Punctuation

Apostrophe

An apostrophe is a versatile punctuation mark. It may stand for deleted letters, as in a contraction, or it may be a way to show ownership, as in a possessive, and it may look identical to a single quotation mark.

Example:

1. The school’s principal couldn’t come to the concert.

2. Wasn’t watching the puppy chasing its tail fun?

Colon

The colon is one of the most versatile of the punctuation marks. It can join clauses, introduce lists, separate minutes from hours, and denote a chapter and verse number. While it has many worthwhile uses, it also gets confused with its “little brother," the semicolon.

1. Our school play will begin at eight forty-five p.m.

2. Baseball practice is over every afternoon at four thirty.

Comma

Besides the period, the comma may be the most used punctuation mark in English. It may also be the most misunderstood. While a comma often denotes a pause, it may also clarify the meaning of words, as in coordinating adjectives.

Examples:-

1. It’s important to write in clear, simple, accurate words.

2. They were friendlier, more talkative, more open than last time we met them.

Hyphen

A hyphen might be considered word “glue." It will join two words to make a compound word, such as one-way street. It may also connect a prefix with a root word to create a new one, such as post-war. A hyphen also signals a split word at the end of a line.

Hyphens play an important role in writing numbers. Almost all numbers from 21 through 99 have a hyphen when they are written as a word. Only numbers that end in a zero do not have a hyphen.

Example:

1. Thirty-seven

2. Post-war

Dashes

Dashes are more common in informal writing. They can be used in similar ways to commas or semi-colons. Both single and multiple dashes may be used:

1. Our teacher – who often gets cross when we’re late – wasn’t cross at all. No one could believe it!

2. Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening – we really enjoyed it.

Brackets

Brackets have a similar function to dashes. They often add extra, non-essential information:

1. Thriplow (pronounced ‘Triplow’) is a small village in the eastern part of England.

• We use brackets around dates and page numbers in academic writing:

1. Heaton (1978) gives a convincing explanation of how hurricanes are formed (pages 27–32).

Slashes

We often use forward slashes in internet addresses and to indicate and/or in academic references:

Let’s Revise

1. Punctuations are a helping aid in understanding and the correct reading, both silently and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts.
2. There are a number of punctuation marks in English Language but we have discussed the most common ones:-

• Apostrophe: - It stands for deleted letters, as in a contraction, or it may be a way to show ownership, as in a possessive, and it may look identical to a single quotation mark.
• Colon: - It can join clauses, introduce lists, separate minutes from hours, and denote a chapter and verse number.
• Comma: - It can be confused with a period. While a comma often denotes a pause, it may also clarify the meaning of words, as in coordinating adjectives.
• Hyphen: - It will join two words to make a compound word, such as one-way street. It may also connect a prefix with a root word to create a new one, such as post-war. A hyphen also signals a split word at the end of a line.
• Brackets: - Brackets are used to add extra, non-essential information
• Slashes: - Slashes are often used in internet addresses and to indicate and/or in academic references.