Punctuation
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The document provides a detailed overview of punctuation usage, explaining the specific roles of various punctuation marks, including apostrophes, commas, hyphens, semi-colons, and colons. It highlights common mistakes and emphasizes the importance of correct punctuation in clarifying meaning and ensuring grammatical accuracy. The content also includes examples to illustrate proper usage and the impact of punctuation on sentence structure and interpretation.
![ In order not to misuse commas when dividing
sentences, you need to recognise a complete,
grammatical sentence.
A common mistake is to link 2 complete
sentences with just a comma. This is known as
comma splice.
Example:
The children had never been away from home
before, they were scared and tired.
[The children had never been away from home
before], [they were scared and tired].
19](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/punctuation-170505100444/85/Punctuation-19-320.jpg)
Punctuation
- 1. WISER 1
- 2. Along with grammar and spelling, punctuation helps clarify meaning and enhances ‘fluent’ reading. Each punctuation mark has specific a job (or jobs) to do. If it is not doing a specific job, don’t use it. 2
- 3. There are various punctuation marks but many have just one job to do, for instance: ! an exclamation ? a question “ ” ‘ ’ speech . the end of a sentence Others are more complex and these are the ones we will focus on here. 3
- 4. 2 uses: 1) Show possession (i.e. belonging to) the dog’s dinner 2) Show omission it isn’t cool (i.e. missing letters) It is not used to show plural (i.e. more than one) 4
- 5. 5 Examples of misuse. No apostrophe needed. •taxis •pies, pasties & sandwiches •drinks, thanks
- 6. 6 No need for an apostrophe here. •Some bananas •Some plums
- 7. the dog’s dinner = the dinner of the dog the dogs’ dinner = the dinner of the dogs Note: children’s people’s 7
- 9. 5 o’clock = 5 of the clock Let’s go = let us go We no longer ever write the full form in these cases. In most cases, it depends on the style and purpose of writing whether we write the full form or contracted (short) form. The full form is generally used in formal writing. Therefore, in academic writing we tend to use the full form. 9
- 10. Note what the missing word is. Isn’t = is not Hasn’t = has not It’s been good = It has been good It’s being mended = It is being mended 10
- 11. It’s or its? Who’s or whose? ALWAYS It’s = it is who’s = who is (omission) Its, whose - THINK: his, hers, theirs, ours, its and whose. (possession) Examples: It’s a wonderful life. Who’s the daddy? Each moment of the year has its own beauty. Whose life is it anyway? 11
- 12. Commas help divide up information in a sentence into meaningful units. Main uses: ◦ Lists ◦ Indicating extra information which can change meaning of the sentence which ‘re-names’ 12
- 13. Examples: He got figures from books, academic journals, websites or the business press. This is a thorough, well-organised, well- presented and interesting report. He spell-checked the essay, printed it off, and submitted it to his tutor. Note the use of and and or before the final item in the list. 13
- 14. Commas also divide up strings of adjectives Examples: It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world. An itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, polka-dot bikini. The difficult, dangerous, and expensive journey home was unforgettable. 14
- 15. a) The students who are lazy will fail their exams. All the lazy students, but not the others, will fail. b) The students, who are lazy, will fail their exams. All students will fail. They are all lazy. Which students will fail? All? Just the lazy ones? 15
- 16. a) The trade unions which oppose the government’s plans will organise a demonstration. a) No – only those who oppose the plans. b) The trade unions, which oppose the government’s plans, will organise a demonstration. b) Maybe not all but we do not know which ones specifically. All the trade unions oppose the plans. Will all trade unions organise demonstrations? 16
- 17. Examples: Gordon Brown, former Prime-Minister, yesterday said that ... Bronte’s first novel, Jane Eyre, was swiftly followed by her best novel, Villette. Mr X, Chief Executive of the NHS, claims that .. The Scilly Isles, a group of islands off the tip of Cornwall, are very beautiful. 17
- 18. Note each of these sentences is grammatical and therefore reads sensibly without the information within commas: Gordon Brown, former Prime-Minister, yesterday said that ... Gordon Brown yesterday said that... The commas are here acting like brackets. Unlike the previous examples, the presence or absence of commas will not change the meaning. In these cases they simply clarify. 18
- 19. In order not to misuse commas when dividing sentences, you need to recognise a complete, grammatical sentence. A common mistake is to link 2 complete sentences with just a comma. This is known as comma splice. Example: The children had never been away from home before, they were scared and tired. [The children had never been away from home before], [they were scared and tired]. 19
- 20. Start a new sentence. The children had never been away from home before. They were scared and tired. Link with a semi-colon The children had never been away from home before; they were scared and tired. Use a linking word The children had never been away from home before and they were scared and tired. 20
- 21. Keeping track of the central sentence, onto which extra information is being added, helps to ensure the sentence is grammatical and to decide how to divide up these extra chunks with commas. Before this person retired, he would work away for weeks at a time, where there was no alcohol and when he came home he consumed large amounts of alcoholic drinks at the weekends, consuming far more than the average daily allowance of recommended alcohol. 21
- 22. Hyphens link words to show the resulting new meaning Examples: The student-centred approach to teaching ◦ not a student approach, not a centred approach An evidence-based argument. 22
- 23. He swallowed six inch nails Or He swallowed six-inch nails 23
- 24. Extra can have 2 meanings: Extra = more ◦ e.g. I did not want the extra work. Extra = outside of ◦ e.g. I enjoyed the extra-curricular activities on the course. 24
- 25. In the the 2 previous cases did you notice the hyphen? An omitted hyphen in many cases may not make too much difference because of the context. In some cases, however, the placing of the hyphen will make a noticeable difference to meaning, as in the use of extra since it has 2 meanings: 25
- 26. Letter in Amnesty Magazine Nov/Dec 2009 ‘Apologies for seeming facetious about a serious issue (but it did make us laugh) and double apologies for being pedantic, but I doubt very much that anyone in the Maldives has ever been flogged for extra marital sex. In fact most religions (and it is probably religion behind this punishment) condone extra marital sex, even when one of the parties doesn’t want it – though they are usually amazingly censorious and punitive about extra-marital sex’. From Marilyn Mason, Kingston Upon Thames 26
- 27. The semi-colon has 2 main uses: Linking 2 sentences In complex lists 27
- 28. Examples: Some of the programs are very user-friendly; others are more difficult to learn. This workshop is about punctuation; last week’s was about grammar. Think of two arms of a balance. On each side of the semi-colon (the pivot) there needs to be a complete sentence. 28
- 29. The lecturer did not show the diagram; the students obviously understood. Compare: The lecturer did not show the diagram. The students obviously understood. The lecturer did not show the diagram, as the students obviously understood. All are correct ways to express this. 29
- 30. A number of suspects had been held, including Roger Hunt, the husband of the deceased, Ruth Ellis, his wife’s best friend, Jane Osborne, his former girlfriend, and Hugh Thomas, an old family friend. How many people are involved here? 7? 4? Anything in between? Is Jane Osborne his wife’s best friend or she his old girlfriend? What is everyone’s relationship to the deceased? 30
- 31. A number of suspects had been held: Roger Hunt, the husband of the deceased; Ruth Ellis, his wife’s best friend; Jane Osborne, his former girlfriend; and Hugh Thomas, an old family friend. Now there is no ambiguity. Only 4 people were held. 31
- 32. Do not overuse the semi-colon. Do not confuse it with a comma. They have very different jobs to do. Do not confuse it with a colon (: ) which introduces a list (see next slide). 32
- 33. Don’t confuse the semi-colon with a colon. A colon is for: introducing a list e.g. Several people visited: the priest, the doctor, his boss and the children. acting rather like an equals sign e.g. Britain is facing a huge problem: no-one can spell! (Note: here, you could substitute namely or i.e. in the place of the colon). 33
- 34. Any feedback on the usefulness (or otherwise) of this material would be warmly welcomed. Please contact me: Tania Horák Thorak@uclan.ac.uk or Ext 3055 (01772 893055) 34
Editor's Notes
- #2: Designed as self-access material for students. You can try the quiz to begin with to see what you know and then focus on problem areas.
- #3: Apologies if this is simplistic – do not want to insult pps’ intelligence but tried to reduce any linguistic terminology. A little is included to help when using grammar reference books in future, if necessary.
- #6: Examples of misuse of apostrophes to indicate plural (more than 1) Examples all around us – meaning is clear – so does it matter? In academic writing clarity is everything – avoid any chance of a mis-reading – and show your knowledge of English. Check elsewhere for plural spelling of words ending in ‘y’ and sh /ch / tch.
- #7: Grocers’ plural! Widely seen – not to be copied.
- #8: Demonstrates adding ‘s or only ‘ to word depending on whether it is singular or plural
- #9: possession
- #10: 1) Some fixed expression – not used without the apostrophe anymore 2) Generally we can choose however . Formal <-> informal Aka contractions 3) Note: various words can be shortened – most commonly: is and has
- #11: If you think about the words which are missing, it may help to act as a reminder that an apostrophe is needed.
- #13: Other uses but most common
- #14: Note and before final item
- #18: Similar to the previous examples. Commonly used. Check: Does the sentence remain Ok if you take out the bit in commas? Up your sleeve: also known as appositives 2nd e.g from Peak & Coyle p28
- #22: Underline are cores of 2 sentences linked by and. Other material is extra and has commas around to show this
- #24: From Peck & Coyle p85 A matter of forming an adjectival phrase Cf A nineteeth-century manor house is for sale. The nineteenth century witnessed much change.
- #25: Letter in Amnesty Magazine Nov/Dec 2009 ‘Apologies for seeming facetious about a serious issue (but it did make us laugh) and double apologies for being pedantic, but I doubt very much that anyone in the Maldives has ever been flogged for extra marital sex. In fact most religions (and it is probably religion behind this punishment) condone extra marital sex, even when one of the parties doesn’t want it – though they are usually amazingly censorious and punitive about extra-marital sex’. Marilyn Mason, Kingston Upon Thames
- #26: Re-sign or resign? cf. sports journalism
- #29: Examples from or adapted from Peak & Coyle p144
- #30: As covered above for comma splice correction.
- #31: Examples from Peck & Coyle.