PUNCTUATION

With Syeda Rifa Anjum

 Why is Punctuation Important?

 The purpose of punctuation is to clarify

the meaning of the text by linking or
separating words, phrases, or clauses.
 The placement of punctuation is critical
as it can entirely change the meaning of a
sentence.
 That sentence can have different
meanings depending on
punctuation!
• “A woman, without her
man, is nothing.”
• “A woman, without her,
man is nothing.”
 List of Punctuation Marks
● Full Stop .
● Question Mark ?
● Commas ,
● Colon :
● Semi-Colon ;
● Exclamation Mark !
● Capitalization
 Terminal Punctuation

• ‘Terminal’ means the end, so terminal punctuation

marks are what we use to end a sentence.

• There are three of these: the period or the full stop,

the exclamation mark, and the question mark.
 Full Stop
• This mark is called the period in American English, and
it’s called the full stop in British English.
Rule 1. Use a full-stop at the end of a complete sentence
that is a statement.
Example: I know him very well.
Rule 2. If the last item in the sentence is an abbreviation
that ends in a full stop, do not follow it with another.
Correct: This is Mr. Harry Jim, S.D.
Incorrect: This is Mr. Harry Jim, S.D..
 Here are some examples:

• “I teach English.”
• “We had pizza for dinner last night.”
• “If it rains tomorrow, I’ll bring my umbrella.”
• “Please don’t feed the animals.”
• You might see this on a sign in a zoo.
• “Let me know what time your flight arrives.”
 Exclamation Mark

Rule 1. Use an exclamation mark to show

emotion, emphasis, disbelief or surprise.
Examples:
I am truly surprised to see you here!
Rule 2. Avoid using an exclamation mark in
formal writing.
 Have a look at these two
sentences:
• Both of them mean the same thing.
• The first sentence, which ends in a period, has no special feeling or
emotion; it’s
• like saying “I’m really excited about my new job.”
• Doesn’t sound like I’m very excited, does it?
• That’s why we use the exclamation mark: “I’m really excited
about my new job!”
• – it tells our reader to read the sentence with emotion – in this
sentence, the emotion
is excitement.
 Question Mark
Use a question mark only after a direct
question.

Correct: Will you join the party with me?

Incorrect: He asked if I would join the
party with him?
 Practice

Add periods or full stops, exclamation marks and

question marks where necessary:
• The sun rises in the east It sets in the west
• I’m going to the market Do you want to come
along
• We will get in touch with you when we have a
job opening
• Why are you still here I told you to get out
 Answers

Add periods or full stops, exclamation marks and

question marks where necessary:
• The sun rises in the east. It sets in the west.
• I’m going to the market. Do you want to come
along?
• We will get in touch with you when we have a
job opening.
• Why are you still here? I told you to get out!
 Pauses

• There are, again, three marks that fall

under this category: the comma, the
semicolon, and the colon.
• These are called pauses because they are
used to tell the reader to stop briefly (for
a moment), and then continue reading.
 Comma
Rule 1. Use a comma to separate words or items in a list.
Example: I have bought fruits, juices, snacks and vegetables from the
supermarket.
• Notice how when we read the sentence, we naturally pause after each
item in the list – “milk, eggs, flour, and sugar”.
• The job of the commas is to show these pauses.
Rule 2. Use a comma to introduce or interrupt direct quotations.
Examples:
He said, "I don't drive."
"Why" I asked, "don't you drive?"
Rule 3. Use a comma in sentences where two independent
clauses are joined by conjunctions such as and, or, but, etc. Place
a comma at the end of the first clause.
Correct: Sara studied really hard, and she secured the 1st
position.
Incorrect: Sara studied really hard and she secured the 1st
position. (Comma splice)
When Sara gets back home, she watches TV for an hour.
“They’ve never been to Vietnam, so they’re going there on
vacation this year.”
• Essential relative clause: no comma
• That lady is the scientist who won the Nobel Prize in
Physics this year.
• Non-essential relative clause: separate with one (end) or
two commas (middle)
• People love to celebrate New Year's Eve, which is the
last day of the year.
• My friend Oliver, whom you met at the party, just got a
job at Apple.
 Rule 4. Use a comma to introduce the natural pause in a
sentence. Omission or inclusion of comma can change
the whole meaning of a sentence.
Example: A woman, without her man is nothing.
(Meaning: woman is nothing if she does not have her
man.)
Example: A woman, without her, man is nothing.
(Meaning: man is nothing without a woman.)
• Rule 5. Another use of the comma is to separate words that are not
part of the sentence.
• Example: “Unfortunately, he missed his flight.”
• Here, the main sentence is “He missed his flight.”
• The word “unfortunately” is an extra – it just expresses my
opinion about the sentence.
• Words like “frankly”, “hopefully”, “sadly” etc. are some more
examples.
• “Frankly, I don’t care whether she agrees with my decision or not.”
• Rule 6. to separate linking words or conjunctive adverbs
like however, therefore, for example, in fact, of course
etc. These words connect one sentence to another
sentence.
• Here are some examples: “Her parents wanted her to be
a doctor. However, she had other plans.”
• “Her parents wanted her to be a doctor. She, however,
had other plans.”
• “Her parents wanted her to be a doctor. She had other
plans, however.”
• Rule 7. Another form of extra information is forms of
address, like names: “Emma, can you come here and
help me with this?”
• The words sir or madam are also forms of address: “Sir,
please have a seat.”
• “Ma’am, can I get you something to drink?” Notice the
commas after the name and after “sir” and “ma’am.”
Should you put a comma at the end?

• An important point about formal letters

and emails.
• In the salutation, that is, in the greeting,
we use “Dear” or we say Dear sir,
• Dear madam, or Dear sir or madam or
the name of a person like Dear John
• In British English, you should always put a comma at
the end. E.g. Dear Sir,
• In American English, a colon should be used instead.
E.g. Dear Sir:
• In the closing, the most common formal expressions are
“Yours faithfully”, “Yours sincerely” and “Yours truly”
(which is a little less formal).
• But after all of these, you must always put a comma.
• This is true for both American and British English.
 Add commas where necessary:
• 1. Unless you finish your vegetables you can't have any cake.
• 2. She was out looking for her dog all night but she couldn't find
him.
• 3. The top three websites in the world are Google YouTube and
Facebook.
• 4. People who live a sedentary lifestyle are at increased risk of
heart disease.
• 5. The cheetah who can reach speeds up to 120 km/h is the fastest
land animal in the world.
• 6. The popular movie star had a car accident last night.
Thankfully he escaped with few minor injuries.
 Answers
• 1. Unless you finish your vegetables, you can't have any cake.
• 2. She was out looking for her dog all night, but she couldn't find him.
• 3. The top three websites in the world are Google, YouTube, and
Facebook.
• 4. People who live a sedentary lifestyle are at increased risk of heart
disease.
• 5. The cheetah who can reach speeds up to 120 km/h, is the fastest
land animal in the world.
• 6 The popular movie star had a car accident last night. Thankfully, he
escaped with few minor injuries.
 Colon
A colon means "that is to say" or "here's what I mean.”
It has one purpose: to introduce information after an independent clause.
Rule 1. Use a colon to represent an item or a series of items. Do not
capitalize the first item after the colon (unless it's a proper noun).
• Example “Danny’s seafood restaurant specializes in four items: prawn,
shrimp, crab, and lobster.”
• Rule 2. The information that comes after the colon can also be a clause
rather than list items.
Example: He got what he worked for: he really earned that promotion.
Example: “Let me make this very clear: if you fail another test, I’m taking
away all your video games.
• In all of these examples, just notice that before the
colon, there is an independent clause or a complete
sentence.
• But notice what happens when we rewrite the first
sentence like this: “Danny’s seafood restaurant
specializes in prawn, shrimp, crab, and lobster.”
• Now, we cannot use a colon after ‘in’ because “Danny’s
seafood restaurant specializes in”, is not a full,
complete sentence – it’s not an independent clause.
 Find the difference

• “Whenever you drive, you must do

the following: wear your seat belt,
obey traffic laws, and keep your eyes
on the road.”
• “Whenever you drive, you must wear
your seat belt, obey traffic laws, and
keep your eyes on the road.”
 Semicolon
Like commas, semicolons indicate an audible pause—slightly
longer than a comma, but shorter than a full stop.
Rule 1: Use a semicolon to divide sentences into longer
parts so as to produce a balance between the parts of a
sentence.
Example: Call me tomorrow; you can give me an answer
then.

Rule 2: It is used to combine two closely related sentences.

• Example:“I went to see a movie with my wife.
• I thought it was amazing. She thought it was terrible.”
• These two sentences are very closely related – “I thought it was amazing”
(that’s my opinion); “she thought it was terrible” – that’s her opinion.
• So, instead of ending a sentence and starting a new one, we can do two things:
• “I thought it was amazing, but she thought it was terrible”.
• Or we can just use a semicolon – “I thought it was amazing; she thought it
was terrible”.
• So, we have combined the two clauses into a single sentence without a
conjunction.
 Note:

• “This is a great book. In fact, it is one of the best I

have ever read.”
• “This is a great book; in fact, it is one of the best I
have ever read.”

• The meaning is still the same, but the

semicolon makes the clauses look more
connected.
Add commas, semicolons, and
colons where necessary:
• 1. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are very wealthy however they still live
a simple life.
• 2. There are two major issues facing our city today worsening
poverty and increasing violent crime.
• 3. You don't have to eat the pudding if you don't like it.
• 4. The most important principle in business is this respect your
customers.
• 5. Each student learns in a different way. The teacher therefore
must include activities that cater to various learning styles.
 Answers
• 1. Mr. and Mrs. Jones are very wealthy; however, they still
live a simple life.
• 2. There are two major issues facing our city today:
worsening poverty and increasing violent crime.
• 3. You don't have to eat the pudding if you don't like it.
• 4. The most important principle in business is this: respect
your customers.
• 5. Each student learns in a different way. The teacher,
therefore, must include activities that cater to various
learning styles.
 Capitalization Rules
Capitalization is the writing of a word with its first letter
in uppercase and the remaining letters in lowercase.

Rule 1. Capitalize the first letter of a document and the

first letter after a full stop.
Rule 2. Capitalize proper nouns.
e.g., Quaid-e-Azam
Allama Iqbal
 When to Use Capital Letters?
● Brand names
● Companies
● Days of the week and months of the year
● Historical episodes and eras
● Holidays
● Institutions
● Planets
● Races, nationalities, and tribes
● Religions
 Reference List

Pictures on slide 1
Punctuation Mark Cartoon Characters.
(2014).EDCHAT.Retrived from
https://edchat.net/resources/punctuation-mark-cartoon-characte
rs-uk-version.171/
Information on slides adapted from :
FREE Online English Usage Rules. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11,
2022, from https://www.grammarbook.com/