A Rough Guide To Punctuation: The Learning Centre - HTTP://WWW - Lc.unsw - Edu.au

A Rough Guide to
Punctuation
The Learning Centre • http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au
Good punctuation is crucial for successful academic writing. Many students’ essays use little punctuation
beyond commas and full stops. But to be restricted to just two forms of punctuation mark, when writing
your essay, is like building a house using only a hammer and a saw: you can do it; but not very well. By
learning to use more, or all, of the available forms of punctuation you will be able to communicate and
express your ideas, and arguments, more clearly.
Full Stop (.) Examples:

Full stops have three distinct uses:
The cat is completely black.
1. To mark the end of a sentence
The teacher will be John Smith (B. Sci.).
2. To indicate abbreviated words (unless first and
last letters of the word are shown). All assignments should be submitted by 6. 6. 03.
3. To punctuate numbers and dates
Colon (:) Examples:

A colon can be used to indicate that a list, quotation Buy these things: a packet of peanuts, two loaves of bread and a kilogram
or summary is about to follow.
of steak.
A colon can also be used to separate an initial
sentence/clause from a second clause, list, phrase Writing an assignment is not easy: to begin with you have to do a lot of
or quotation that supports the first in a particular
research.
way.
The Television set, as the icon of the information age, represents the
realisation of a dream for humankind: that knowledge and experience can
be transmitted and shared across the boundaries of time and space.
Semicolon (;) Examples:

Separates two complete sentences that are closely To err is human; to forgive, divine.
linked. The semicolon can be replaced by a full stop,
but the direct link between the two parts is lost. Don’t go near the lions; they could bite you.
A semicolon also serves as a second level of
punctuation in a series of words or phrases which She came out of the house, which had a long drive, and saw the police
already have commas, making some internal officer at the end of the path; but instead of continuing towards him, she
divisions. hid until he left.
Apostrophe (‘) Examples:

There are two uses for the apostrophe: don’t (do not) It’ll (It will) she’ll (she will)
1. Contractions
A contraction is a shortened version of a word. An It’s too cold to go swimming today.
apostrophe is used to show that something has
I don’t think she’ll come to the party.
been left out, and where it has been left out.
2. Possessives the dog’s tail (belonging to a single dog)
An apostrophe is used to indicate ownership/
possession with nouns. To show ownership by a the women’s magazines
single individual, insert the apostrophe between the
boys’ football boots (belonging to more than one boy)
noun and the ‘s’. To show ownership by more than one
individual, use the apostrophe at the end of the word. Einstein’s theory of relativity
Be careful: It’s is the contraction of ‘it is’. It’s is not
a possessive (a possessive denotes ownership). The dog is chasing its own tail!
Question Mark (?) Example:
A question mark is used at the end of a sentence Have the students completed the exam?
which is a question.
Comma (,) Example:

Commas are used in longer sentences to separate When Australia celebrated its sesquicentenary in 1938, there was a little
information into readable units. A single comma
ensures correct reading of a sentence which starts of the confidence or enthusiasm of the centennial celebrations of 1888.
with a long introductory element.
Yet in representing ourselves to ourselves, as film and television do, these
Pairs of commas help in the middle of a sentence
media are constantly introducing and reinforcing the assumptions.
to set off any string of words which is either a
parenthesis, or in contrast, to whatever went before.
A set of commas is a means of separating items in The details required are name, date of birth, address and telephone number.
a list within a sentence.
The main divisions of the economy are agriculture, manufacturing, and service
Sometimes a comma is needed between the last
industries.
two items to ensure clarity.
Hyphen (-) Examples:

When used correctly, a hyphen links two or more Stonier’s post-industrial economy is a service economy.
words, that normally would not be placed together,
in order that they work as one idea and these are There are four types of information-related machines.
called compound nouns.
Dashes (—) Examples:

Hyphens are not the same as dashes. Dashes To the three divisions of the economy—agriculture, manufacturing, and service
are like brackets; they enclose extra information.
industries—Jones has added a fourth.
A colon and semi-colon would work just as well in
the example opposite. Dashes are rarely used in Have an orange—or would you prefer a banana?
academic writing.
Although often used in pairs, dashes can also be While the importance of sport to Pay TV is clear, the opposite perspective is
used singularly. less certain—the importance of Pay TV to sport.
Parentheses ( ) Example:
Parentheses are brackets used to include extra or It was unusual to see Paul awake so early (as he often studied late into
nonessential material in sentences. Parentheses
the night) and Jane greeted him with amazement.
should be used sparingly and always appear in
pairs. Larsen and Greene (1989) studied the effects of pollution in three major
In citation systems like Harvard, parentheses are cities.
used to include in-text references.
“Australia is a settler society” (Hudson & Bolton 1997, p. 9).
Exclamation Mark (!) Example

An exclamation mark is used at the end of a The police stormed in and arrested her!
sentence and indicates surprise, anger, or alarm.
Exclamation marks should be used very sparingly How disgraceful!
and are not often used in academic writing.
Ellipsis ( ... ) Example:

An ellipsis consists or three full stops. It indicates “But to be restricted to just two forms of punctuation mark ... is like building
that material have been left out of a quotation.
a house using only a hammer and a saw: you can do it; but not very
When quoting, it is sometimes necessary to leave
well.”
out words or lines for reasons of relevance or length.
Using an ellipsis makes any omissions known to
your reader.
Prepared by Prepared by Ian Collinson, Pam Mort & Tracey-Lee Downey for The Learning Centre, The University of New South Wales ©
2009. This guide may be distributed for educational purposes and adapted with proper acknowledgement.

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A Rough Guide to

Full Stop (.) Examples:

Colon (:) Examples:

Semicolon (;) Examples:

Apostrophe (‘) Examples:

Comma (,) Example:

Hyphen (-) Examples:

Dashes (—) Examples:

Exclamation Mark (!) Example

Ellipsis ( ... ) Example:

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