What Are the Punctuation Marks in English Grammar?
Knowing where and
when to use the punctuation marks can greatly improve your writing skills.
The punctuation marks
commonly used in English are -They
are the full stop, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe and quotation mark..
Sentence
Endings
Three of the punctuation marks are appropriate for use as sentence endings. They are the period, question mark, and exclamation
point.
The period (.) is
placed at the end of declarative sentences, statements thought to be complete
and after many abbreviations.
For example:
• As a
sentence ender: Jane and Jack went to the market .
Use a question
mark (?) to indicate a direct question when placed at the end of a sentence.
For example: When did Jane leave for the market ?
The exclamation
point/mark (!) is used when a person wants to express a sudden outcry or add
emphasis.
1. Within dialogue: “Holy cow!” screamed Jane.
2. To emphasize a
point: My mother-in-law's rants make me furious !
Comma,
Semicolon and Colon
The comma, semicolon and colon are often misused
because they all can indicate a pause in a series.
The comma is used
to show a separation of ideas or elements within the structure of a sentence.
Additionally, it is used in letter writing after the salutation and closing.
•
Separating elements within sentences: Suzi wanted the black , green , and
blue shoes.
• Letter
Salutations: Dear Uncle John ,
•
Separation of two complete sentences: We went to the movies , and we went to the
beach.
The semicolon (;)
is used to connect independent clauses. It shows a closer relationship between
the clauses than a period would show. For example: John was hurt ; he
knew she only said it to upset him.
A colon (:) has
two main uses:
·
The first is after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation,
an example, or a series. It is also often used after the salutation of a
business letter.
·
The second is within time expressions. Within time, it is used to
separate out the hour and minute: 12 : 15 p.m.
Dash and the
Hyphen
Two kinds of
dashes are used throughout written communications. They are the endash and the emdash. An endash is
a symbol (-) that is used in writing or printing to connect numbers or to
connect elements of a compound adjective, such as 1880 - 1945 or Princeton - New
York trains.
However, the
emdash has more complicated grammatical use. The symbol of is used to:
·
Indicate a break in thought or sentence structure
·
Introduce a phrase added for emphasis, definition, or explanation
·
Separate two clauses
Use it in the
following manner: We only wanted to get two birds - but the clerk talked us
into four pregnant parakeets.
A hyphen (-) is
the same symbol as the endash. However, it has slightly different usage rules.
A hyphen is used between
the parts of a compound word or name or between the syllables of a word,
especially when divided at the end of a line of text.
Examples of this
in use include:
• Between a
compound name: Mrs. Smith - Reynolds
• Within a
compound word: back - to - back
.
Apostrophe AND
Quotation Marks
The final two
punctuation forms in English grammar are the apostrophe, quotation marks and
ellipses. Unlike previously mentioned grammatical marks, they are not related
to one another in any form.
An apostrophe (')
is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the
possessive case, or the plurals of lowercase letters.
Examples of the
apostrophe in use include:
• Omission
of letters from a word: An issue of nat'l importance.
• Possesive
case: Sara's
dog bites.
• Plural
for lowercase letters: Six people were told to mind their p's and q's. It
should be noted that, according to Purdue University, some teachers and editors
enlarge the scope of the use of apostrophe, and prefer their use on symbols
(&'s), numbers (7's) and capitalized letters (Q&A's), even though they
are not necessary.
Quotations marks
( “” ) are a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and
end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word. They are
also used to indicate meanings and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of
a word.
Single quotation
marks (') are used most frequently for quotes within quotes.
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