Pathology; Dr. Fakruddin, Bio-technology; Dr. Honnabairayya,
Fruit science; and Dr. Shivanna, Soil science.
6. Colon (:)
3. It is used after a clause to introduce a quotation.
Ex. Walt Disney has said: The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.

4. It is used after a clause to introduce an explanation.


Ex. There is only one thing left to do now: confess while you still have time.

5. It is used after a clause to introduce a series.


Ex. There are many punctuation marks: period, comma, colon, and others.

6. It is used after a clause for emphasis (highlighting).


Ex. There was one thing she loved more than any other: her dog.

7. It is used to separate hours and minutes.


Ex. Now the time is 3:30.
8. It is used to separate elements of mathematical ratio.
Ex. The ratio of boys to girls is 3:5

DASH AND HYPHEN


These marks are often confused with each other due to their appearance but they are very different.

7. Dash (--)
1. It is also known as “em dash”, as its length is that of a printed letter m and is longer than
hyphen. It is used to separate parts of a sentence.
Ex. She gave him her answer--no.
All four of them—John, Tony, Sony and Bobby—did well in college.

8. Hyphen (-)
1. It is used to join two or more words together into a compound term and is not separated by
spaces.
Ex. That young boy is a full-time student.
Part-time, back-to-back, well-known etc.

2. It is used to split a word by syllable to fit on a line of text.


Ex. Life throws curveballs. And while there might be blockers to success, it is impe-
rative to keep pushing with the knowledge mistakes will be made and failure is inevitable.

BRACKETS, BRACES, AND PARENTHESES


Brackets, braces, and parentheses are used to contain words that are further explanation or are
considered a group.

9. Brackets ([ ])
1. It is used for technical explanation or to clarify meaning. If you remove the information in the
bracket, the sentence will still make sense.
Ex. He [Mr. Vijay] was the first person to win the race.

10. Braces ({ })
1. It is used to contain two or more lines of text or listed items to show them as a unit. It can be
seen in computer programming and mathematical expressions.
Ex. 2{1+ [5-3]}

11. Parentheses (( ))
1. It is used to contain further thoughts or qualifying remarks. The part in the parentheses is called
a parenthetical remark. However, parentheses can be replaced by commas without changing
the meaning in most cases.
Ex. John and Jane (who were actually half brother and sister) both have red hair.

APOSTROPHE, QUOTATION MARKS AND ELLIPSIS

12. Apostrophe (’)


1. It is used to create possessive forms.
The placement of apostrophe depends on whether the noun is singular or plural

If the noun is singular it appears before s.


Ex. Lion’s share
Witch’s broom
If the noun is plural it appears after s.
Ex. Lions’ share
Witches’ broom

If the noun is pluralized without an s, the apostrophe comes before s


Ex. Men’s clothing
Children’s toys

2. It is used to create contractions


I am = I’m you are = you’re she has/she is = she’s it has/it is = it’s

Do not = don’t she would = she’d he would have = he would’ve

Let us = let’s who is = who’s she will = she’ll they had = they’d

[Note: Don’t get confused it’s with its it’s = it is and ‘its’ is possessive pronoun
Don’t get confused they’re with there are they’re = they are and not there are

3. It is used to create some plurals

An apostrophe is used to form plural of letters and digits.


Ex. In cards game Raj got four 10’s and his sister three 6’s.
In the word accessory there are two c’s and two s’s. (For lower case letters)
When abbreviation with periods are pluralized like Ph.D.’s, M.Sc.’s

[Note: It is improper to use apostrophe for the plurals of years or decades or abbreviations]
Ex. Cinemas of 1980s
There are four PhDs on this topic (abbreviation without period)
We create people of similar IQs
He got four As, two Bs and three Cs (apostrophe after upper-case is not necessary)

13. Double Quotation marks (“ ”)


1. It is used to include actual speech or quotes.
Ex. “Don’t go outside”, she said.

Single Quotation marks (‘ ’)


1. It is used to include quotes within quotes.
Ex. Mary told, “I saw him at the playground, and he said to me ‘Bill started the fight’,
and I believed him” .

14. Ellipsis (…)


1. It is used to indicate omission of letters or words in writing or printing.
Ex. She began to count, “one, two, three, four …” until she got to ten.

2. It is used in research papers or newspapers after partially quoting speeches to avoid lengthy
copying.
Ex. When Newton stated, “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays
in motion…” he developed the law of motion.

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