IAIN PURWOKERTO
Punctuation
&
Capitalization
Meeting 2
with Mrs. Desi Wijayanti Ma’rufah, M.Pd
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, the students will be
able to
apply appropriate
punctuation in
sentences;
use appropriate
capitalization in
sentences.
PUNCTUATIONS
You may possess good language skills and know how to express yourself in the
language but without the knowledge of punctuation marks, your skills,
especially written, is incomplete. A piece of writing which does include
punctuation marks is difficult to read as compared to a piece of writing which
carries proper punctuation marks at the right places.
(https://www.mbarendezvous.com/punctuation/)
PERIODS/FULL STOP SEMI COLONS EXCLAMATION MARK
1 4 8
(.) (;) (!)
2 COMMAS 5 COLONS 9 HYPEN
(,) (:) (-)
3
QUOTATION MARKS
6 APOSTROPHES 10 BRACKETS
(“….”) (’) ([…])
QUESTION MARK 11 PARENTHESES
7
(?) ( (…) )
British vs. American English
A PERIOD / A FULL STOP
The period (.) is placed at the end of declarative sentences,
statements thought to be complete and after many
abbreviations.
As a sentence ender
Jane and Jack went
to the market.
After an abbreviation
Her son, John Jones Jr., was born on Dec. 6,
2008.
COMMAS
1. Use a comma before these joining
words when you are constructing a
compound sentence.
2. Put a comma between items in a
series. I want to go _,_ but you
want to stay.
The sting of a bee, wasp, He died before she was
or hornet can cause a born _,_ so she never
severe reaction. knew him.
Soon the students will
return, the halls will be
buzzing, and the studying
will begin.
3. A comma goes after an introductory
expression or before an expression
that follows the sentence.
Well, I haven’t seen anyone
4.Put commas around the name of a yet.
person spoken to or addressed. When the time comes, we
will be ready.
Rick, bring that into the It’s tiring to go to school all
classroom. day, isn’t it?
I know, Jan, that you are
missing your family.
5. Put commas around an expression that
interrupts the flow of the sentence.
The facts, therefore, do
6. Put commas around non- not support your
essential material. argument.
I wish, however, that I
The students, who could go south for the
passed with flying weekend.
colours, headed to La
Cantina.
Cannery Row, a novel by
John Steinbeck, is a
favourite among English
Quotation Marks
1. to identify the exact words 2. to set off the titles of short
of the speaker works of writing
He said, “I am willing to go.” The article, “Does Money
As the wise one always says, Really Count?”
“Love heals all problems.” The song, “Isn’t it a Pity?”
Semicolons
1. to join two 2. Use between 3. Use between
independent items in a series
independent that contains
(stand-alone) statements linked internal
statements with a punctuation
which are transitional Strategies for
phrase or word staying healthy
closely related include eating well,
I am nervous to ensure proper
My daughter was nutrition; exercising
about the test; regularly, to
quite sick; I called
however, I know I maintain heart
the doctor right health; and living a
have prepared as balanced lifestyle,
away.
well as possible. to reduce stress.
Colons
Use a colon after an independent statement to
1 signal a list
He had several chores to do on Saturday: washing the car,
picking up groceries, and paying the bills.
Use a colon between independent statements if the
2 second one summarizes or explains the first.
The children were whining and fussing: it was well past their
bedtime.
Use a colon after the greeting in a formal letter, to
3 indicate hours and minutes, to show a ratio, or
between the title and subtitle of a book:
Dear Sir:
8:30 a.m.
The ratio of adults to children was 3:1.
Student Success: How to Thrive at University
Apostrophes
These punctuation marks are used in two situations:
a) in contractions b) to show ownership
A contraction results when two the jacket that belongs to Ruth
words are combined together Ruth’s jacket
to make one word. the books of the students
the students’ books
have + not = haven’t When a singular word or
I + will = I’ll name ends in “s”, just add an
who + is = who’s apostrophe after the “s” to
show possession.
CAN YOU GIVE James’ book
OTHER EXAMPLES? When a plural word ends in
“s”, show possession by
adding an apostrophe after
the “s”.
Question Mark
Used only after a direct BUT not used after an indirect
question. question.
To whom were you I was asking to whom
speaking? you were speaking.
He asked me, “Why are He wanted to know why I
you so early?” was so early.
Exclamation Mark
1. After exclamations. Help! Oh!
2. After commands. Listen please!
3. After interjections. Hooray! We’ve won!
4. After a phrase to give emphasis.
“I’m shattered!” said Sunita.
What a day!
Hyphen
A hyphen is used to join two or more words
together into a compound term and is not
separated by spaces.
part-time,
back-to-back,
well-known.
CAN YOU MENTION
OTHER EXAMPLES?
Brackets
Brackets are the squared off notations
([]) used for technical explanations or
to clarify meaning. If you remove the
information in the brackets, the
sentence will still make sense.
He [Mr. Jones] was the last person seen at the house.
Bill shook hands with [his son] Al.
Parentheses
Parentheses ( (…) ) are
curved notations used
to contain further
thoughts or qualifying
remarks. However,
parentheses can be
replaced by commas
without changing the
meaning in most
cases.
John and Jane (who were actually half brother and sister)
both have red hair.
CAPITALIZATIONS
We must use Capital letters in the
following situations:
1. The first word of
every sentence
2. The first word of
every direct
quotation
He said, “We’ve jogged two
miles.”
2. The first word of
every direct
quotation
He said, “We’ve jogged two
miles.”
3. The word/s in a
title
The Effectiveness of Using
Portfolio Assessment in Writing
Class
4. Proper names of
people, places,
languages, races and
nationalities
Desi Wijayanti M
Purwokerto
English
Javanese
Indonesian
5. A title of relationship if it takes the
place of the person’s name
If my (or similar word) is in front of
the word, a capital is not used
I think Mother wrote to her.
I think my mother wrote to her.
6. Names of particular people or
things, but not general ones.
I spoke to Professor Smith.
I spoke to the professor.
7. Names of months, days of the
week, and special days, but not
the seasons
February spring
First of July summer
Wednesday winter
Independence Day autumn
References
VIU Grammar and Punctuation Study Guide 3:
Capitalization and Punctuation, Vancouver Island
University.
https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what
/fourteen-punctuation-marks.html
https://www.really-learn-english.com/parentheses-
brackets-and-braces.html
Exercise
Please rewrite these sentences using appropriate punctuation and
capitalization.
1. i need some butter garlic onions and milk (4 corrections needed)
2. he left his daughters library book james and the giant peach in the
fruit shop (8 corrections needed)
3. They filmed cleopatra in Egypt (3 corrections)
4. why wasnt she happy to get the job (3 corrections)
5. jasmin chloe and harvinder are missing (5 corrections)
6. boys will be boys he said (5 corrections)
7. betting on the lottery which is popular in britain brings riches to
the few and some say poverty to the many (5 corrections)
8. She went to get a drink didnt she (3 corrections)
9. have you been to the dentist recently (2 corrections)
10. the womens cloakroom is on the right (3 corrections)
thank you!
