PUNCTUATION

The word Punctuation is derived from the Latin word

‘Punctum’ which means the right use of putting in
Points or Stops in writing.

PUNCTUATION SYMBOLS:

THE FIVE PRINCIPLE : THE SIX SUPPLEMENT

SYMBOLS: SYMBOLS:

1. Comma ( , ) 1. Exclamation ( ! )
2. Semi-colon ( ; ) 2. Parentheses [()]
3. Colon ( : ) 3. Apostrophe ( ' )
4. Period ( . ) 4. Quotation Mark ( "" )
5. Question Mark ( ? ) 5. Dash ( _ )
6. Hyphen ( - )
1. COMMA ( , )
The comma brings a pause or interruption to the flow of
thought in a sentence.
USAGES:
1. Set off nouns of direct address:
Ex:- My bosom friend, I am glade to see you.
3. Use comma after dependent clause:
Ex:- By the time she came to class, I had finished my lecture.
Ex: - After he washed the clothes, I gave him a candy.
4. Use comma to set off non-restrictive clause:
Ex:- Naveed, who is his brother, is very cute.
Ex: - Afghanistan, which is our country, is very beautiful.
5. Use comma before coordinating conjunctions. Which are
( and, or, nor, but, etc )
Ex: You are my friend, but student.
Ex: She enjoys playing tennis, and I enjoy drawing maps.
6. Use comma to set off adverbs and adverb phrases at the
beginning:
Ex:- They would, in bad condition, ask their friends to
help them.
Ex:- At the airport, every one should get the passport
checked before departure.
7. Use comma to set off items from the list:
Ex: She purchased a computer, bike, calculator, and a
mobile phone.

8. To indicate the omission of a word, especially a verb; as,

Ex: Rashid received an English book; Waheed, a watch.
Ex: She was Shaheen; he, Waleed.
Ex: He will succeed; you, never.
2. SEMI-COLON ( ; )
Semi-colon is stronger than a comma, but weaker than a full
stop.
USAGE:
1. Use semi-colon to connect two independent clauses which are
not Joined by coordinating conjunction:
Ex: She heard a strange voice of something; I went to see what it
was.
3. COLON ( : ) Colon was formerly used to denote pauses
in very long sentences, but now with short sentences too.
USAGE:
1. To mark the relationship between two sentences too closely
connected in thought to justify a full stop.
Ex: Javid will be coming today: be sure to let me know as
soon he arrives.
2. Use a colon to introduce a list of items that ends a sentence:
Ex: My brother went to supermarket to buy the followings:
A pair of shoes, a mobile phone, and an English book.
3. Use a colon to separate the hour and minute in an expression of
time:
Ex: Meeting starts at 03:30 pm tomorrow.
4. Use colon after salutation of greeting of a business letter:
Ex: Dear Sir: Ex: To whom it may concern:
4. PERIOD ( . ) In British English it is called full stop.
USAGE:
1. Use period after declarative sentence:
Ex: We should nurture talent to our people.
2. Use period between or after abbreviations:
Ex: Dr. Mr. Prof. U.S.A. Eng.

5. QUESTION MARK ( ? ) Like inverted commas the

question mark is concerned with direct speech and is rarely
used in business wiring.
1. Use question mark after a direct question:
Ex: Are your after professor in university?
6. Exclamation Mark ( ! ):
Exclamation mark is rarely used in business writing. They
denote surprise or some other emotions and business letters
concerned with facts, not with emotions.
USAGE:
1. Use exclamation mark at the end of exclamatory sentence.
Ex: What an excellent tennis player!
2. Use exclamation mark at the end of interjections:
Ex: Oh! My father came.
Ex: Ouch! You stepped on my foot.
7. PARENTHESIS [( )]:
Parenthesis is an “aside “in the form of an explanation or other
additional information, inserted into a sentence that is logically
and grammatically complete without it.
USAGE:
Use a set of parenthesis to enclose explanatory
remarks, statements or expressions that are not
directly connected with sentence:
Ex: Abdurrahman Khan (famous by Rehman Baba)

is a popular poet.
8. APOSTROPHE ( ‘ )
The apostrophe or raised comma is used as following:
USAGE:
1. To mark omitted letters:
Ex: O’ clock (of the clock)
2. To signify ownership or possession:
Ex: The Company’s manager is retired.
3. To give possessive from to certain words that are not in fact
possessive:
Ex: Naveed’s car is broken down.
Ex: That is Abdullah’s house.
9. QUOTATION MARK ( “ ”) :
The quotation marks are called inverted commas; they can be either single or
double. ( ‘’ ) ( “” )
USAGE:
1. To mark direct speech:
Ex: Khan said, “I am muscle man.”
2. To mark tillers of books, names of ships, etc:
Ex: “The Soldiers of God”
3. To mark words and phrases used in a special sense:
Ex: Because of talking a lot she is called “Grouchy”.
10 . DASH ( ---) :
Beside its usage as an alternative to parenthesis the dash (a longer hyphen) is
used to bring together several subjects belong to the same verb:
USAGE:
1. Use dash when thought is suddenly changed:
Ex: I know not how it is – but, the first look of the building.
10 . HYPHENE ( - ) : The primary function of hyphen or
short dash is to join two or more words to make one with a
meaning of its own, but not all authorities are agreed upon what
is correct usage.
1. To indicate that the last part of the word is in next page:
Ex: We went to Afghan-
istan last year.
2. Use hyphen to form compound words:
Ex: Mother-in-law.
Ex: Clear-cut.
Ex: Fifty-nine.
3. Use hyphen to join two or more words together:
Ex: The office needed up-o- date scores.
Ex: The repair involved a six-inch pipe.
4. Use hyphen between words and the prefixes self, all, and ex:
Ex: co-author. Ex: Pro-afghan.
Ex: T-shirt. Ex: Self-supporting.
Ex: Anti-abortion.
5. Use hyphen to avoid ambiguity:
Ex: Re-creation. Ex: Re-cover.
Ex: Co-op.
6. To join numbers from 21 to 99.
Ex: Thirty-six. Ex: Ninety-nine.
Ex: Sixty-six.
7. To form compound adjectives:
Ex: World-wide. Ex: Break-even chart.
Ex: A four-door car.