Liceo Navarra

2022
Punctuation Marks

1. Place periods, commas, apostrophes, and capital letters where they are needed in the following paragraph.

If youre a tourist heading to southern California youre probably on your way to an amusement or theme park
but dont overlook a third possibility: mission san juan Capistrano it is part of a chain of historic missions -21 in
all- that stretches from san diego to san Francisco

for some people the missions represent the high point of Spanish civilization in North America for others, they
serve as a painful reminder of the days when Spaniards forced thousands of native Americans to build these
missions work in the fields and change their religious beliefs today the missions have become one of californias
main tourist attractions and they are an important link to californias multicultural past

COMMAS BETWEEN INDEPENDENT CLAUSES

To form a compound sentence, insert a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, nor, for, but, so,
yet) between two independent clauses.

Chinese invented origami.

Japanese perfected the art.

Chinese invented origami, but Japanese perfected the art.

Exercise: Create new compound sentences by combining information from the sentences listed below. use a
comma and a coordinating conjunction between the independent clauses. Use and, but, and so. You may edit
the original sentences needed.

Medieval knights were trained to fight on horseback.

They could also fight hand to hand

overlords gave knights land for their services

some knights retired as wealthy men

knights were famous for using swords and shields

they also wielded maces, lances, and blattle-axes

some knights were crusaders

they devoted their lives to religious quests

COMMAS IN A SERIES AND TO SEPARATE EQUAL ADJECTIVES

Playing golf requires you to drive the ball off a tee, hit it onto the green, and putt it into the hole. ( the commas
separate a series of verb phrases)

Golf is an interesting, challenging game. ( the comma separates two equal adjectives: interesting and
challenging)

Exercise: Insert commas where they are needed.

Example: Golf courses have many different hazards, including trees , roughs , water, and sand traps.

1. The world’s most famous and most difficult courses are Saint Andrews in Scotland Augusta National in Georgia
and Pebble Beach in California.

2. Prestigious tournaments take place at these beautiful challenging courses.

3. the top four tournaments in men’s golf are the PGA the Masters the U.S. Open and the British Open.

4. The top four women’s events are the duMauruer Classic in Canada the U.S. Women’s Open the LPGA and the
Dinah Shore Tournament.

5. Talented experienced golfers can drive a ball more than 250 yards reach the green in two strokes and finish
the hole with a single putt

COMMAS AFTER INTRODUCTORY PHRASES AND CLAUSES

A comma is used to separate and introductory phrase or clause from the rest of the sentence; it is also used to
set off items in a date.

Perhaps best known for his theory describing pressure within a fluid, the great mathematician Blaise Pascal was
born on June 19, 1623, in France.

Before he was 12 years old, Blaise Pascal had mastered the works of earlier mathematicians.

Exercise: insert commas where they are needed in the sentences below

1. When he was only 24 years old Pascal developed serious health problems and moved to Paris.

2. while living in paris he became interested in probability theory.

3. After experimenting with probability in many different ways he developed Pascal´s triangle.

4. In Pascal’s triangle the rows of numbers are designed so that each number is the sum of the two numbers
above it.

5. Continuing his work in the field of physics Pascal produced the principle called Pascal’s Law.
SEMICOLONS TO JOIN INDEPENDENT CLAUSES

Semicolons may be used to connect closely related sentences or independent clauses, sometimes with
conjunctive adverbs.

Conjunctive Adverbs:

accordingly additionally also anyway besides certainly comparatively

consequently conversely elsewhere equally finally further furthermore
hence henceforth however in addition in comparison in contrast incidentally indeed
instead likewise meanwhile moreover namely nevertheless next
nonetheless now otherwise rather similarly still subsequently then
thereafter therefore thus undoubtedly yet

Example: Brazil is a vast country. It is almost as big as the United States.

Brazil is a vast country; almost as big as the United States.

Exercise: Join the following pairs of sentences using either a semicolon alone or a semicolon with a conjunctive
adverb.

1. Spanish is spoken throughout much of South America. The official language of Brazil is Portuguese

2. Brazil is the largest country in South America. it occupies almost half the continent.

3. Brazil is a most popular country. it has more inhabitants than all the other South American countries
combined.

4. The Amazon, the earth’s largest river, flows through Brazil. it carries more water than any other river.

5. One of Brazil’s greatest resources is the rain forest. it is quickly disappearing.

SEMICOLONS TO SEPARATE WORD GROUPS CONTAINING COMMAS.

Semicolons separate groups of words (within a sentence) that already contains commas. The items in each
group must be related.

Example:Things found in the woods: animals, plants, rocks

While in the woods, I saw chipmunks, deer, and rabbits; ferns, mushrooms, and ivy; quartz, granite, and
sandstone rocks.

Exercise: Write sentences that include lists of the items below. use semicolons to punctuate each sentence.

1. Favourite foods: fruits, vegetables, cheeses

2. Things in your rooms: books, clothes, shoes

3. Places you’ve been (or want to visit): towns or cities, national parks, other countries