ADEKUNLE AJASIN UNIVERSITY

TACCOED CAMPUS

COMMUNICATION IN ENGLISH
GST 111

WITH ADEQUATE EXAMPLES, EXPLAIN THE

FUNCTIONS OF PUNCTUATION MARKS

OSONAIKE ADURAGBEMI ANUOLUWAPO

IFJ/200720069

LECTURER: MR CHUKWUKA ODO

 EXORDIUM

Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written
language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.

In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. For

example, "woman, without her man, is nothing" (emphasizing the importance of men)
and "woman: without her, man is nothing" (emphasizing the importance of women)
have greatly different meanings, as do "eats shoots and leaves" (to mean "consumes
plant growths") and "eats, shoots and leaves" (to mean "eats firstly, fires a weapon
secondly, and leaves the scene thirdly").

The rules of punctuation vary with language, location, register and time and are
constantly evolving. Certain aspects of punctuation are stylistic and are thus the
author's (or editor's) choice.

How many Punctuation Marks are there in the English Language?

The English Language has fourteen different punctuation marks. The correct use of
the punctuation mark makes it easy for the reader to understand your writing and
provides professionalism. In this article, we have broken down each punctuation
mark. It will help you understand the usage in a better way.
There are five categories in which you can divide punctuation marks.
 Punctuation marks at the end of the sentence: exclamation point, question mark,
and period.
 Semicolon, colon, and comma
 Hyphen and Dash
 Parentheses, braces, brackets
 Ellipsis, quotation marks, apostrophe
Every category has its objective in the text of the sentence. Yes, you will find a
few differences in the punctuation styles of British and American English. Our
primary goal is to stress upon the example rather than finding minor differences.
Let us analyze every punctuation mark and its correct implementation.

 Exclamation Point (!)

If you like to add an intense emotion, the exclamation mark or exclamation point
needs to be incorporated while ending the sentence. The expression may be
 different things such as joy, anger, disgust, excitement, or anything else. The whole
objective of the exclamation point is to make the sentence carry some emphasis.
The examples to use exclamation points are:
 I am thrilled to watch a match in the stadium tomorrow!
 Hurray, I got what I always deserved!
 Question Mark (?)
A question mark gets placed at the end of the sentence. However, the sentences
come to an end by asking a direct question. Usually, sentences that form questions
start with who, why, where, how, and what.
The following sentence will have a question mark
 What is your name?
 Where are you working?
 Period (.)
Period (.) is perhaps very simple. It is also known as a full stop. Putting a period at
the end of the sentence means a complete sentence. The period makes the sentence
declarative and conclusive.
The following sentence represent period (.) in a sentence
 I took my dog for a walk.
Periods are used in titles and names as abbreviations. Such as below
 Dr. Jones examined his patient.
 Mr. Smith was waiting for you in the corridor.
 Semicolon (;)
Semicolon acts as a link between two self-standing clauses. But the clauses in the
case of semicolons have some relation. For instance
 I need to sleep early; I have a flight to catch tomorrow morning.
Both clauses are self-standing and are complete sentences. But rather than making
use of a period, you can bring in the semicolon between the clauses to connect
them.
You can use a semicolon in a list that has commas such as below
 During our holidays last year, we explored Athens, Greece; Rome, Italy; Paris,
France; London, England.
 Colon (:)
A colon gets used in three different ways. The colon helps introduction, something
like a series, an example, a quote, or an explanation.
 He conducted five classes in the previous semester: economics, arts, biology,
history, and music.
A colon comes in handy for linking two independent clauses. The second clause
usually completes or throws light on the first one. Let us look at the example.
 There was heavy traffic: it made me miss my flight.
Also, if you want to emphasize the subject in your sentence, using a colon is a
great idea.
 I am not a lover of only one vegetable: bitter gourd.
 Comma (,)
For pausing a sentence, commas are essential. The goal of the pause may be for
various reasons, like to bifurcate phrases, ideas. Or also to bring in structural
changes in a sentence.
Commas have other uses also. Commas also get used for addressing directly, like
 Smith, it is always great to meet you.
You can use commas for separating two out-and-out sentences.
 Johnny went to play a football match, then to his music classes.
Commas get incorporated in the sentence for listing out items.
 Maria went shopping and bought a pair of pants and shoes, two shirts, and a dress.
Usually, commas are punctuation points that get misused. It often leads to comma
splice. A comma splice occurs on joining two self-standing sentences using a
comma, whereas the conjunction is required. Let us take an example.
 It is time for the party, I am not ready.
In place of a comma, the sentence needs to be as follows
 It is time for the party and I am not ready.
 Hyphen (-)
Hyphen is different from the dash. Mostly in compound words, a hyphen is used. It
also comes into use when there is a relation between two or more words. Below are
a few examples.
 Ex-Girlfriend
 Father-in-law
 Little-by-little
 Dash (-)
Dash is of two kinds that vary according to the use and size.
En dash: The length of the en dash is short. It gets used for denoting a range or
can be used between dates and numbers. The example will make it clear.
 The company was active from 2000-2010
 He boarded the New York-Chicago train last evening.
Em dash: The length of the em dash is long. It is generally used, in place of
punctuation marks such as parentheses, colons, or commas.
 His response was straightforward — Yes!
 Parentheses (( ))
You can use Parentheses to furnish more information or details or even as an aside.
Commas get used in place of parentheses without changing the meaning of the
sentence. Let us see the example:
 Stanley (husband of Julia) prefers going to the gym regularly.
 Braces ({ })
Braces will come into use only when you write technical or mathematical text. It is
always better to know to avoid using Braces in place of parentheses and brackets.
Let us see the usage of Braces.
 5{4x+[30+4]}= xy
 Brackets ([ ])
Brackets provide clarification of something or an explanation of technical terms. It
gives clarity to the subject while quoting text or another person. Let us see
examples.
 He [Mr. Stephen] believes that education is crucial for everyone.
 Eve said that “[winter] is the best season of the year.”
 Ellipsis (…)
An ellipsis represents the usage of three periods together to omit letters or words.
Ellipsis is usually used to skip one phrase or sentence to another while ignoring the
obvious or unnecessary words. You can also use an ellipsis to quote someone and
leave unnecessary words.
An example of Ellipsis is
 The match is about to start at the count of ten: “ten, nine, eight, seven…” and here
we have players on the ground.
 Quotation Marks (“)
For denoting speech, text, or words said by somebody, quotation marks need to be
used. They also get used to indicating dialogues.
 “I am not aware of this,” said Peter.
Single Quotation marks (‘ ’) typically get used for a quote inside a quote.
 Jack told his father, “Jim is going to the market too, ‘buy fruits and vegetables’ and
will be back in an hour.”
 Apostrophe (‘)
Apostrophe helps in omitting letters to represent contractions and possessives. You
will be able to use an apostrophe in pluralizing lowercase letters. Let us understand
with examples.
 I’ve been a great fan of Michael Jordan for many years.
 It’s great to have you on our team.
 You need to finish the work on time, that’s it.
 Allen’s marks have been low throughout the whole semester.

Summary
Knowing the proper usage of punctuation marks will make one a better writer. The
improper use of punctuation marks changes the entire meaning of the sentence. As
a professional writer, one’s focus must not be on grammar alone but also on
punctuation marks.

References

1. ^ Coulmas, F. (1996). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems.

Oxford: Blackwell.
2. ^ Parkes, M.B. (1992). Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of
Punctuation in the West. Aldershot: Scolar Press.
3. ^ Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). Spoken and Written Language. Oxford
University Press.
4. ^ Truss, L. (2003). Eats Shoots and Leaves. London: Profile
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c Walton, Ashley. "Open vs. Closed Punctuation". Synonym.
Leaf Group. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
6. ^ Collister, Lauren (19 July 2016). "Why does using a period in a text
message make you sound insincere or angry?". The Conversation.
Retrieved 17 January 2017.
7. ^ Malady, Matthew J. X. (23 May 2013). "Are Apostrophes
Necessary?". Slate. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
8. ↑ Jump up to:7.0 7.1 7.2 Lee, Chelsea (2011). "Punctuating Around Quotation
Marks" (blog). Style Guide of the American Psychological Association.
Retrieved 2011-10-25.
9. ↑ "Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies – Style Guide" (PDF). University of
Aberdeen, Scotland: Research Institute of Irish and Scottish Studies. 2008.
Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-04-10. Retrieved 2014-05-
28. Punctuation marks are placed inside the quotation marks only if the
sense of the punctuation is part of the quotation; this system is referred to as
logical quotation.
10.↑ Jump up to:9.0 9.1 Ben Yagoda (2011). "The rise of "logical punctuation"". Slate
(magazine). Retrieved 2011-05-13.
11.↑ Burchfield, R.W., ed. (1996). The New Fowler's Modern English
Usage (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 646. ISBN 978-0-19-869126-6.
↑ Jump up to:11.0 11.1 11.2 Butcher, Judith; et al. (2006). Butcher's Copy-editing: The
Cambridge Handbook for Editors, Copy-editors and Proofreaders.
Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-
521-84713-1.