Professional Documents
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Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts & Sciences Translation and Interpreting (German Language)
Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts & Sciences Translation and Interpreting (German Language)
Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts & Sciences Translation and Interpreting (German Language)
It has always been a challenging task to use punctuation marks correctly. Both in English and
Turkish we have similar problems about using punctuation in the right way. In academic
letters or in professional, it doesn’t matter where, wrongly using punctuation marks may seem
unprofessional and indecent. It takes practice to master them. It might seem easy at first
glance, but when writing a professional letter it is likely to make a mistake since there are a
lots of marks that you need to keep an eye on.
In my article, I have tried to show when, where and how to use punctuations marks in English
and in Turkish as mentioned in the title. In some of them I’ve experienced difficulties on
finding diffences. Nonetheless, at most I’d shown what is different and what is not and I tried
to list the situations to use that punctuation mark. This article may not be the most thorough
but it contains short and useful info about the punctuation marks in both languages. To make
myself clear, I didn’t use some situations in some marks, it is because I found them to be
excessive. The lists in this article are made out of points that I found to be the most useful.
Same in English, full stop in Turkish can be used quite widely. To end declarative
sentences, after titles, after some abbreviations and as a decimal point are the some spots that
a full stop can be used in Turkish as in English. Since it is a whole different language with an
opposite structure to English, obivously, there are some other situations that you will be using
full stop, now let’s take a look at them:
a. It is used in writing dates, between day, month and year
E.g. : 22.7.2022, 19.05.1919
2- A. Using comma
We use comma in ft hem show where to pause when reading, therefore we can surely say
that a comma is an important element of a sentence. Besides this importance, there are some
other situations where a comma helps us. I’ll explaining these situations not only in English
but also in Turkish.
a. It is used to separate a series of words
E.g. : First I went tot he supermarket, bank, city center and barber.
c. It is used after some certain words that may start the sentence
E.g. : Sure, you can sit with us. No, I don’t want you to go there.
A colon usually declares an element or elements in a sentence, both in Turkish and English.
Just like in every other punctuation mark there are some other occasions that we should use
colon. Not a lot maybe, but there is some and I will be showing you that some. Let us see
what we got:
In Turkish the usage of colon is nearly the same with English. I would be wrong if I say that
there aren’t some differences, still I’ll be showing the occasions in Turkish.
a. It is used when giving an example
E.g. : Bazı farklı yazı türleri vardır: Hikaye, şiir, roman.
(EN: There are some different types of writings: Story, poem, novel.)
7- A. Using semicolon
The semicolon is mainly used to join two independent clauses without using a conjunction
like and. Therefore it plays a huge role as a punctuation mark. When used properly it can
make a huge difference in the sentence. Enough exaggaretion, let us get right into the
examples.
8- A. Using dash
Dash is a punctuation mark used to separate a word from an independent clause. It is not
over with this. Dash itself separates to two different types. We will be handling both of
them. First the ‘’en dash’’.
B- A. Using diagonal/slash
The slash has several uses in English. It is mostly avoided in formal writing. It may
not be used oftenly as the other punctuation marks but when necessary it is for your
own good to use it. Also as a quick tip, you can never use backslash instead of a slash.
Let us see the areas we can use slash:
a. It is used as ‘’per’’
CONCLUSION
I have come to the conclusion: When, where or how you use a punctuation mark might differ
in Turkish and English but from a wider perspective I realized that every mark we use in both
language serve to the same aim and that aim is to make your letter more decent, more
effective and most importantly more clear. Even though from time to time we suffer from
those marks, both as English and Turkish speaking communities, we must get better and
better at punctuation. It is not a subject to underestimate. On the contrary every one of us
should be extra careful and sensitive about the right usage of punctuation marks in every-
except informal- letter. These little marks could be a life-saver in many situations. Don’t
forget to use them when you should.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
https://www.thoughtco.com
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/
www.anadilim.org
https://www.tdk.gov.tr
https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/index.html
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com
https://www.ef.com/wwen/
https://www.englishreservoir.com
https://www.englishclub.com
https://7esl.com
https://www.lexico.com/grammar