PUNCTUATION

The Need of punctuation

The word punctuation was, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, first recorded in
1539. It comes from Latin punctatio (making a point, marking with points) and punctum (a
point), both words deriving ultimately from the Latin verb pungere meaning ‘to pierce, prick
or puncture.

Punctuation involves the use of spacing, size of letters and a set of standardised marks to
separate structural units in written texts and thus to clarify meaning by guiding our
reading. Well used, it is like clear enunciation in speech and may be thought of as the
equivalent of perfect articulation.

How did punctuation start?

If we exclude cave drawings and scratches on bones, our earliest written records are less than
six thousands years old. They were made by the Sumerians to keep track of their commercial
dealings. This writing system was pictographic, that is, it used pictures to represent words or
ideas. We use pictograms today for international road signs and for public convenience.

Gradually, pictograms were replaced by word-based systems, which did not have either
spaces or punctuation marks. Early writing was concerned with commerce, however, rather
than with abstractions, and so the system worked adequately. As soon as it began to be used
for non-practical matters, modifications to the system were made.

The names and uses of punctuation marks

The majority of the widely used punctuation marks and their names are found, in
recognisable uses, in the writings of the different English authors of sixteenth century. Most
of the terms were adapted from Greek, sometimes through Latin and French, and used with
modified meanings. The comma is our most frequently used punctuation mark.

Modern personal computers have widened the range of orthographic devices open to us. In
writing in the past, emphasis could be indicated by position, by punctuation marks, by
underlining or by the use of capital letters. Today, it can be indicated by all of these marks
plus emboldening, italicization or even by the use of an unusual font or innovative layout.

Using punctuation marks: an overview

Punctuation is currently used to help clarify meaning in the written medium. It does this by
marking words or groups of words into units that can be linked by commas or separated by
full stops. Spacing, capitalization, the use of the apostrophe, the question mark and
exclamation mark carry significance. If punctuation did not exist, only context would allow
us to distinguish manslaughter and man’s laughter. In spite of the obvious advantage of using
punctuation, many legal documents avoid almost all marks except full stops and capital
letters.

When we think of punctuation marks, we usually think of them as individual items such as
commas, which help us to write with clarity. Further thought will suggest, however, that
punctuation is like a current in water: of vital significance but often overlooked. Some
punctuation marks appear singly or in pairs; while others can occur only in pairs. The
punctuation marks that appear singly are the full stop, the exclamation mark, the question
mark, ellipsis, the semicolon, the colon, the apostrophe, the asterisk and the hyphen. Commas
and dashes may appear either singly or in pairs. Brackets and quotation marks appear only in
the pairs.
 PUNCTUATION MARKS
1. FULL STOP

The full stop is the most frequently used terminator in the language. This punctuation
mark, represented by [.], was called point by Chaucer, a full point by Puttenham and
both a full stop and a period by Shakespeare.

Today full stop is the term most widely used in Britain, whereas period is preferred in
the United States. The term was first used in England in 1530 to refer not to the end
mark, but to the entire sentence. This punctuation mark is used for six main purposes.

(a) To indicate the end of an affirmative sentence:

 A good listener is always ready to pay attention.
 I am feeling dizzy.

(b) To mark abbreviations that end with a lower-case letter,

 Gk. for ‘Greek’.
 e.g. for ‘exemli gratia’. Latin word means ‘for example’.
 i.e. for ‘id est’. Latin word means ‘that is’.

(c) To mark the end of proverbs or well-known expressions even when these are
verb less:
 A newspaper – not a snoozepaper.

(d) Between dollars and cents, pounds and pence, rupees and paisas:
 $5.65
 PKR 1045.75

(e) To end a list of examples which is used in a sentence:

The following words are almost synonymous:
 exhaust
 fatigue
 tire
 weary.

EXERCISE
Put the words in the correct order to make a sentence. End each sentence with a full
stop.

1. games play to likes Jim

2. practice have I guitar

3. favorite is on show Our Disney

4. Swimming the in was fun pool

5. had singing friend My contest a

2. COMMA
The comma is a separator and is the most frequently used punctuation mark in the
language. The word comma was first recorded in English in 1554. It derives ultimately
from Greek komma, meaning ‘clause, segment of sentence’. In English the comma is
represented by a full stop with a tail [,]. It is used for the following purposes:

(a) Commas are used to separate item in lists of words, phrases or clauses:
 They arrived with milk, sugar, butter, cheese and eggs.
 I told them that I had bought the computer, put it on the back seat, locked
the car and gone straight home.
 I want blue, green, yellow and black balloons.

Exercise: Add commas to separate the things in the list.

1. We had chicken mashed potatoes and corn for dinner.

2. There were glasses plates spoons forks and knives on the table.
3. I like to eat rice cereal ice-cream and popcorn.

(b) Introductory clauses are separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma:
 If you don’t follow the rules, it won’t work.
 When the fields are left fallow, wild flowers soon return to an area.

(c) Use a comma to set off parenthetical elements, as in "The Founders

Bridge, which spans the Connecticut River, is falling down." By "parenthetical
element," we mean a part of a sentence that can be removed without changing the
essential meaning of that sentence. The parenthetical element is sometimes called
"added information" or phrases in apposition:
 Quaid-e-Azam, the founder of Pakistan, was one of the best speakers the
subcontinent has produced.
 Mrs. Haroon, the baker’s wife, was renowned for her short-crust pastry.

(d) Compound sentences often need commas to separate long main clauses (also
called independent clauses) linked by co-ordinate conjunctions such as and,
but and so:
 I’ve contacted your parents in Canada, and they will fly home on the first
available flight.
  We drove for hours and hours in the country, but still managed to be early
for our appointment.
 He couldn’t eat any more food in the restaurant, so I asked for a doggy
bag.
(e) While writing dates, place a comma after the day of the week and year (if both are
in words/ in figures).
 Tuesday, January 4, 2005
 Friday, December 2, 2011

EXERCISE
Insert Comma at right place.
1. My neighbour's dog knocks over my garbage cans walks in my flowerbed and barks
at my cats.
2. If you plant a Willow tree in that location the tree will probably do well.
3. You'll be at the game today won't you?
4. To get the cheapest airline ticket you need to check the website early.
5. Two common types rocks igneous and sedimentary are found in this region of the
country.
6. I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday July 31 2009.

3. QUESTION MARK

The question mark is a terminator that is symbolised by [?]. The expression was introduced
into English as recently as 1869 to refer to the punctuation mark that concludes interrogation.

The question mark is used mainly for the following purposes:

(a) To mark the end of sentence which is a direct question:

 I asked, ‘What is your nationality?’
 When was he born?

(b) To mark truncated (shortened) question:

 Name?
 NIC number?
 Date of birth?

(c) To indicate uncertainty, especially when about dates:

 Jean Froissart (?1337-1410)

(d) To indicate an intonational question:

 You’re really going?
  You won’t change your mind?

EXERCISE
1. When you and your father travelled in the East, did you visit Washington, D.C.
2. Have I taken a wrong turn asked my dad as he handed me the map.
3. "You see things; and you say, 'Why' But I dream things that never were; and I say,
'Why not'"

4. "Ever tried Ever failed No Matter, try again, fail again, fail better."
(Samuel Beckett)
5. How can you govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese

4. APOSTROPHE

The apostrophe is a separator. The word, derived from the Greek word apostrophe, meaning
‘turning away’, was first used in English in the sixteenth century, and is symbolised by [’].
Apostrophe is used for the following purposes:

(a) To indicate possession in a noun or noun phrase:

 Pakistan’s chappli kabab
 The baby’s bottle
 Ahmed’s cap

(b) The apostrophe precedes the ‘s’ when the possessor is singular:
 The child’s toys
 The people’s choice award

(c) It precedes when the plural noun is irregular and does not end in an ‘s’:
 The children’s toys
 The men’s wear

(d) The apostrophe follows the ‘s’ when the possessor is a regular plural noun:
 The books’ covers
 Different peoples’ cultures

(e) To indicate time or quality

 In two days’ time
 Next year’s timetable
(f) To indicate the omission of figure in dates:
 Who fears to speak of ’65 war? (referring to first Indo-Pak war after
separation)
 (g) To indicate the omission of letters:
 Cannot= can’t
 Of the clock= o’ clock

(h) Apostrophes are sometimes used to indicate the plural of numbers:

 She was best-known woman in the world in the 1980’s.

EXERCISE
1. The friend of her brother drives a trailer truck.

Her_____________ friend drives a trailer truck.

2. We heard the voices of the children clearly in the lounge.

We heard the ____________ voices clearly in the lounge.

3. The husbands of the sisters have lunch together every Monday.

The ____________ husbands have lunch together every Monday.

4. The report, supported by the accounts of two witnesses, proves he did not commit the
crime.

The report, supported by two _____________ accounts, proves he did not commit the
crime.

5. The votes of four members changed the outcome of the election.

Four ________________ votes changed the outcome of the election.

5. CAPITALIZATION

The name capital is derived from Latin capitalis, meaning ‘head, foremost’. It was applied in
the fourteenth century to letters that appeared at the beginning or head of a text. The
technique of using the capital letters for the first word in a sentence began to be widely used
in England for the first word in the thirteenth century although it was not consistently applied
until the end of the sixteenth century. Capitalization is used for the following purposes in
English.

(a) Capital letters indicate the first word in a sentence or sentence fragment:
 I’m going to get married.
 Well!
  Who?
 To Shakeela.
 At the party.

(b) The rule applies to the first word of greeting in a letter:

 Dear Ali
 My dear Sonia

(c) The first word in a line of poetry is also marked by the use of capital letter.
 I cannot see what flowers are at my feet,
Nor what soft incense hangs upon the boughs,
But, in embalmed darkness, guess each sweet
Wherewith the seasonable month endows

(d) The word in an exclamation takes a capital letter:

 Wow! My gift!
 My goodness! This is the limit!

(e) In English, the first person singular pronoun I is always capitalized:

 If I were a blackbird, I’d whistle and sing.
 I want to have a medical check-up.

(f) Capital letters are used for proper nouns:

 Tahir Iqbal
 Karachi
 Saudi Arabia

(g) For days of the week, months, important holidays and historic events:
 Friday
 Eid
 Ramadan
 May Day
 My research paper is about the Vietnam War.

(h) Every direct quotation should begin with a capital letter.

 Quaid-e-Azam said, “Work, work and work”.

(i) Capitalize titles but don’t capitalize short prepositions or articles (the, an, of, etc.)
if they aren’t the first word of the title.
 My favorite book is definitely The Catcher in the Rye.

EXERCISE

1. I think harrison ford is in that movie.

2. The local red cross is holding a blood drive today.
3. This university has a high population of asian-american students.
4. She is originally from cairo, illinois, but now she’s living in new york city.
5. I am learning to speak spanish.

6. Colon

The colon is a separator. The word was first adopted into English in the sixteenth
century. It comes from the Greek word kolon, meaning ‘part of a stanza’. It is
symbolized by [:] and is used for these purposes:

(a) To separate a list form the main clause:

 You should always take a good supply of toiletries: soap, toothpaste,
mouthwash, hand creams and deodorants.

(b) To separate main clauses when the second seems to be an illustration of the
first:
 The house looked sad and uncared for: it had been empty for two years.

(c) To introduce examples and illustrations:

 Remember what he told us: Fool me once – shame on you. Fool me twice
– shame on me.

(d) To introduce quotations:

 Advertisements are often simple in structure: ‘Think once, Think twice,
Think bike.’

(e) In writing time:

 It is 8:22
 Don’t leave your office before 16:30

(f) Between the title and subtitle of a book:

 Modern Englishes: Pidgins and Creoles

7. Semi Colon
(a) The semicolon can be used to sort out a complicated list containing many
items, many of which themselves contain commas.

 In themeeting today we have Professor Wilson, University of Barnsley,

Dr Watson, University of Barrow in Furness, Colonel Custard,
Metropolitan Police and Dr Mable Syrup, Genius General, University of
Otago, New Zealand.
In a situation such as this, only the mighty semicolon can unravel the mess.

 In the meeting today we have Professor Wilson, University of Barnsley;

Dr Watson, University of Barrow in Furness; Colonel Custard,
Metropolitan Police and Dr Mable Syrup, Genius General, University of
Otago, New Zealand.

In most lists a comma is enough to separate the items. In a complicated list like the one
above, it is perfectly acceptable to use the semicolon to make the list more understandable.

(b) Use a semicolon to separate two main clauses not joined by a coordinating
conjunction. We can also use a semicolon to separate main clauses joined by a
conjunctive adverb (such as however, consequently, otherwise, moreover,
nevertheless):

Have a look at this example:

 Tayyab always slept with light on; he was afraid of the dark.

If you are going to use a semicolon to connect two clauses, it is very important that the two
clauses are both independent. That means that each clause has to be able to stand alone and
make complete sense without the other. If either one cannot stand alone, a semi-
colon cannot be used.

Which of these sentences uses the semi-colon correctly?

a. Greece is a beautiful country; lovely beaches and friendly people.

b. Greece is a beautiful country; the people are friendly and the beaches are empty.
c. Greece is a beautiful country; olives are delicious.

a. Incorrect. The two clauses connected by a semi-colon have to be able to stand

alone and still make a sense.
b. Correct.
c. Incorrect. The two clauses connected by a semi-colon have to be related.

8. Exclamation mark

The exclamation mark is a terminator. It is referred to as an exclamation mark in the UK and

as an exclamation point in the US. It is represented by [!]. The first recorded use of the term
dates back to 1657. The exclamation mark follows the last letter of the exclamation, without
intervening space. It tends to be used for the three main purposes:

(a) To indicate involuntary utterances:

Wow!
 (b) To suggest strong emotion:
O God! Help me!
This tastes yuck!

(c) To emphasize a statement:

She was utterly beautiful!
What a delightful evening!
Here you go!

EXERCISE

1. “All I can say about life is, Oh God, enjoy it”

2. “That was so close”, exclaimed my mother in the passenger seat.
3. What a breath taking scene
4. Hooray We are finally free
5. Help cried Ana.

SOLVED EXERCISE
Find the error.

1. The three largest earthquakes occurred in: San Francisco, Tokyo, and Lima.
 Correct: The three largest earthquakes occurred in San Francisco, Tokyo, and Lima.

Discussion: Undesired colon (it breaks a continuing thought). Note that while the
comma following "Tokyo" is optional, it is certainly not incorrect.

2. The synergistic reactor contains a chamber in which the exhaust from the burning coal
mixes with limestone; see Appendix A.

Correct: The synergistic reactor contains a chamber in which the exhaust from the
burning coal mixes with limestone, as discussed in Appendix A.

Discussion: A semicolon cannot join the two independent clauses because what
would be on the left side of the semicolon (a sentence in the indicative mood) would
not be parallel to what is on the right side (a sentence in the imperative mood). One
solution (given here) is to make the reference to Appendix A a verb phrase. Another
solution is to create a separate sentence. Still a third is to use parentheses to refer to
Appendix A.

3. The synergistic reactor contains a chamber in which the exhaust from the burning coal
mixes with limestone(See Appendix A.)

Correct: The synergistic reactor contains a chamber in which the exhaust from the
burning coal mixes with limestone (see Appendix A).

Discussion: The punctuation associated with the parentheses was incorrect. First a
space precedes the left parenthesis. Second, for parenthetical expressions that are part
of the sentence, the first word is not capitalized. Finally, for parenthetical expressions
that are part of the sentence, the sentence's punctuation (a period in this case) appears
outside the parentheses.

4. The absorption A is calculated by:

A = 1 - kR,

where k is the correction factor and R is the measured reflectance.

Correct: The absorption A is calculated by

A = 1 - kR,

where k is the correction factor and R is the measured reflectance.

Discussion: Undesired colon (it breaks a continuing thought). Note that if the words "the
following" had followed the word "by," then the colon would have been correct.

EXERCISE-1 (Combined)
 1. All of these books are to be catalogued the ones on geology natural history philosophy
and scientific method.
2. The trend toward specialization is very clear particularly in the professions see Table
2.

3. Once daylight came we thought we were safe however this was not to be.

4. Keats poem ‘To Autumn’ is possibly the greatest evocation of that season ever
written.

5. After their long walk the boys noses were red with cold.

6. The point is according to my understanding that we should move quickly.

7. Instead Chambers 1988 suggests the importance of the genetic influence in

determining the antecedents.

8. Its not easy to isolate its cause but we think its due to the torrential rain we had
recently.

9. The car left the road rolled down the bank turned over several times hit a free and
then burst into flames.

10. It was a rather hit or miss affair we found to our horror that we were expected to
provide the entertainment as well.

EXERCISE-2

Fix the punctuation and capitalization mistakes on these envelopes.

mr fred smith

1200 tobias st

cleveland oh 10001

mr and mrs davis

34 pine hill rd

miami fl 90254
EXERCISE 3: Punctuate these paragraphs.
this is an exercise in correcting a piece of text which has no punctuation the students will
need to know what the different types of punctuation are and when to use them before
carrying out this activity punctuation is essential to make the meaning clear of a written
 text sometimes it becomes very difficult to understand the written text which is not
punctuated correctly
i would like to see the Punjab north west frontier province sind and baluchistan
amalgamated into a single state self government within the british empire or without the
british empire the formation of a consolidated north west Indian muslim state appears to
me to be the final destiny of the muslims at least of north west India

EXERCISE 4: Punctuate this dialogue.

sarah good morning doctor

doctor dood morning sarah what happened

sarah i am feeling fever my whole body is aching

doctor let me check your fever after checking its 102 show me your throat

sarah i also have cough

doctor your throat is also sore did you feel shivering during the night

sarah frequently i couldnt sleep well

doctor what did you eat at night

sarah simple homemade food but i have not taken any breakfast i am not feeling hungry and
there is a feeling of vomiting

doctor dont worry i am giving you medicine also get your blood tested today show me the
report tomorrow

sarah from where shall i get my blood tested

doctor you may go to lifeline labs it is near your colony

sarah how many doses have you given me

doctor three doses as soon as you reach your home eat something light and take the first dose
it contains three tablets and one capsule repeat the same after five hours the third one can be
taken before going to bed at night

sarah any precautions doctor

doctor dont go to office today take complete rest avoid cold drinks or oily meals

sarah how much shall i pay you doctor

doctor only rs 150

sarah thank you doctor

EXERCISE 5: Punctuate this inquiry letter

22 12 2011

hamid tanveer
abc
iqbal town
lane no 23 street 7 lahore pakistan

dear sir

for the past ten years i have followed your career through news events interviews and web research
your dedication to the sunday magazine and your understanding of the important role journalists play
in todays fastpaced information highway coupled with your belief in the power of the press is
exemplary

i have had the privilege of honing my journalistic abilities on three widely different publications when
i left college i immediately went to work for the typical small town newspaper and learned all aspects
of getting the paper to the people in a timely manner i then moved to regional manager for a media
corporation composed of small to midsize newspapers in gujranwala in my current position i am chief
correspondent for one of the largest newspapers in the lahore

i would like an opportunity to visit with you to get your insight and suggestions on where my skills
and abilities would be of the greatest value to the abc company and to inquire about possible job
openings with the company

i will call your office to set a convenient time i do look forward to meeting you

sincerely yours

hamid tanveer