No PUNCTUAT WHEN TO USE IT FOR EXAMPLE

ION MARK
1. Apostrophe a. To show that something The boys book. This is Alecs pen.
belongs to someone or The students names. The childrens
something (possession) toys. That means you use s for
singular and s for plural unless the
plural does not end in an s, as in the
case of children.

Note: There is no apostrophe used

with ours, yours, hers, his, whose,
its (meaning belonging to us, you,
her, him , who, or it )

b. To show letters are missingyoure = you are; Im = I am; its =

in words (omission) it is; whos = who is; dont = do not
BUT remember that you dont use
short forms like dont in academic
writing. Always use the full forms
such as do not, who is, it is etc.
2. Parentheses Used in pairs around groups He always hands in his work on
() of words introducing an extra time (he is a well organised student)
idea e.g.an explanation or after carefully checking it.
afterthought to be kept
separate from the rest of the
sentence. A sentence should
still make complete sense
without the words in brackets.
3. Capital letter a. At the beginning of a Snow continued to fall. Finally a
A sentence decision was taken to shut the
campus.
b. For names Alice Smith; Hull; The Bible; The
Thames; The Midwifery Council
4. Colon : a. To introduce something Students are expected to carry out a
that is to follow, which range of activities: attend lectures,
may be a list take part in tutorials, produce
written work, meet deadlines for
assignments and sit examinations.
b. To introduce the second Mediterranean cookery is
half of a sentence when it considered healthy: it uses olive oil,
explains or expands on the fresh vegetables and fish.
first half
5. Comma , a. To mark a brief pause We cannot help him, unless he
within a sentence, such as comes to see us.
where you would naturally
pause if you were speaking

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 b. To separate words in a list
in a sentence (but do not The picnic included sandwiches,
put a comma before and salad, crisps, cakes and fruit.
or or)
6. Dash a. To create a pause for I looked at the mark for my last
dramatic effect, essay and it was a first.
introducing something
surprising or unexpected
b. Used in pairs in a similar I hear shes a good pianist I
way to brackets myself have never heard her but
shes shy about playing in public.
7. Exclamation At the end of an exclamation Its just amazing! Hurry up! BUT
Mark ! an expression of emotion since academic writing should be
such as surprise, anger, impersonal and objective, not
delight etc. emotional, you will not be likely to
use exclamation marks in your
academic work
8. Full stop . a. At the end of a sentence She finally found the correct book.
b. To show an abbreviation etc. e.g. Mr. B.B.C.
(shortening)
9. Hyphen - To join two words together to Take-away, full-time
make a compound word
10. Question At the end of a sentence How did this happen? Where is the
mark ? which asks a direct question Language Learning Centre?
11. Quotation a. To show that you are Brown (2009) says This indicates
marks (also using someone elses that the data should not be trusted.
called speech words Hello, she said.
marks or b. Around words actually
inverted spoken The Tempest is a play by William
commas) c. Around titles of books, Shakespeare
or films etc.
12. Semi-colon ; To link two sentences and He never took any exercise;
turn them into a single consequently he became very unfit.
sentence when a full stop The door burst open; a stranger
would be too abrupt walked in.

13. Period ( . ) a. To indicate the end of a Example: Here is the place.

declarative sentence
b. To indicate that letters are
used as abbreviations
c. To indicate decimal Example: Dr. Carle D. Reynolds
fractions

Example: 16.34
14. Three To indicate that a portion of Example: To receive, obey, and
Periods-- quoted matter is omitted pass on

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 Ellipses ()

15. Quotation To set off quoted matter Example: I saw it, he replied.
Marks (__ (including punctuation marks,
and __) usually. See a handbook for
details.)
16. Italics a. To indicate the titles of Example: I highly recommend The
books, plays, magazines, Technique of Clear Writing, by
long musical Robert Gunning.
compositions, works of
art, movies, and
television show series
b. To indicate use of foreign
words
c. To indicate that the writer Example: And there I was, en
is referring to a word dishabille.
rather than to the sense
that it conveys Examples: He mistook was for saw.
Can you spell precede?
17. Brackets [ ] To set off material inserted in Example: Audubon reports that if
a direct quotation there are not enough young to
balance deaths, the end of the
species [California condor] is
inevitable.
18. Slash ( / ) a. To indicate the end of a Example: Here with a Loaf of Bread
line of poetry beneath the Bough, / A Flash of
wine, a Book of verse and Thou
b. To set off phonemic Example: In French the /e/ is
transcriptions pronounced as /A/.
c. To separate paired terms
(use sparingly) Example: Example:pass/fail producer/director
pass/fail
producer/director
References :

Punctuation Skills Team, University of Hull

UHCL Writing Center.SSB 2015.281-283-2910.www.uchl.edu/writingcenter

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