Punctuation English Language (rules)

8/10/2019 Punctuation English Language (rules)

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PUNCTUATION

What is punctuation?

Its purpose is to make the meaning of sentences and texts clear.

This is achieved through the use of punctuation marks.

In spoken English, we use pauses and changes in intonation in writing, we use punctuation.

The foreign ambassador who arrived toda said the president is to be trusted.

The foreign ambassador, who arrived toda, said the president is to be trusted.

PUNCTUATION MARKS

! apostrophe

" # parentheses

$ % brackets

, comma

& colon ' hphen

( dash

) ellipsis

. full stop "*E# or period "+E#

- or ! ! uotation marks

/ semicolon

0 slash

1 exclamation mark

? uestion mark

THE USE OF PUNCTUATION MARKS

The use of full stop, exclamation mark and uestion mark in English is basicall the same as

in 2roatian.

Exceptions&

i.e.

e.g.

etc.

Semi-colon 3oins independent clauses that are related b sense&

3ohn 4ust finished medicine/ he wants to speciali5e in pschiatr.

6emingwa died an unnatural death, after his fifth marriage. "right#

6emingwa died an unnatural death/ after his fifth marriage. "wrong the second clause is

not independent#.

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7emi'colons are not used with andand but, but are freuentl used with howeverand

nevertheless:

e.g. 6is famil is in a state of shock/ nevertheless, life must go on.

The main misuse of the semi-colon isto 4oin dependent clauses or to use the semi'colon to

introduce a list&

7he went to the shop to bu/ salt, flour and bread soda. 8emember& Too man semi'colons make reading tiring.

Colon

The colon introduces a word or a clause that explains or adds to what precedes it&

E.g. The battle could have gone either wa& The outcome depended on the weather.

In contrast to the semi'colon, the phrase that follows it does not have to be independent.

It introduces lists&

E.g. 9ou will need four ingredients for this recipe& cream, fruit, raisins and sugar.

When using the colon to introduce lists, ou must be careful not to separate a verb from its

ob4ect, a preposition from its ob4ect or an infinitive from its ob4ect. e.g. The :ean was soon working with& the professors, the assistants and the cleaning staff.

The angel dust fell& on the table, the chair and the floor.

6e longed to have& power, mone and land.

The colon is used to introduce direct speech and uotations.

The colon is used to separate subtitles from titles "+ ;iterature of Their to ;essing#

Time "&@#

*iblical uotations "At @&BC#

2it and publisher in bibliographical entries ":ublin& 7murfit D2o.#.

Dash

7hows a break in tone or thought&

E.g. 6e marched forward secretl trembling towards the battlefield.

It ma indicate a change in sub4ect&

E.g. The never gave us a ke can ou pick locks?

Emphasis&

E.g. ;ets get out of here fast1

Frecedes the authors name in a uotation&

E.g. To be or not to be, that is the uestion- William 7hakespeare

H!hen

+ hphen is used in compound nouns e.g. bulls'ee, point'blank, although there are man

compound nouns which are not hphenated e.g. fire fighter, ice cream, oil spill and somewhich are single unhphenated words e.g& earring.

=o rules use a good dictionar

+ few hints that can help&

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Frefixes added to proper nouns should be hphenated&

E.g. pro'+merican, anti'7emitic

6phens are alwas added when the prefix ends in !i and the next word begins with the same

letter, e.g. semi'illiterate, anti'imperialist.

The prefixes ex' and self' are alwas hphenated.

6phen is alwas used in two'word compound ad4ectives ending in ed e.g. half'hearted.

6phen is used if a compound is used as an ad4ective before a noun e.g. red'wine bottle vs.

red wine bottle.

6phen often helps avoid ambiguit&

E.g. re'form vs. reform/ re'cover vs. recover

It is freuentl used when numerals between BG and HH are written in full e.g. twent'three.

It is used when writing fractions in full&

e.g. two'thirds

+ hphen can be used for word division at the end of a line.

7he wasnt comfort'

able with him.

It should be placed between sllables, after an prefix, before an suffix or where there is an

existing hphen.


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)$ac&ets * +

*rackets are used to set off our own insertion within a uotation e.g.

To be or not to be $the italics are mine% that is the uestion-.

7ometimes when there is a deliberate error in a uote, we will show the reader that it is meant

to be that wa b adding the word $sic% meaning thus- in ;atin. 6e sa $sic% trouble is bound to result from this betraal b the colonial power.-

Slash an# italics

7lash 0 is used to separate lines of poetr&

+nd oft when on m couch I lie0In vacant or in pensive mood-


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The choice often depends on the context "technical documents vs. stories#.

+void having both forms in the same sentence, e.g.

9ou can earn between two and BM dollars a da.

;arge numbers are usuall written as numerals with commas dividing them into groups of

three digits&

GMM,MM 0 G,MMM,MMM

The use of commas is preferable in numbers of four figures or more.

In the case of numbers with a lot of 5eros, we use the words million, billion "H 5eros# and

trillion "GB 5eros#

Aillion, billion and trillion are not used in the plural form e.g. three million, not three

millions

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Punctuation English Language (rules)