Parts of Writing : Punctuation

PARTS OF WRITING : PUNCTUATION

1.PUNCTUATION

Punctuation Rules
▪ Punctuation marks are symbols which

organize the structure of written language,
and indicate intonation and pauses to be
observed when reading aloud.

▪ Punctuation marks are also used to avoid

ambiguity. For example, "woman, without
man is nothing" has a different meaning from
"woman: without her, man is nothing"

Summary of punctuation rules.
Read the punctuation rules and study the examples
given.
1. Full stop , or period (.)
• Use a full stop at the end of a sentence:

Example:

- She stood up and went away. She was furious.
• Used for abbreviations:

Examples:

- Co. (Company)
- M.P. (Member of Parliament)

2. Question mark (?)
▪ Question marks are used at the end of direct

questions
Examples:

- Where do you live?
- Are you crazy?
- Did you do the homework?
▪ Use a question mark at the end of tag questions
Examples:
- You will help me, won't you?
- He likes soccer, doesn't he?

.

3. Exclamation marks (!)
• Used to indicate strong emotions:

Examples:

- She's so beautiful!
- What a nice girl!
- How interesting!
• Used after interjections:

Examples:

- Oh! It's awful.
- Hi! What's up?
- What a beautiful scenary!

4. Commas (,)
• Commas are used between items in a series or list. The

last two items of the series usually do not need a
comma between them. They are separated by "and".
I like spaghetti, fish, pizza and couscous.

• Commas are also used between adjectives or adverbs:

I'd like to have a big, black, German car.
She speaks slowly, quietly and eloquently.

• After the street address and city in an address:

34 Hassan II Street, Rabat, Morocco.

• Before or after direct speech:

He said, "I hate being treated like that."
"I'm sorry", she replied.

• Before a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or,

yet, so)
He woke up late, so he had to drive to work.

5. Semicolons (;)
▪ Semicolons are used instead of a full stop or period

to separate independent sentences.

Examples
They woke up early; then they went jogging.
▪ Use a semicolon to separate items in a series when

those items contain punctuation such as a comma.

Example:
They visited the Eiffel Tower, Paris; Big Ben,
London;
and the statue of liberty, New York.

6. Colons (:)
▪ Use a colon to introduce a list.
Example:
He visited three cities last summer holiday: Madrid,
and Athens.
▪ Use it to introduce an idea or an explanation
Example:
He had one idea in mind: to see her as soon as
possible.
▪ introduce direct speech or a quotation. Example:
The secretary whispered in his ear: "Your wife is on
the phone. "

7. Dashes (--)
Dashes are used in the following functions:
• To introduce parenthetical information.
Example:
I put on a blue jacket --the one my mother bought
me-- and blue jeans.
• To show an afterthought
Example:
I explained to him my point of view-- at least
I tried!

​( -- )

8. Apostrophes (')
• Use an apostrophe to indicate a missing letter or

letters in a contraction.

Example:
I'm fed up with his stories
• Use an apostrophe plus the letter "s" to show

possession.

Example:
My brother's girlfriend is such a sweet girl.

9. Quotation marks ("")
• Quotation marks are used to quote speech,

sentences or words.

• Example

She said, "I love you."

THANK YOU