Grammar: Punctuation 2
Punctuation
What is this about?
Punctuation in English.
The use of proper punctuation often confuses the best.
Whereas putting a comma in the wrong spot is sometimes acceptable, some incorrect uses can not be forgiven.
The following guidelines might assist:
Punctuation in English © GFH Schmittinger 2012
Full Stop (.)
1. at the end of a sentence I am clever.
2. usually at the end of an abbreviation Mr. Jones, Main St.
Comma (,)
1. to separate clauses After I had eaten, I went home.
2. between separate items in a list Buy the following: apples, pears, bananas
3. in question tags You know him, don’t you?
4. before or after “she said” in conversations “I love it, ” she said.
5. in decimal fractions 55,7 litres of petrol
Question Mark (?)
At the end of a direct question. How did you do that?
Exclamation Mark (!)
At the end of a sentence to show surprise, shock I did it!
At the end of a command. Get out!
Hyphen (-)
1. to join words and some prefixes to form compound words air-conditioner, part-time
2.when a word is divided at the end of a sentence I went to the cine-ma
3. in some numbers twenty-seven, eighty-nine
Colon (:)
to introduce a list of items Buy the following: apples, pears, bananas
Semicolon (;)
to separate parts of a sentence when there is no conjunction We had a great time; then everyone went home.
Apostrophe (‘)
1. for missing letters in contractions let’s go (let us go), don’t do that (do not)
2. to indicate possession / ownership John’s girlfriend, Justin’s song
Quotation marks (“)
1. to show words someone has spoken She said:”Well done!”
2. to emphasise a slang expression Howdy?” : How do you do?
Brackets ()
1. for cross reference That is a fact (See chapter 9).
2. to supply more information / an extra thought Peter (that old rascal) did it again.
Look at the following texts and apply the proper punctuation:
ToDo
Register first!
My personal dictionary.
[ayspd_userpage]
Multiple Choice Q & A
Test yourself.
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