Punctuation marks in English with examples
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Introduction
Different punctuation marks
Punctuation marks in English with examples
Let us start our online education to
learn perfect English language. Punctuation
is the very common and important basic element in any language. In English
grammar also punctuation marks play vital role and gives the proper meaning to
the language. They are the secret ingredient of the language. This secret
ingredient makes your dish of text tasty and healthy.
While preparing the sentence
punctuation marks are as important as the salt in any dish. Without punctuation
marks the language in any text can create the chaos in readers mind. There will
be more confusion in the text.
Let’s see in detail how to use punctuation
marks in English.
The word punctuation is derived from
the Latin punctum, a point. Means
right use of the putting in points or stops in writing. Following are the
principal stops. Or main punctuation marks.
1. Full stop or period (.)
2. Comma (,)
3. Semicolon (;)
4. Colon (:)
5. Question mark (?)
6. Exclamation mark (!)
Other marks in common use areas
following
1.Dash - 2. Slash
3. Parentheses () 4. Inverted
commas or Quotation Marks “ .
1. Full stop
The full stop represents the big
pause. It shows the separation of two sentences.
It is use at the end of declarative
sentence, negative sentence or imperative sentence. It is an indication of the completion of
sentence.
It is also used as dot in website or
emails.
For example
Full stops can be used in
abbreviation. But sometimes they are omitted in British English.
For example
I. MA or M.A.
II. PM or P.M.
II. USA or U.S.A.
2. Comma
The comma is the shortest pause and
used for many purposes.
It can separate a series of words in
the same sentence. it is used to separate two sentences with a little pause.
While addressing the people, to separate
noun and phrase, before and after word , phrases, or clauses, to separate short
co-ordinate clause, while marking quotations, before certain
co-coordinative conjunctions etc.
2. Semicolon
The semicolon indicates the pause of
greater importance than that shown by Comma.
I. It is used to separate the clause
of a compound sentence, when they contain comma;
for example
The king was a kind, brave man: and
we all respect him
II. it is used to separate series of loosely
related clause.
For example
She is divine: her mind is clean.
3. Colon
It often precedes explanation, a
list, or to introduce quoted sentence. It is utilized to introduce a list ….
For example,
These are the parts of speech: noun,
verb, pronoun, adverb, adjective, conjunctions, interjection, and preposition.
The word preceding the colon stands
as a complete. It used to join two independent clauses or group of words that
contains subject and predicate. It is also used to introduce a quote, to
express a time.
4. Question mark
It’s very simple question mark is
used after the question. When there is any direct question instead of full stop
question mark is used.
For example
Are you attending your online
classes regularly?
What is your name?
But question mark is not used after
indirect question. Such as,
Ask him why he went.
Tell me what your answer is.
5. Exclamation mark
It is used after exclamatory
sentence. When one is expressing the strong feeling or emotions then there is
use of this exclamation mark. Later than
the interjection also this exclamation mark is necessary.
For example
1, Hurray! We won the match.
2. Oh! Is the dog dead?
3. Bravo! Well hit!
6. Inverted commas
This inverted comma is used to
enclose the exact words of the speaker. This is used in direct speech. When
somebody is speaking directly in the text that words are enclosed in the
inverted comma.
For example,
1. Nick said, “I don’t want to come
with you.”
2. Stephen said “I have a
headache”
The above two sentences have double
inverted comma. When we write the speaker’s exact words we should use double
inverted comma. This is also known as Quotation marks. This is always used in
pair. (“ “). This is never seen in
single.
But when we want to show any special
word or sentence in the text or article it should be put in single inverted comma.
It is also used in title placed inside another quotation.
For example,
1. Sunny is a good boy. In this
sentence the word ‘good’ is an adjective.
{Special word is indicated by single inverted comma.}
2. The teacher asked “How many of
you have visited to ‘The Taj Mahal’? {Title inside the quotation}
7. Hyphen
This is shorter than dash. . It is
used to connect the parts of a compound word. It links two or more words
together into a compound term and is not separated by space. For example,
Time-table, black-board, jack-of-all- trades, Mother- In-law,
father-in-law etc.
8. Dash
Outwardly the dash is just a
vertical line. But it indicates the separate two words in the sentence. Some
times to show an abrupt pause or change of thought.
For example,
We would have gone there –but how
can we go without any vehicle?
This dash has two general types.
I. en dash
II. em dash
I. en dash : this is twice long as a hyphen, the en dash
is a symbol. This is used in writing or printing to point out a range,
relations or differentiations.
For example,
Mumbai- local train; 1800-020385642
II. em dash it is longer than en
dash. It is used instead of comma, parenthesis or colon. This helps to enhance
the readability or show the conclusion of a sentence.
For example,
Teachers shouted at him —go!
9. Parentheses
Parenthesis is used to separate from
the main part of the sentence a phrase or clause which does not grammatically
belong to.
For example,
1. She obtained from heaven (‘t was
all her wished) a friend.
Brackets are squared off notations
used for technical explanation or to clarify meaning. If you remove the
information from the bracket the sentence will not change its meaning.
For example’
1. Rita (my best friend) will arrive
within an hour.
Braces are used to enclose more
information. It contains two or more lines of text or listed items to show that
they are single unit. They are mostly used in computer programming or
mathematical expressions.
For example,
2b - {23+67} =90
10. Apostrophe
I.It is used to show the omission of
the letter or letters from word.
For example,
Don’t ; I’m; we’ll etc.
II. In possessive cases of nouns
such as,
The children’s toys are broken.
III. In form of plural of letters
and figures; such as,
Dot the i’s and the p’s [plural of
letters]
Add one 6’s and subtract five 2’s
[plural of numbers/figures]
11. Capital letters
This is used to begin the sentence.
Any sentence should be start with
capital letter. This is the one of the rule in making sentence.
II. First letter of all proper nouns
and adjectives derived from them; such as,
Rajesh, India, Delhi, English,
Sunday etc.
III. Write pronoun ‘I’ always capital and
interjection ‘o’
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punctuation marks. Hope this information is helpful and useful. Please do visit
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