PUNCTUATION

Tells readers how words are

grouped together and how they are
separated.

Primarily determined by sentence

structure.

Helps readers to understand what

writers are trying to say.
THE PRINCIPAL PUNCTUATION MARKS

Full stop .
Comma ,
Semicolon ;
Colon :
Interrogation mark ?
Exclamation Mark !
Quotation mark “” or ‘’
THE FULL STOP OR
PERIOD (.):
 This marks the longest pause in speech and its uses are
listed below.
 At the end of every declarative or imperative sentence:
 University Education is the best.
 After abbreviations and initials of names, titles, degrees:
 Ph.D., U.S.A, B.Sc., M.Sc., W.H.O., Dr. O.A. Ajani, etc.
 To separate hours and minutes written in figures:
 The prayer meeting starts at 10.30 p.m. and ends at 4.35
a.m.
 To differentiate between units of money, such as Naira
and kobo. E.g.
 Her monthly salary is ₦18,015.19k.
COMMA (.)
 It marks a brief pause in a sentence and it is
used to
 separate three or more words of the same
parts of speech such as nouns, verbs,
adjectives or adverbs.
 I saw Akin, Ayo, Seun and Olu yesterday.
 I wrote, read, examined, and kept the
document.
 mark off phrases in apposition.
 Femi Falana, a brilliant advocate, is a great
freedom fighter.
COMMAS, ALSO USED TO
 mark off the vocative in a direct address.
 Olu, let’s discuss our presentation now.
 separate words/phrase/clauses inserted into
the body of a sentence. The inserted item will
have a comma before and after it.
 My father did not, however, recover from his
illness.
 separate a subordinate clause from the
principal clause.
 When the teachers are ready, the principal will
be informed.
 avoid the repetition of a verb.
 Omololu works as a teacher and Tom, as a
nurse.
COMMAS, ALSO USED TO
 separate co-ordinate clauses in a compound
sentence.
 I came, I saw, I conquered.
 mark off the clause or phrase introducing a
quotation.
 He boldly declared, ‘I do not want a share of
the dirty money.’
 mark off parenthetical phrases.
 The night of the initiation, a night of horror like
no other, three students were brutally
murdered.
 to mark off thousands and millions in figures.
 ₦10, 374,234.00 was voted to screen the
500,000 applicants.
COMMAS, ALSO USED
 After items expressing assent and dissent.
 Yes, I do.
 Before and after an adjectival phrase formed
with a participle.
 Ini, having passed the IJMB examination,
decided to continue his first degree course.
 After connectives such as moreover, hence,
therefore, nevertheless, so, etc.
 Moreover, he came late for the interaction.
 After every group of abbreviations for
academic degrees and other honours
pertaining to a particular person
 Bolutife Toluse, B.Tech., M.Sc., PhD.
 Chris Abutu Garuba mni., CON, CFR
 A comma may or may not be used in writing a person’s
address.
If used, it is required at the end of every line except the
last, where a full stop is used; (Example 1).
Punctuation marks may be omitted altogether (Example 2)

FULL PUNCTUATION NO PUNCTUATION

Dr. A. A. Akinseli, Dr. A. A. Akinseli
General Studies Unit, General Studies Unit
Federal University of Technology, Federal University of Technology
P.M.B. 704, P.M.B. 704
Akure, Nigeria. Akure, Nigeria
SEMICOLON (;) AND ITS USES
 It marks a longer pause than a “comma”.
 To separate the clauses of a compound
sentence if they contain a comma, e.g.
 My uncle is a poor, uneducated, simple man;
but I love him.
 To separate clauses which are closely
connected in thought, e.g.
 Reading makes a full man; confidence a ready
man; writing an exact man.
 In place of a comma before coordinating
conjunctions to emphasize contrast, e.g.
 All registered students can attend lectures this
month; but as from February, fee defaulters will
be barred from attending lectures.
COLON (:) AND ITS USES
 The colon marks a more complete pause
than a semi-colon
 To introduce a formal quotation
 Aristotle said: Man is a social animal.
 To introduce a list of items or ideas
 The subjects I like are the following:
Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Yoruba.
 To introduce an explanation, a statement or
a proposition
 The reason for my lateness: I did not get up
early today.
INTERROGATION MARK OR
QUESTION MARK (?)
 Used only after a direct question.
 Why are you in FUTA?
 When did you get married?
 Not used after an indirect question.
 She asked me when I got married.
 I wanted to know why she was in FUTA.
 Not used after a polite request.
 Could you pass the salt, please.
 Would you kindly help that child to cross
the street.
EXCLAMATION MARK OR INTERJECTION (!)
 To express some heightened emotions of
fear, surprise, admiration, happiness.
 Ah! The boy is dead.
 What a great victory!

 To indicate emphasis in writing expressions

that are shouted, e.g.
 Oh, shut up!
 Hurry!

 To indicate emphasis in expressions

denoting cheerfulness, exclamation marks
may be doubled or tripled, e.g.
 Hip! Hip!! Hip!!! Hurrah!!!
QUOTATION MARKS (‘ ’) OR (“ ”)
 They are also known as inverted commas.
 Both ‘’ and “ ” are correct, but they must be
used consistently:
 To indicate direct speech.
 The lecturer said, ‘I have never seen such a
lazy student.’
 To mark off foreign words within a sentence.
 I’d love ‘amala’ and ‘ewedu’ stew for dinner.
 To enclose slangs, technical expressions and
newly coined words, which may be out of
harmony with the tone of a particular text.
 It is dangerous to do business with a ‘Four-
one-niner’.
 To enclose words said sarcastically, e.g.
 She is a real ‘beauty’; her visage even
frightens babies.
INVERTED COMMAS IN TITLES
 For the titles of radio/TV programmes,
poems, articles and other writings which
appear within another text such as a book,
journal, etc.
 ‘Ozymandias’ is one of Shelley’s most well-
known poems.
 OSRC-TV airs a repeat of ‘Sports Update’ on
Fridays at 10 pm.
 Our paper, ‘Climate Change Discourse:
Student Perspectives’ has been accepted for
publication by a local journal.
CLAUSES
A clause is a group of words with a subject and a
main verb.
 Two types of sentence-level clauses:
 Main or Independent) clause –
• contains at least a subject and a verb; and can stand alone as a
complete sentence.
 Subordinate (dependent) clause
• Contains a subject and a verb but (unlike an independent clause)
cannot stand alone as a sentence.
• Begins with a subordinate conjunction (because, although, if, as, since,
when, while, until, who, where, wherever, than, that.....

 At least one main clause in every complete sentence

PUNCTUATING CLAUSES
When two main clauses are place a comma before the
joined by a coordinating conjunction.
conjunction (and, or, but,
nor, for, yet, so), The team met, but I wasn’t there.
For closely-related main join with semi-colons.
clauses not connected by
They came late; we left early
conjunctions,
When a subordinate clause no punctuation is needed.
follows a main clause
I know because I was there.
When a subordinate clause Place a comma before the main
comes before a main clause, clause.
Although I was away, the team met as
scheduled.
CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS
Adverbs that connect ideas are described
as conjunctive adverbs. A list is provided
below.
• accordingly, also, besides, consequently,
conversely, finally, furthermore, hence,
however, indeed, instead, likewise, meanwhile,
moreover, nevertheless, next, nonetheless,
otherwise, similarly, still, subsequently, then,
therefore, thus
PUNCTUATING CONJUNCTIVE ADVERBS
If a conjunctive adverb begins a place a comma after it.
sentence
Therefore, this problem deserves
attention.
If a conjunctive adverb comes in the place commas on either side of it.
middle of a clause,
This problem, consequently,
deserves further study.
If a conjunctive adverb ends a place a comma before it.
clause,
This problem deserves further study,
however.
If a conjunctive adverb comes place a semi-colon or period before
between two main clauses or it and a comma after it.
complete sentences,
We were tired; therefore, we made
mistakes.
We were tired. Therefore, we made
mistakes.
PHRASES
A phrase is a group of words belonging
together but lack of verb, subject, or both.
 Phrases usually named for first grammatical
element.
 Prepositional phrases: in the software, on the
desktop, of the designer, with the customer
 Verbal phrases: to run the program, going at top
speed, conceived by the designer
 Adverbial phrases: before distribution, after
development, during the design phase
 PUNCTUATING PHRASES
When a phrase place a comma after the phrase.
precedes the subject In the morning, I work in the office,
of a main clause, but in the afternoon, I visit the site

When a phrase punctuation is not usually needed.

follows the subject , I work in the office in the morning
verb, or a complete
clause NOT
I work, in the office ,in the morning
When a present a comma usually precedes it.
participle (V-ing) He left early, forgetting his 5 o’clock
phrase comes after a appointment.
complete clause,
ADJECTIVAL/ RELATIVE CLAUSES
 Qualify nouns or noun phrases in sentences and begin
with relative pronouns such as who, whom, which, that
 Are embedded in another clause
 Are either restrictive or nonrestrictive
 Restrictive relative clauses provide essential information
about the subject or define the subject.
• Team leaders who lack patience intimidate new
members. (Not all team leaders lack patience.)
 Nonrestrictive relative clauses provide additional
information that is not essential to the meaning
• The replacement part, which was promised for two
weeks, was finally shipped yesterday.
• =The replacement part was finally shipped yesterday
PUNCTUATING RELATIVE CLAUSES
Because use no punctuation.
restrictive
clauses are Employees who wear t-shirts to work
required for make a poor impression on foreign
meaning, visitors.
≠Employees make a poor impression on
foreign visitors.
Because place them within a pair of commas.
nonrestrictive
clauses My preferred solution, which was
provide discussed yesterday, has been chosen
information that by the team.
could be
omitted, =My preferred solution has been chosen
by the team.
INSERTED INFORMATION
Commas, parentheses, or dashes separate inserted information from
the rest of the sentence.
 Commas suggest minor interruptions.
 Jill Smith, President of MBI, will visit the site next week.
 This procedure, which is clearly superior to the existing one, will be
unpopular with certain departments.
 Parentheses often indicate optional information and clarifications.
 Some organisms live in an anaerobic (airless) environment.
 Parentheses are also used to enclose numbers or letters.
 The procedure involves three basic steps: (1) strip, (2) dip, (3) dry.
 Dashes provide a greater sense of separation or emphasis than
commas or parentheses.
 All three models – XL,XM, and XN – are in stock.
 Dashes are also used to signal asides.
 Dashes are effective – if not overused.
 Everyone must now wear identification cards – a consequence of the
recent rash of thefts.
A COMMON COMMA ERROR: THE COMMA
SPLICE
A comma splice is an error in which two independent clauses
are joined by a comma.
 WRONG: We had a nice time, I hope we can meet again soon.
 WRONG: The Internet has revolutionized the business world,
online sales have increased dramatically this year.
 CORRECT by
 inserting a conjunction between the two independent clauses.
 starting a new sentence.
 inserting a semi-colon between the independent clauses (where
the topics of the independent clauses are closely related).
 CORRECTIONS
 We had a nice time, and I hope we can meet again
soon.
 We had a nice time. I hope we can meet again soon.
 The Internet has revolutionized the business world;
online sales have increased dramatically this year.
 The Internet has revolutionized the business world, so
online sales have increased dramatically this year.
PUNCTUATION CHANGES MEANING
 Woman: without her, man is nothing.
 Woman without her man is nothing.
 Watch out – man eating apes!
 Watch out – man-eating apes!
 Let’s eat ,grandpa!
 Let’s eat grandpa!
CAN YOU PUNCTUATE THE FOLLOWING
SENTENCES IN TWO WAYS OR MORE?

We’re going to learn to cut and paste kids

When I sing well ladies feel sick
Thank you your donation just helped
someone get a job
Most of the time travellers worry about
their luggage