Puntuation Guide

Colons

Ellipsis

Exclamation Marks

Full Stops

Oxford Commas

Parenthetical Dashes

Semi-Colons

ColonsColons can be used to divide two clauses (or parts) of a sentence. They’re useful because they can help to reinforce or expand upon information that has already been stated. For example:

These days it is nothing but Frenchmen about the king, and she, Boleyn, she is half-French herself, and wholly bought by them; her entire family are in the pocket of Francis. But you, Thomas, you are not taken in by these Frenchmen, are you? He reassures him: my dear friend, not for one instant.The extract above is taken from from the novel Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, which is about the reign King of Henry VIII and, in particular, the rise in status and influence of his advisor, Thomas Cromwell. Much of the novel focuses on Henry’s desperation to divorce his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and his desire to marry Anne Boleyn. In the quotation above, Eustace Chapuys, the Spanish ambassador, is reflecting on the shifting balance of power in Henry’s court and, more widely, upon the increasingly strained relationship between England and Spain. The first sentence is fragmented: a sense of Chapuys’s uncertainty and discomfort is conveyed. In contrast, however, the colon in the second sentence offers clarity and helps to amplify the confidence and authority with which Cromwell is able to offer reassurance to Chapuys. Outwardly, he is embraced as a dear friend by Cromwell – a loyal ally – or so it seems.

EllipsisElliptical dots are used to indicate to the reader that words have been omitted from a sentence. For example:

VLADIMIR: I missed you… and at the same time I was happy.

Isn’t that a queer thing?ESTRAGON: (shocked) Happy?VLADIMIR: Perhaps it’s not the right word..The extract above is taken from from the play Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett. Vladimir and Estragon, who appear to be strangely and dysfunctionally interdependent, are waiting for a man called Godot. Neither of them are really sure who Godot is or when he might actually arrive. Vladimir, having temporarily left Estragon, arrives on stage again and reflects on how he felt at being alone. The elliptical dots mark an ambiguous and uncomfortable silence: they indicate to us that Vladimir has conflicting thoughts. He’s confused; still thinking. He missed Estragon, and yet was happy (sort of) to be without him. Estragon, understandably, is shocked; his insecurities, far from being allayed, are actually amplified by the vaguarities of his companion’s declaration.

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Exclamation MarksExclamation marks can be used to indicate particularly strong emotions. For example:

‘Ah!’ said Mouret, when he could speak, ‘you can sell as much as you like when you know how to sell! There lies our success.’The extract above is taken from from the novel The Ladies’ Paradise (originally Au Bonheur des Dames), by Émile Zola, which is is set in late nineteenth-century Paris and charts the rising fortunes of a modern department store – the Ladies’ Paradise of the title – and its owner, Octave Mouret. In the quotation above, Mouret is revealing his business model to Baron Hartmann, a rich and well-connected entrepreneur, in an attempt to gain his favour. The two exclamation marks help to convey the charming provinҫial zest with which Mouret is speaking. Take them away, however, and the enthusiasm in his voice would be lost.

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Full StopsOne of the main functions of the full stop is to mark the separation between what David Crystal calls ‘units of sense’ – they help to aid clarity. For example:

EUNICE: I think she said you taught school.s

BLANCHE: Yes.EUNICE: And you’re from Mississippi, huh?BLANCHE: Yes.The extract above is taken from from A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams. Blanche DuBois, described by Williams as a ‘delicate beauty’, has just arrived in New Orleans to pay a friendly visit to her younger sister. However, from the moment Blanche appears on stage, it’s clear that she is uncomfortable in her new, bohemian surroundings. Fortunately, she soon meets a young lady named Eunice, who directs her

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to the right apartment. In the conversation that follows, Blanche responds to Eunice’s attempts to start a conversation with neutral, grammatically autonomous, statements. She confirms that she was a teacher, and that she’s from Mississippi, but doesn’t offer any additional details about her life. Here, Blanche, at least superficially, is in charge: her dialogue is clear and controlled.

Oxford CommasThe Oxford comma, also known as the Harvard comma or the serial comma, is the name given to the stylistic comma that precedes the final word or phrase in a list before ‘and’ or ‘or’. For example:

She seemed much older than I, of course, being a girl, and beautiful and self-possessed; and she was as scornful of me as if she had been one-and-twenty, and a queen.The extract above is taken from the novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, in which the outwardly respectable Dr Henry Jekyll is able to transform into the depraved and disinhibited Edward Hyde by consuming a specially concocted potion. Hyde is a thoroughly despicable individual: he is ruled by the basest, most primitive of instincts; he embodies the very worst aspects of humanity. In the

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quotation, Jekyll’s butler, Poole, and his good friend, a lawyer named Utterson, have broken into his laboratory. However, upon entry, they are confronted with a most disturbing and unexpected sight: the grotesque, emaciated body of a man who isn’t their dear friend Jekyll. They are unable, initially at least, to identify the mysterious figure. Their momentary confusion, leading all the way up to the final recognition of Hyde’s grotesque face, is intensified by the segmentation and following pause generated by the Oxford comma at the end of the sentence.

Parenthetical DashesWe get the plural noun parentheses from the original Greek word parentithenai, which roughly translates as ‘put in beside’. Today, linguistically speaking, we use the term to describe both the additional information that is inserted into an already grammatically complete sentence and the punctuation marks used to contain that information. For example:

Gregor’s eyes turned next to the window, and the dull weather – raindrops could be heard beating on the metal window-ledge – made him feel quite melancholy.The extract is taken from the opening of the story. Gregor Samsa, the unfortunate

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protagonist, has just woken to find, rather remarkably, that he has transformed into a monstrous insect. His first action is to look around his bedroom, whilst he contemplates the disturbing predicament in which he has inexplicably found himself. He notices that the weather outside is grizzly: it’s a grey, rainy morning. Here, the parenthetical dashes help to create the impression that a casual, impromptu observation has been made; they generate a sort of stream of consciousness effect. Gregor’s spontaneously mundane observation highlights to us, the reader, that he is yet to fully understand the true horror of what has happened.

Semi-ColonsA semi-colon can be used to separate two main clauses in a sentence. Think of a main clause as being a sentence in its own right. For example:

There was the drawing room life; then there was this other life. She thought it was best not to ask questions about it.’The extract above is taken from from the novel A Place of Greater Safety, by Hilary

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Mantel, which is set in revolutionary France and tracks the fortunes of, amongst others, rakish political journalist Camille Desmoulins. In the quotation above, Annette Duplessis, who is an outwardly respectable and dutiful mother of two, is reflecting on the unwholesome double-life that Camille appears to lead. Here, the semi-colon serves to highlight this duality (one sentence, two parts), but it also hints at the sense of discomfort and uncertainty she feels at being in possession of this knowledge.

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