Punctuation
Adapted from the English Handbook and Study Guide
Full stops .
• A full stop indicates the end of a sentence
• Remember to lock the door.
• Full stops can also be found after certain abbreviations
• Prof. or e.g.
• If the abbreviation ends on the same letter as the original word, there is no
full stop. Mister becomes Mr without a full stop.
Question marks ?
• Question marks occur at the end of a question.
• “When is Rihanna’s new album coming out?”
• Rhetorical questions end in question marks.
• Is the Pope Catholic?
Exclamation marks !
• Exclamation marks follow exclamations or interruptions.
• Ouch!
• I am so scared!
• They are used to accentuate and strengthen the tone of a sentiment.
• The parent yelled, “Turn the music down!”.
• They are used after sentences, phrases or words containing emotions
such as anger, fear, happiness, anxiety, shock and misery.
• “You suck!” shouted the angry fan.
Commas ,
• We use commas to separate words or phrases in a list.
• We bought books, pens, pencils and erasers for the new school year.
• Commas indicate where one phrase or clause ends and another
begins.
• Richard won his game of pool, to the dismay of his opponent.
• Additional information, that could have been inserted in brackets or
between dashes, may be separated from the rest of the sentence by a
comma or commas.
• Mr Horn, the principal, addressed the students.
Commas (cont.)
• We place commas before and after words such as however and
nevertheless.
• She was, however, late for her next class.
• Introductory words or phrases are separated from the rest of the
sentence with a comma.
• Once again, I was told to put my phone away.
Semi-colons ;
• The semi-colon is a long pause that balances two equally important,
related or parallel ideas.
• She went by train; she would rather have taken an Uber.
• It also indicates opposite ideas (antithesis).
• In summer he swims; in winter he skates.
• It joins two main clauses where there is no conjunction.
• She studied hard for her test; she had nothing to fear.
Colons :
• The colon indicates that a list, an explanation or an idea is following.
• Jerry needs to buy the following items: an exam pad, a calculator and a pen
for school.
• It introduces a quotation.
• The most common question from students is: “Why does there have to be
homework on a Friday?”
• In dialogues, a colon follows the speaker.
• Mr Mulder: Where is your History project?
Student: I still need to print it.
Quotation marks ‘ ’ or “ ”
• Quotation marks are used to indicate Direct Speech.
• Mr Muller said, “There will be no homework this weekend.”
• Quotation marks are used to quote someone else’s words.
• Martin Luther King said, “I have a dream!”
• Quotation marks are used to ‘excuse’ oneself for using slang or
foreign words.
• The bus is used for ‘schlepping’ the students around.
• Quotation marks indicate metaphoric usage.
• I am the ‘baby’ of the family.
[Link] (Joey)
Brackets ( )
• When something is written in brackets, it is usually an explanation, an
aside or some additional information.
• The Chihuahua (the smallest dog in the world) can fit into a teacup.
• It is often possible to use commas or dashes instead of brackets. This
is called parenthesis.
• The chihuahua, the smallest dog in the world, can fit into a teacup.
• The chihuahua – the smallest dog in the world – can fit into a teacup.
Hyphen -
• A hyphen links prefixes to words, or links two words in order to form
compound words.
• Anti-dandruff shampoo
• Pre-school
• It helps to differentiate meanings.
• She had to re-make the garment.
The remake of Robin Hood is average.
• Words that cannot be completed on one line are linked to the next
line with a hyphen.
Dash –
• A dash serves a similar purpose to a comma, colon or a semi-colon. It
separates parts of a sentence and forces us to pause.
• There’s more to school than a syllabus – friendships are gained along the way.
• In order to give additional information the dash can be used in the
same way as commas or brackets.
• Next week we are going to Port Elizabeth – the Windy City.
• It separates a comment or afterthought from the rest of the sentence.
• The teacher couldn’t see my phone – or so I thought!
• It creates a dramatic pause, leading to a climax or anti-climax.
• I ran to class and then I remembered – there was an exam that day!
Apostrophe ’
• Shows POSSESSION in nouns
The dog’s bowl. The dogs’ bowls.
The children’s toys. The ladies’ hats
• Stands in place of letters that are omitted in a CONTRACTION
I’m sorry I can’t help you today.
I don’t think that it’s going to rain today.
Ellipsis …
• Indicates omissions in quoted material
“This is was … wholly unexpected”. (The Kite Runner)
• Indicates that speech trails off or an idea is unfinished
“I don’t really know… I wish I had listened more carefully!”
• Creates a pause to build tension
The winner of the Oscarfor Best Actor is … Tom Hanks.
Work as a class to punctuate this passage.
[Link]
[Link] Punctuation Rules Basic
a simple tv advertisement for a razor has created great debate and gone viral online
the ad simply shows women shaving real body hair from their body this seems to
be an everyday occurrence and nothing to write home about nothing revolutionary
normal tv ad fare however it is the first time that an advert has been shown on us
tv showing the shaving of actual body hair for decades razor companies have aired
ads showing women shaving already totally smooth airbrushed legs and armpits
there is never a hair in sight in these commercials it seems as though the ad
companies want to promote the falsehood that women have hairless bodies the
new ad by the razor brand billie has rectified this
billies ad is the first commercial in 100 years of advertising that has shown women
to have body hair all previous ads had shown women to be hairless billie showed
women shaving off hair from toes armpits between their eyebrows and on their
stomachs billie cofounder georgina gooley told glamour magazine that she was
shocked at how razor companies had previously portrayed women to have picture
perfect bodies she criticized the companies saying when brands pretend that all
women have hairless bodies its a version of body shaming its saying you should feel
ashamed of having body hair she added shaving is a personal choice and no one
should be telling women what to do with their hair