One Step Ahead: Punctuation

1. full stops, commas, semicolons, and colons mark out the basic structure of what you are writing

2. dashes and brackets can show groups of words that form a smaller group on their own within a sentence

3. question marks, exclamation marks, and quotation marks show that what you are writing is something other than a simple statement by the writer

4. the apostrophe and hyphen can link related words and show other special functions

5. full stops can show that a group of letters form an abbreviation

6. an apostrophe can show that letters are missing in a word

Comma

The comma works as a separator. Its main role is to indicate the structure of sentences and to make their meaning clear by showing which words belong together and which do not.

Commas used in pairs to mark an aside: But memories, she knew, must be painful for him.

Comma used to mark off a subordinate claused: When our vital interests are challenged, we will act.

Comma used to balance a sentence: The meeting is not cancelled, only postponed.

Colon or Semicolon?

A semicolon produces a balance between two parts of a sentence.

A colon produces an effect whereby the meaning in the second part leads on from the first part.

Examples:

· To err is human; to blame it on the other party is politics.
· This is Wednesday; we meet on Friday.
· I feel angry: do I look angry?

Question mark

The question mark is used:

· to show a question has been asked

· sometimes when a question is in the form of a statement, to reflect a rising tone of speech

· with emphatic statements in the form of questions

Apostrophe

The main role of the apostrophe is to show possession or association.

• If the noun is singular, you form the possessive by adding 's:
  • the cat's paws (one cat)
  • Mary's hair
• If the noun is plural and ends in s you add an apostrophe after the s:
  • the cats' paws (several cats)
  • the Smiths' house
• If the noun is plural and ends in a letter other than s, the possessive is formed by adding 's:
  • the children's clothes
  • the sheep's hoofs

Hyphen

The hyphen has three broad roles:

1. as part of a word's spelling, e.g. take-off, dive-bomb, date-stamp

2. as a means of linking words that belong together in a sentence, e.g. The meeting was attended by fifty-odd people.

3. to mark the division of a word that has to be split at the end of a line in print.

Missing letters: contractions

The most common contractions are based on a pronoun and verb.

I'd [I had or I would]
you're [you are]
she's [she is]
it's [it is; be careful not to confuse this with the possessive its]
they're [they are]

There is another group of contractions based on a verb + not.

can not [can't]
did not [didn't]
is not [isn't]
might not [mightn't; this is very informal]
need not [needn't]
should not [shouldn't]