Punctuation

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Observe the difference in the following

Woman, without her man, is nothing – (Importance of men)

Woman: without her, man is nothing – (Importance of women)

Common Punctuation Marks:

•Full stop or Period (.)
•Comma (,)
•Semicolon (;)
•Colon (:)
•Quotation marks (“ __”, ‘__’)
•Question mark (?)
•Exclamation mark (!)
•Brackets ( ) [ ] {}
•Apostrophe (’)
•Hyphen (-)
•Dash (–) (—)
•Slash (/)
•Ellipsis (. . . )

Full Stop or Period:

The Full Stop (.) are used:

1.To mark the end of a sentence that is a complete statement e.g. My name’s Mark.
2.In some abbreviations, for example etc., Dec., or p.m.
If the abbreviation ends the sentence, no additional full stop is required

e.g. I am going to settle in Washington, D.C.

If the abbreviation appears at the end of a question, a question mark must be followed,

e.g. Are you going to settle in D.C.?

Comma
The Comma (,) is used to mark a slight break between different parts of a sentence

1.In lists of nouns, verbs, adjectives, phrases etc. – e.g. My breakfast is eggs, bacon, and porridge.
2.In direct speech – e.g. She said to me, “ I love you.”
3.To separate clauses – e.g. I know what I want, and what they want.
4.To mark off certain parts of a sentence – e.g. Mary, my wife, is an artist.
5.To introduce a participial phrase – e.g. Walking down the road, I saw a baby crying
6.To introduce tag questions – e.g. She will come here, won’t she?
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It is the comma used before the conjunction ‘and’

When is it necessary and when it is not:

I want three fruits: an apple, a pear and an orange – (The comma is not needed before ‘and’)
However,
I want the following: a beer, some crisps, pork and vegetable pies – (Is it pork, and vegetable pies?)
A book dedication: “To my parents, Cindy Crawford and God – (Whose child are you?)

Semicolon
The Semicolon (;) is used to mark a break that is stronger than a comma but not as final as a full stop.

For example:

1.To separate the closely related independent clauses

E.g. The railway line runs through a beautiful, wooded valley; the river follows it.

2.To organise an exceptionally descriptive list

e.g. We invited the following members: Ron Howard, Professor of English; David Abbott, Professor of
Physics; Jenny McCarthy, Professor of History; Sue Lynn, Professor of Psychology

Semicolon and Conjunctions

The Semicolon is used before all conjunctions in English except FANBOYS

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

FANBOYS are always preceded by the comma, and not the semicolon

For example:

I am not present in the room, however, my methods are. – (Incorrect)

I am not present in the room; however, my methods are. – (Correct)

I am not present in the room; but my methods are. – (Incorrect)

I am not present in the room, but my methods are. – (Correct – ‘But’ is a FANBOYS conjunction)

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Colon
The Colon (:) is used in the following ways:

1.Between two main clauses in cases where the second clause explains or follows from the first
e.g. It wasn’t easy: to begin with, I had to find the right paper.

2. To introduce a list

e.g. The kit includes the following: a pen, a notepad, and an apple.

3.Before a quotation, and sometimes before direct speech:

He shouted: “The next time I stand up here, I will have answers to these questions.”

Quotation Marks
Quotation Marks are of 2 types:

A.Double quotation marks (“__”)

B.Single Quotation marks (‘___’)
1.Double Quotation marks indicate the beginning and end of direct speech
e.g. “Is that all?”, he asked.

2.Single Quotation marks are used to mark off a word or phrase that’s being discussed, or that’s being
directly quoted from somewhere else
e.g. She calls it ‘the memory of trees.’

Some writers use Single Quotation marks (Instead of Double) to introduce direct speech,

and Double Quotation marks (Instead of Single) to mark off words

This is considered acceptable as per British English

If one quote is introduced within another, the ‘inside’ quote must appear in quotation marks different
from those of the ‘outside’ one

For example:

He said, “She said, ‘I do not agree to the plan.’ ” – (Correct – As per American English)

He said, ‘She said, “I do not agree to the plan.” ’ – (Also correct – As per British English)

Question Mark
The Question mark (?) is used to introduce the following:
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2.To introduce tag questions e.g. He is here, isn’t he?
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DO NOT use question marks before indirect questions

For example:

Where was he? – (Correct – A Direct question)

I wondered where he was? – (Incorrect – An Indirect question)

I wondered where he was. (Correct – An indirect question ends with a full stop)

Exclamation mark
The Exclamation mark (!) is used to end sentences that express an exclamation, such as
Emphatic expressions of surprise and astonishment
e.g. Yay! We won! – (Surprise)

Expression of sarcastic statements

e.g. What a lovely day! – (When it is a particularly bad day)

DO NOT use the Exclamation Mark with the Question Mark

She is coming here?! – (Incorrect)
She is coming here! (Correct)
Is she coming here? (Also correct)

Brackets
Brackets are of 3 kinds: Round ( ), Curly { }, and Square [ ]

Round brackets, also called Parentheses, give additional information

e.g. Mount Everest (8,848 meters) is a tough climb.

Curly Brackets also known as Braces introduce equal choices

e.g. choose a colour {red, white, blue, pink} to paint the wall.

Square brackets can be used for clarification if the original sentence includes a noun or pronoun that is
unclear
e.g. She said, “He [the police officer] can’t prove they did it.”

Apostrophe
The Apostrophe (’) is used to indicate the following:

Possession – e.g. Ben’s daughter

Contraction – e.g. I’m over it! (Instead of ‘I am’)

A possessive form is spelled with ‘s at the end – e.g. Claire’s friend

This rule applies in cases even with a name ending in s – e.g. James’s friend
A plural noun which already ends in s takes only a following apostrophe – e.g. The ladies’ room
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Hyphen
The Hyphen (-) is used in the following ways:

To link words and parts of words e.g. well-known, good-looking

To clarify the meaning intended e.g. recovering and re-covering
To express compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine
To express a written fraction – between the numerator and the denominator e.g. Two-thirds
To express a number forming an adjectival compound e.g. I am going on a 3-week holiday

Dashes
Dashes (-) (–) are used in the following ways:

To add parenthetical statements/comments e.g. All of them – John, Greg, and Jean – passed the exam.
To create emphasis in a sentence e.g. The wine – it was French – complemented the main course
To create breaks in thought and shifts in tone e.g. He can look at a map for hours – it fascinates him!

There are two kinds of dashes

The En dash (-) that has the same width as that of the letter ‘n’
The Em dash (–) that has the same width as that of the letter ‘m’

The Difference between the En Dash and the Em Dash

The En Dash (-) is used to make space between the following:

A chronological range e.g. J. Krishnamurti (1895-1986) was a highly original thinker.

Clock hours e.g. 6:30-8:30 PM
Numbers and letters in an indexing scheme e.g. Please check the exhibit 12-C

The Em Dash (–) is used everywhere else – primarily substituting commas, parentheses, and colons.
However, the Em Dash is always more emphatic than these three punctuation marks.

Slash
The Slash (/) also known as Solidus is used the following ways:

The word substitute for ‘or’ which indicates a choice (often mutually-exclusive)
e.g. He/She may be able to do it.

In place of the Latin preposition  ‘cum’

e.g. His office/study room (Same as ‘His office-cum-study room’)

Substitute for the En Dash

e.g. The London/Croydon train leaves at 5 (Same as ‘London-Croydon’ train)

Ellipsis
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The Ellipsis
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Each full stop should have a single space on either side,
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except when adjacent to a quotation mark, in which case there should be no space

For example:
If only you were there . . . It doesn’t matter anymore. – (without adjacent quotation marks)
‘Well! I mean…’ – (with adjacent quotation marks – No spaces before or after the full stops)
I work with a newspaper writer, and my wife works with a magazine – (Correct but repetitive)
I work with a newspaper, and my wife, with a magazine – (Shortened with an Elliptical Comma)

Previous Year Questions on Punctuation Marks

Q1. What Punctuation Does the following Sentence Require?
Part of Australia is known to the natives as The Outback.

Hyphen
Comma
Semicolon
Inverted commas

(SNAP 2009)

Q2. What Punctuation Does the following Sentence Require?

I know that you want to learn to drive Rima but you are too young
Semicolon
Hyphen
Inverted commas
Comma

(SNAP 2009)

Q3. Identify the Grammatically Correct and Appropriate Sentence(s) – CAT 2007

A. When I returned to home, I began to read

B. everything I could get my hand on about Israel.
C. That same year Israel’s Jewish Agency sent
D. a Shaliach a sort of recruiter to Minneapolis.
E. I became one of his most active devotees.
(1) C & E
(2) C only
(3) E only
(4) B, C & E
(5) C, D & E

Q4. Choose the one which is correctly punctuated? – XAT 2007

1. Last Sunday, we went canoeing on the Brahmaputra river. You could see eagles high in the trees
above us.
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