1-01_Punctuation

Punctuation is one of the most essential aspects of writing to aid comprehension, have clarity, and
indicate pause/stress/emphasis where required. Punctuation is necessary so that a reader can
distinguish between different words and ideas, and it reflects the various tones and stylistic aspects of
spoken and/or written language.
In this course, we will look at the punctuation marks frequently used in academic writing and various
rules regarding their use: period; comma; colon; semicolon; the various dashes—hyphen, en dash,
and em dash; and other punctuation, such as the apostrophe, quotation marks (single and double),
parentheses/brackets, and slashes.

Period
The period (American English; AmE) is the most widely known punctuation mark. It is used at the end
of a sentence to show that the sentence has finished. For a sentence to be complete and be closed
with a period, it must have at least one independent clause, with a verb and a subject. In British
English (BrE), the period is also referred to as the full stop. Some of the most common uses of the
period are as follows:
1. At the end of a declarative sentence, a mildly imperative sentence, a rhetorical question,
and any other question that is a suggestion and does not require an answer (indirect
questions)
2. Periods are placed inside quotation marks in AmE, but they are placed outside quotation
marks in BrE.
3. Similarly, when a sentence is enclosed in parentheses or square brackets, periods are
placed inside the closing parenthesis or bracket, e.g., The editor-in-chief insisted on rewriting
the paragraph. (She couldn’t let such paragraphs through.) When the matter in parentheses
or brackets, even a grammatically complete sentence, is included within another sentence,
the period belongs outside, e.g., The editor-in-chief insisted on rewriting the paragraph (that
she had marked).
4. After a letter or number indicating an item in a series
5. In numbers with integers and decimals
6. In abbreviations
7. After a person's initials
You can read more on the period here: https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/use-
period-correctly/

Comma
This is perhaps the most confusing of all the punctuation marks, and debates on comma use continue
to rage in literary circles. This is probably the reason why writers and editors often misuse and/or
abuse commas. The rules pertaining to comma usage are extensive and perplexing. Nonetheless, the
following points/tips will help you familiarize with comma usage.
1. The serial comma (also, Oxford Comma): In AmE, a comma is inserted before the
coordinating conjunctions “and” and “or” preceding the last item in a list of three or more
items. Note that serial commas are not mandatory in BrE unless their lack impedes clarity
(e.g., in a list with items that have these coordinating conjunctions within).
Fun fact: The use of serial comma was introduced by the Oxford University Press, which is why it is
called the Oxford comma.
 2. Coordinate adjectives: Coordinate adjectives need commas in between whereas
cumulative adjectives do not. If you want to identify what types of adjectives you are
working with, ask yourself these questions: can the adjectives be separated by “and”? can
their word order be reversed? The former type can be separated by “and” and their placement
can be reversed (e.g., exotic, expensive technologies). The latter type does not allow
separation using “and,” neither can they be reversed (e.g., modern electronic devices).
3. Introductory comma: An introductory comma has to follow an introductory word and/or
phrase to indicate where the subject begins. These words or phrases include sentence
connectors such as “However,” “Therefore,” “Nevertheless,” and “Nonetheless,” and
prepositional phrases or infinitive phrases.
4. After dependent and/or subordinate clauses: A comma is required whenever a
dependent/subordinate clause begins a sentence. These include clauses starting with an -
ing phrase and those that start with a subordinating conjunction.
Fun fact: Dependent and/or subordinate clauses express additional, less important ideas than those
expressed in the main clause, so they always require a comma when placed at the beginning of the
sentence—before the subject of the main clause—but not when placed after the main clause.
5. Before a resultative -ing clause: To indicate the “result” of an action, a causative verb in
the -ing form (e.g., causing, resulting) is used with a comma. The adverbs “thus” and
“thereby” are also sometimes used in such constructions when the result is expressed using
verbs that are not causative (e.g., …, thereby indicating ….)
6. Set-off commas: Set-off commas separate non-essential information and/or non-
restrictive relative clauses from the rest of the sentence or the main clause. These are also
called “parenthetical commas” because they separate non-essential, additional information,
which can also be the author’s opinion/afterthought or metatext (text that guides readers to
other parts of the text), that can even be punctuated using parentheses and/or em dashes.
7. The FANBOYS comma: A comma before the coordinating conjunctions for, and, nor, but,
or, yet, and so (FANBOYS) helps combine two complete sentences or independent clauses.
This comma can be remembered as the FANBOYS comma for the user’s convenience. To
this end, both the independent clauses/sentences must have explicit separate subjects and
verbs.
8. With appositives: An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that renames/redefines a previous
noun by identifying, defining, or explaining it. A pair of set-off commas is used to separate an
appositive from the rest of the sentence.
There is a lot more to read up on these different rules for using the comma, and you can do some of
the reading here: https://www.grammarly.com/blog/comma/

Colon
The rules for the colon are relatively simple, with only four rules to remember.
The colon can be used to introduce the following:
1. A list, including bulleted lists
2. An independent clause if it summarizes, explains, or amplifies the first one
3. An appositive
4. A quotation
Fun fact: The only condition when using the colon with any of the aforementioned purposes is that
the preceding text should always be a complete sentence or an independent clause.
Semicolon
The rules for the semicolon are also quite simple, with only four rules to remember.
The semicolon can be used for the following purposes:
1. To join/separate closely related complete sentences: Two small, closely related
sentences or independent clauses can be joined without requiring a coordinating conjunction
and the FANBOYS comma by simply using the semicolon (e.g., We will provide an estimate
of this cost increase; traditional costing will not.)
2. Semicolon as the super comma: A comma is used to separate three or more items in a list.
However, if one or more of these items have internal commas, a semicolon is used to
separate the items and avoid any potential confusion.
3. Before sentence connectors or introductory words: When sentence connectors or
introductory words such as “however,” “namely,” etc. are used to combine two independent
clauses, the semicolon precedes and the comma follows them.
4. To cite multiple other authors' works at one instance: The semicolon is used to separate
multiple citations when using the “author, date” (Harvard) style for citation. This style is also
followed/recommended by many peer-reviewed journals.
You can read up more on the colon and semicolon here:
https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/colons.asp
https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/colon.html
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/semicolon/

Dashes
There are four types of dashes with varying lengths and purposes. They are the hyphen (shortest of
them all), the minus sign (bit longer than the hyphen and at a higher position compared to other
dashes), the en dash (bit longer/slightly different than the minus), and the em dash (the longest of
them all). The uses of these dashes are quite simple.

Hyphen
The hyphen has five major uses.
1. It can join two or more words to form new nouns known as compound nouns.
2. It can be used to indicate that two or more words together act as an adjective, known as
compound adjective, before a noun. The first form occurs less frequently in academic
writing, but the latter is a quite commonly followed convention in the field of science and
technology.
3. The hyphen is used to join a prefix to a word, although this usage is followed in AmE only
to avoid misunderstanding but is religiously followed in BrE.
4. The hyphen is also used to form fractions (e.g., one-third) and compound numbers (e.g.,
from twenty-one to ninety-nine).
5. Lastly, hyphens are used to avoid ambiguity and make a clear distinction between words
that would mean different if the hyphen is not used (e.g., “re-form” – to form again vs. “reform”
– to improve by change).

Minus sign
This dash/symbol, as the name suggests, is used to indicate a negative value or as the mathematical
operator minus.
En dash
In academic writing, the en dash has only two primary uses
1. It is preferred over the hyphen in ranges or parallel constructions in the absence of the
paired prepositions “from…to” or “between…and” (e.g., 1987–91; Monday–Saturday; pages
75–110; age groups 5–7, 8–10, 11–13, and 14–16).
2. To attach a prefix or suffix to an unhyphenated compound (e.g., sodium chloride–free
solution). The American Medical Association Manual of Style promotes this use.
3. To join two or more places or regions (e.g., Asia–Pacific region)

Em dash
This dash is primarily used as a substitute for parentheses or set-off commas for clarifications or
emphasis (e.g., She has this to accomplish today—work, study, cook, and household duties—as well
as take care of her child). Spaces are usually avoided around em dashes. Em dashes can also be
used before amplifications, definitions, explanations, or summary statements (e.g., To be or not
to be—that is a question we each ask ourselves at night before we turn out the light).
You can read more on the four dashes here:
 https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2guides/guides/pep/index-
eng.html?lang=eng&page=punct_4_hyphens_dashes

Other punctuation
Apostrophe
The primary use of the apostrophe is to indicate the possessive case of nouns. For most nouns, the
apostrophe is followed by the letter “s”; in plural nouns that end with “s” or similar letters/sounds, the
letter “s” following the apostrophe is avoided. The apostrophe is used in the following ways:
1. For leaving out a letter or number in a contraction (e.g., can't, wouldn't)
2. For omitted letters (e.g., rock 'n roll) and omitted numbers (e.g., the class of '72, the '20s)
3. For plurals of letter abbreviations with periods and single letters (e.g., p's and q's, two A's and
four B's)
4. For the possessive of singular nouns ending in s, including nouns ending in s, x, z, ch, or sh
(e.g., witness's affidavit)
Fun fact: However, if the next word begins with s, then add only an apostrophe (e.g., witness' story).
5. For the possessive of singular nouns not ending in s (e.g., VIP's seat, baby's food)
Fun fact: The apostrophe follows the s of a word with two sibilant sounds, e.g. Kansas', Moses'.
6. For the possessive of a noun that is plural in form but singular in meaning (e.g., mathematics'
formulas)
Fun fact: The apostrophe follows the s for the possessive of plural nouns that end in s, e.g. girls'
movies.
7. For the possessive of singular proper nouns (e.g., Achilles' heel)
8. No apostrophe for personal pronouns like hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, whose, your, yours.
9. For indefinite pronouns (e.g. one's lover)
10. For the possessive of other pronouns such as “another” and “others,” follow the rule for
singular and plural (e.g., another's and others')
 11. For joint possession, 's is added to the word nearest the object of possession (e.g., Francis
and Kucera's book)
12. Not used in names of organizations unless actually part of the legal name
13. Not used in plurals of numerals or multiple-letter combinations

Quotation Marks
Rules related to quotation marks depend on whether the writing is in AmE or in BrE.
1. Double Quotation Marks in American English: AmE uses double quotation marks for
direct quotes/quoted text and emphasis on a word/technical term/phrase. A comma or period
at the end of the quoted text/emphasized word/term is placed within the quotes, regardless of
whether the comma or period belongs to the actual quoted text or to the whole sentence. In
other words, always place the comma and/or period before/inside the closing quotation marks
in AmE. Other punctuation such as a dash, semicolon, question mark, or exclamation mark
are placed before/inside the closing quotation mark only when they are related to (part of) the
quoted text; otherwise, they are placed after/outside the closing quotation marks (when they
are related to the whole sentence). Single quotation marks are used for quotes/emphasized
words/terms/phrases within quoted text.
2. Single Quotation Marks in British English: The rule for quotation marks in BrE is the exact
opposite of that in AmE. BrE primarily uses single quotation marks for direct quotes/quoted
text and emphasis on a word/technical term/phrase. Any punctuation mark, including the
period and comma, is placed after/outside the closing quotation mark unless it is related to
the quoted text, in which case it is placed before/inside the closing quotation mark. Double
quotation marks are used for quotes/emphasized words/terms/phrases within quoted text.

Parentheses (AmE)/Brackets [BrE]

Although parentheses are used to indicate something important or to enclose additional or
supplementary information or text, their use can sometimes be interruptive. They are primarily used
for enclosing the following:
1. Numerical data and mathematical expressions
2. Explanation, definitions, translations, and alternatives
3. Abbreviation of a spelled out word
4. Bibliographical data and text references/cross-references
5. Additional information or comments about some text
6. Numbers or letters indicating an item in a series
Although the use of parentheses within parentheses is permitted in some publications (usually for
bibliographic purposes), a hierarchical style of using parentheses, curly brackets, and square brackets
is usually followed in academic publications. In other words, usually, ({[]}) is the common hierarchical
style used, but ([{}]) is also used.
Fun fact: When parenthetical elements are used at the end of a sentence, the period follows the
closing parenthesis. Additionally, a complete sentence within parentheses uses its own punctuation.
However, if it qualifies as a grammatical sentence but is dependent on the surrounding text, the rule
of using the usual sentence capitalization and ending the sentence with the period does not apply; in
such a case, the sentence within the parentheses should not be in sentence case and should not end
with the period—the period will be placed after/outside the closing parenthesis.

Slashes
The commonly used slash (/) is also known as virgule, solidus, slant, or forward slash, and it is
different from the backward slash or backslash (\). Its uses in academic writing are listed below:
 1. To signify alternatives
2. To indicate “and,” e.g., an insertion/deletion mutation, an MD/PhD student, a Jekyll/Hyde
personality
3. Used sometimes in date ranges instead of an en dash
4. To mean “divided by” in mathematical operations when a fraction bar is inappropriate, e.g., (a
+ b)/cd. Single spaces can surround the slash when used in this context, e.g., (a + b) / cd
Fun fact: Single and double slashes are used in URLs. No space should precede or follow them. In
typeset URLs, line breaks may occur after a slash but not between two slashes. Slashes as well as
backward slashes, or backslashes (\), are used in computer directory paths; the type of slash used
depends on the operating system, e.g., http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/index, c:\office\wpwin\wpdocs
Additional reading:
https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/semi-colons-colons-and-dashes/
1-01_Punctuation Quiz
Q1. What roles do punctuation marks play in writing?
A. Indicate pause, stress, emphasis
B. Distinguishing different words, phrases, sentences, and ideas
C. Indicate various tones and stylistic aspect of spoken language
D. Indicate how sentences are constructed and how they should be read
E. All of the above

Q2. Among the following, which names are not used to refer to the “period”?
A. Stop
B. Point
C. Full stop
D. Full dot
E. Full point

Q3. Which among the following rules is inaccurate regarding periods?

A. Periods denote the end of phrases.
B. Periods are placed inside quotes in American English
C. Periods are placed inside parentheses in British English
D. Periods are placed after a letter/number to indicate an item in a list
E. The use of periods in abbreviations and after initials is stylistic

Q4. Which among the following types of sentences would not take a period?
A. Declarative sentence
B. Rhetorical question
C. Exclamatory sentence
D. Descriptive sentence

Q5. Which among the following statements regarding serial commas is incorrect?
A. They are also called Oxford commas
B. They are also called series commas
C. They precede any conjunction before the last item in a list of three or more items.
D. They were brought into use in Oxford University Press, located in the United Kingdom

Q6. Which among the following is an accepted use for commas?

A. Separate two or more cumulative adjectives
B. Before introductory words/phrases
C. After resultative -ing clauses
D. Before coordinating conjunctions linking independent clauses
E. After appositives

Q7. Which of the following is an incorrect use of a colon?

A. Introduce a quotation
 B. Introduce a list
C. Introduce an appositive
D. Introduce a dependent clause

Q8. Which of the following is an incorrect use of a semicolon?

A. Join closely related complete sentences/clauses
B. As a super comma
C. Before a list
D. After an introductory word/phrase
E. C&D

Q9. Which among the following is in incorrect use of a dash?

A. Hyphens are primarily used to indicate ranges
B. Minus sign is used to indicate negative temperatures
C. Hyphens are used to indicate compound nouns and adjectives
D. Minus sign is used to indicate subtractive function

Q10. Which among the following is in incorrect use of a dash?

A. En dashes are used to indicate balanced relationships
B. Em dashes may be used instead of colons at some instances
C. En dashes and minus signs may be substituted
D. Hyphens may be used instead of minus signs in some style guides

Q11. Which of the following orders of length and the elevation from the line/sentence level
does not follow a logical order?
A. Hyphen, em dash, en dash
B. Em dash, minus sign
C. Em dash, en dash, hyphen
D. Hyphen, en dash, minus sign

Q12. Why are “em” dashes called so?

A. Absolutely randomly; no reason at all
B. They may be used instead of the alphabet “M” in shorthand writing
C. They lie next to the symbol M in the Word’s symbol list
D. They are as wide as the letter “M” in fonts (or typesetting situations)

Q13. Which among the following is an incorrect use of the apostrophe?

A. Contractions
B. Omission (letters)
C. Quotations
D. Possession
E. Plurals
Q14. Which among the following is the shortcut for the minus sign (NumPd = Numerical
Keypad)?
A. Ctrl + Shift + =
B. Ctrl + =
C. Ctrl + Alt + - (NumPd)
D. Ctrl + - (NumPd)
E. Ctrl + Shift + - (NumPd)

Q15. You are typing away on your keyboard on a document that requires you to use straight
quotes and not curly quotes. MS Word seems to always input curly quotes. Which among the
following keyboard shortcuts this change?
A. Ctrl + C after typing in the curly quote
B. Ctrl + P after typing in the curly quote
C. Ctrl + Y after typing in the curly quote
D. Ctrl + Z after typing in the curly quote

Q16. Which among the following is the easiest to distinguish from the others in small font
documents in non-serif fonts?
A. Single quote
B. Apostrophe
C. Prime symbol
D. Double quote
E. Straight quote

Q17. Which among the following is the “strongest” punctuation mark?

A. Comma
B. Colon
C. Semicolon
D. Period
E. Hyphen

Q18. Which of the following punctuation pairs have unrelated uses?

A. Apostrophe / Quote
B. Em dashes / colon
C. Period / Semicolon
D. En dash / comma
E. Hyphen / minus