Lecture -05 CSE-3 Date: 23.01.

2024
PUNCTUATION :(period, comma, colon, semicolon, question mark, exclamatory mark,
apostrophe, quotation marks, hyphen, dash, parentheses, and brackets)
MECHANICS : (capitalization, italics, abbreviations, acronyms)

PUNCTUATIONS

WHY DO WE NEED PUNCTUATIONS?

The purpose of punctuation is to divide sentences and sentence segments to make the
meaning clear and unambiguous.

In scientific and technical writing, the most commonly used punctuations are

The Comma

The Semicolon

The Colon

The Full Stop or the Period

The Dash

Parentheses

Square Brackets

THE COMMA
 Use a comma after an introductory clause, to separate the clause from the main body of
the sentence.

 Although she spent many hours writing her lab report, she earned a low grade
because she forgot to answer two of the total number of questions.

 Use a comma between items in a series, including the last two.

 The boundary layer thickness is affected by the air velocity, the fluid viscosity, the
distance from the leading edge, the pressure gradient, the surface roughness, and the
freestream turbulence level.

 Use a comma after conjunctive adverbs such as however, therefore, moreover,

consequently, instead, nevertheless, similarly, subsequently, accordingly, finally etc.
 Instructors expect students to hand in their work on time; however, illness
and personal emergencies are acceptable excuses.
 Use a comma after transitional expressions such as for example, as a result, in
conclusion, on the contrary, on the other hand etc.

 She participates in many extracurricular activities. As a result, she rarely

gets enough sleep.

 Use a comma with ‘which’, but not with ‘that’.

 The student damaged the milling machine, which resulted in us replacing the
machine.
 The student damaged the milling machine so badly that it had to be replaced.

 Use a comma to insert a pause and avoid confusion.

 Incorrect: While the sample was heating the students set up a spreadsheet for their
data. (Sounds like the students were being heated up.)

 Correct: While the sample was heating, the students set up a spreadsheet for their
data. (Insert comma after ‘heating’.)

 Use a comma before and after parenthetical expressions that provide additional
information.
 Fluency in a foreign language, as we all know, requires years of instruction and
practice.

 Use a comma to connect two independent clauses that are joined by and, but, or,
nor, for, so, yet etc.

 Feel free to call me at home, but do not call after 8 p. m.

THE SEMICOLON

 Use a semicolon to insert a pause between two independent but closely-related

clauses not joined by a coordinating conjunction.
 Outstanding athletes use their time wisely; this trait makes them highly sought-
after by many employers.

 Use a semicolon to separate items in a series already separated by commas.

 Participating in sports has many advantages. First, you are doing something good
for your health; second, you enjoy the camaraderie of people having a common
interest; third, you learn discipline, which helps you make effective use of your
time.
THE COLON

 Use a colon to draw the attention of the reader to the words that follow, such as a
list.

 The college has the following accredited programmes: aeronautical engineering,

biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, environmental engineering,
mechanical engineering, and zymological engineering.

 Do not use a colon after the words are, consists of, such as, including, for example.

 Doctors encourage us to eat plenty of vegetables such as spinach, lettuce, carrot,

onions, and broccoli.

THE FULL STOP or THE PERIOD

 Use the period to end all sentences except questions and exclamations.

 Use the period for certain abbreviations such as e. g., Dr., Ms., B.Tech etc.

THE DASH

 Use a dash before and after parenthetical material; however, a dash is rarely used in
scientific and technical writing because it interrupts the flow of the sentence.

 The instruments she plays – oboe, guitar, and piano – are not traditionally used in
the marching band.

PARENTHESES

 Use parentheses to enclose supplemental material. However, it interrupts the flow.

 Human error (failure to read scales correctly; arithmetic errors; failure to correct
for latitude, elevation, and temperature; and failure to zero the barometer) was the main
reason for the unexpected results.

 Use parentheses to enclose references for citation.

 Atmospheric carbon dioxide increased at Mauna Loa from 2007 to 2012 (Figure
6.7).

 Friction coefficients in laminar flows are unaffected by surface roughness

(Schlichting, 2004).
SQUARE BRACKETS

 Use square brackets to add or correct a direct quote.

 The project manager of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory commented,

“Preparations for launching Curiosity [a robotic rover carrying scientific equipment
to Mars] are on track.”

 Use square brackets to add a parenthetical comment inside a higher level

parenthetical comment.

 Most engineering faculty members belong to an engineering professional society

(American Society of Mechanical Engineers [ASME], American Institute of Chemical
Engineers [AIChE], American Society of Civil Engineers [ASCE], among others).

MECHANICS OF TECHNICAL WRITING

CAPITALIZATION

1. Proper Nouns and Locations

 Capitalize the first letter of all proper names e.g. John, Mary
 Capitalize well-known names for a locatione.g.to indicate the location of a beach, the
first letters should be capitalized as in West Palm Beach.
 However, the direction in the phrase ‘drive west’ should not be capitalized.
2. Named places, roads, buildings, vehicles
 The first letters of famous buildings, streets, vehicles, tunnels, railroads, and other
manmade structures must be capitalized e.g. the name of the car ‘Ford Focus’, but
not the word ‘car’.
 Other examples: Pir Panjal Tunnel, Rajdhani Express etc.
3. People and their innovations
First letters of inventions and discoveries named after scientists must be capitalized e. g.
Alzheimer’s disease, Fahrenheit, Celsius, Kelvin etc..

ITALICS

1. Introducing the title of a book, story, newspaper, etc.

I watched an episode of Family Guy yesterday; the whole thing was a parody of The Da Vinci
Code.
2. Emphasizing a word.
I hate eating apples.
The word hate in italics expresses the emphasis on the aversion towards the action of eating
apples.
3. Sounds reproduced as words.
I heard my cat meooowww under the table and my dog grrrr in the backyard.
The sounds of the animals are italicised in order to show production of the sounds by them.
4. Introducing words from a different language.
Three pills are to be administered to the patient ante cibum.
Ante cibumis a Latin word which means ‘before meals’ as a medical term.

5. Physical quantities and mathematical constants.

Measures of quantity or mathematical constants are written in italics.
We measured the particle velocity, v, recorded in the experiment…
The constant v representing velocity is written in italics.

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations are shortened version of a phrase or a longer word e. g. the phrase ‘Request
for Proposal’ may be abbreviated as RFP.
Abbreviations are often used when a name or a phrase appears several times in a
document.
Words like ‘Dr.’ which stands for ‘doctor’ and ‘Oct’ for ‘October’ are also abbreviations.
NOTE: Abbreviations are different from contractions such as don’t, won’t, can’t, I’m etc.
Contractions are usually avoided in technical writing.

Abbreviate social titles (Ms., Mr.) and professional titles (Dr., Rev.).

In resumes and cover letters, do not abbreviate titles of degrees (e.g. write “Bachelor of
Science” in full).

Follow abbreviations with a period, except those of units of measure (“Mar.” for March;
“mm” for millimeter).

Do not abbreviate geographic names and countries i.e. write “Saint Cloud”, not “St. Cloud”;
“United States”, not “U.S.” (except in tables and figures).

Use the ampersand symbol (&) in company names if the companies themselves do so, but
do not use it in other writing.

Abbreviate city addresses that are part of street names (Central Street SW).

When presenting a references page, follow the conventions of abbreviation employed by

the citation system followed in your field. Many journals commonly use abbreviations
without periods in their references pages (e.g. “J” for Journal; “Am” for “American”).
ACRONYMS

Acronyms are shortened version of a longer phrase where the initial letters of the words are
extracted and capitalized to form a word e. g. . For example, the word, ‘NASA’ is an acronym
for National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
An acronym used for the first time should be enclosed within parentheses along side its full
form e.g.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is headquartered in Switzerland. The IOC
President is elected by secret ballot.

As subjects, acronyms should be treated as singulars, even when they stand for plurals;
therefore, they require a singular verb (“NIOSH is committed to . . .”).

Acronyms can be pluralized with the addition of a lowercase “s” (“three URLs”)

Acronyms can be made possessive with an apostrophe followed by a lowercase “s” (“the
DOD’s mandate”).

Acronyms are usually written in full capital letters (FORTRAN; NIOSH).

Some acronyms such as “scuba” and “radar,” are so common that they are not capitalized.

When an acronym must be preceded by “a” or “an” in a sentence, discern the opening
sound of the acronym rather than the acronym’s first letter i. e. write “a special boat unit,”
but “an SBU”.