Punctuation Marks

                                                                                                                        Aparna

Mark	Name	Example(s)
.	full stop	I love Chinese food.
,	comma	I speak Hindi, French and English.
;	semi-colon	I hate swimming; my girlfriend loves it. Neither of us spoke; we merely waited in silence to see what would happen.
:	colon	You will need the following: some paper; a pencil; a pen, preferably blue or black; and your course book. Dhiraj became a director in just four months: his father was the chief shareholder.
-	hyphen	He had something of a couldn't-care-less attitude to life.
--  -	dash	In each country -- Egypt, India and China -- we were able to communicate in English. The following day we had better luck - but that is another story.
?	question mark	Where is the railway station in Hyderabad?
!	exclamation mark	"Help!" he cried. "I can't swim!"
/	slash	Please do not write your name/identity no. on the answ3er sheet.
"	quotation marks	"I think I'm falling in love with you," she said.
'	apostrophe	This is Raghav’s car.
(  )	brackets	Citrus fruits (oranges, lemons, limes) are rich in vitamin C.
[  ]	(square) brackets	The newspaper reported that the hostages [most of them French] had been released.
...	ellipsis	One satisfied customer wrote: "This is the best school ... in which I have ever studied" or in more colloquial speech "This is the best school...that I have ever studied at."

 

period [ . ]

1. Use a period at the end of a sentence that makes a statement. There is no space between the last letter and the period. Use one space between the period and the first letter of the next sentence

2. Use a period at the end of a command.

·         Hand in the poster essays no later than noon on Friday.

·         In case of tremors, leave the building immediately.

3. Use a period at the end of an indirect question.

·         The teacher asked why Manu had left out the easy exercises.

·         My father used to wonder why my brother did not like to play football.

4. Use a period with abbreviations:

·         Dr. Verma arrived from Washington, D.C., at 6 p.m.

Notice that when the period ending the abbreviation comes at the end of a sentence, it will also suffice to end the sentence. On the other hand, when an abbreviation ends a question or exclamation, it is appropriate to add a question mark or exclamation mark after the abbreviation-ending period:

Did you enjoy living in Washington, D.C.?

Occasionally, a statement will end with a question. When that happens, it is appropriate to end the sentence with a question mark.

·         We can get to Rohini quicker, can't we, if we take the metro?

·         His question was, can we end this statement with a question mark?

·         She ended her remarks with a resounding why not?

Acronyms (abbreviations [usually made up of the first letter from a series of words] which we pronounce as words, not a series of letters) usually do not require periods: NATO, IFFCO, LASER, SCUBA, RADAR. Abbreviations we pronounce by spelling out the letters may or may not use periods and you will have to use a dictionary to be sure: FBI, CBI, RAW, U.S.A., U.N.I.C.E.F., etc.

 

COMMA

 

1. Use a comma to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), including the last two. "He hit the ball, dropped the bat, and ran to first base." You may have learned that the comma before the "and" is unnecessary, which is fine if you're in control of things. However, there are situations in which, if you don't use this comma (especially when the list is complex or lengthy), these last two items in the list will try to glom together (like macaroni and cheese). Using a comma between all the items in a series, including the last two, avoids this problem. This last comma—the one between the word "and" and the preceding word—is often called the serial comma or the Oxford comma. In newspaper writing, incidentally, you will seldom find a serial comma, but that is not necessarily a sign that it should be omitted in academic prose.

2. Use a comma + a little conjunction (and, but, for, nor, yet, or, so) to connect two independent clauses, as in "He hit the ball well, but he ran toward third base."

Contending that the coordinating conjunction is adequate separation, some writers will leave out the comma in a sentence with short, balanced independent clauses (such as we see in the example just given). If there is ever any doubt, however, use the comma, as it is always correct in this situation.

One of the most frequent errors in comma usage is the placement of a comma after a coordinating conjunction. We cannot say that a comma will always come before the conjunction and never after, but it would be a rare event, indeed, that we need to follow a coordinating conjunction with a comma. When speaking, we do sometimes pause after the little conjunction, but there is seldom a good reason to put a comma there.

3. Use a comma to set off introductory elements, as in "Running towards third base, he suddenly realized how stupid he looked."

It is permissible to omit the comma after a brief introductory element if the omission does not result in confusion or hesitancy in reading. If there is ever any doubt, use the comma, as it is always correct.

4. Use a comma to set off parenthetical elements, as in "Her brother, who is an engineer from IIT, has got a very good job." 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." This is the most difficult rule in punctuation because it is sometimes unclear what is "added" or "parenthetical" and what is essential to the meaning of a sentence.

Appositives are almost always treated as parenthetical elements.

·         Rajan’s ambition, to become a wicketkeeper in professional cricket, is within his reach.

·         Megha, his wife of thirty years, suddenly decided to open her own business.

Sometimes the appositive and the word it identifies are so closely related that the comma can be omitted, as in "His wife Megha suddenly decided to open her own business." We could argue that the name "Megha" is not essential to the meaning of the sentence (assuming he has only one wife), and that would suggest that we can put commas both before and after the name (and that would, indeed, be correct). But "his wife" and "Megha" are so close that we can regard the entire phrase as one unit and leave out the commas. With the phrase turned around, however, we have a more definite parenthetical element and the commas are necessary: "Megha, his wife, suddenly decided to open her own business." Consider, also, the difference between "College President Ira Joshi voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which we need the name "Ira Joshi" or the sentence doesn't make sense) and "Ira Joshi, the college president, voted to rescind the withdrawal policy" (in which the sentence makes sense without his title, the appositive, and we treat the appositive as a parenthetical element, with a pair of commas).

As pointed out above (Rule #3), an adverbial clause that begins a sentence is set off with a comma:

·         Although Ruben had spent several years in America, he still took warmly to the Indian village life.

·         Because Yashoda had learned to study by herself, she was able to pass the entrance exam.

When an adverbial clause comes later on in the sentence, however, the writer must determine if the clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence or not. A "because clause" can be particularly troublesome in this regard. In most sentences, a "because clause" is essential to the meaning of the sentence, and it will not be set off with a comma:

·         The farmers had to leave their farms in the southern part of the state because the drought conditions had ruined their farms.

Sometimes, though, the "because clause" must be set off with a comma to avoid misreading:

·         I knew that President Nixon would resign that morning, because my sister-in-law worked in the White House and she called me with the news.

Without that comma, the sentence says that Nixon's resignation was the fault of my sister-in-law. Nixon did not resign because my sister-in-law worked in the White House, so we set off that clause to make the meaning clearly parenthetical.

When a parenthetical element — an interjection, adverbial modifier, or even an adverbial clause — follows a coordinating conjunction used to connect two independent clauses, we do not put a comma in front of the parenthetical element.

·         Punjab were leading the Ranji Trophy at the end of May, but of course, they always do well. [no comma after "but"]

·         The Haryana boys didn't do so well in the early going, but frankly, everyone expects them to win the season. [no comma after "but"]

When both a city's name and that city's state or country's name are mentioned together, the state or country's name is treated as a parenthetical element.

·         We visited Jaipur, Rajasthan, last winter.

·         Paris, France, is sometimes called "The City of Lights."

When the state becomes a possessive form, this rule is no longer followed:

·         Mumabai, Maharashtra’s investment in the insurance industry is well known.

Also, when the state or country's name becomes part of a compound structure, the second comma is dropped:

·         Reliance, a Mumbai, Maharashtra-based company, is moving to another state.

An absolute phrase is always treated as a parenthetical element, as is an interjection. An addressed person's name is also always parenthetical. Be sure, however, that the name is that of someone actually being spoken to.

·         Their years of training now forgotten, the soldiers broke ranks.

·         Yes, it is always a matter, of course, of preparation and attitude.

·         I'm telling you, Juanita, I couldn't be more surprised. (I told Juanita I couldn't be more surprised. [no commas])

5. Use a comma to separate coordinate adjectives. You could think of this as "That tall, distinguished, good looking fellow" rule (as opposed to "the little old lady"). If you can put an and or a but between the adjectives, a comma will probably belong there. For instance, you could say, "He is a tall and distinguished fellow" or "I live in a very old and run-down house." So you would write, "He is a tall, distinguished man" and "I live in a very old, run-down house." But you would probably not say, "She is a little and old lady," or "I live in a little and purple house," so commas would not appear between little and old or between little and purple.

6. Use a comma to set off quoted elements. Because we don't use quoted material all the time, even when writing, this is probably the most difficult rule to remember in comma usage. It is a good idea to find a page from an article that uses several quotations, photocopy that page, and keep it in front of you as a model when you're writing. Generally, use a comma to separate quoted material from the rest of the sentence that explains or introduces the quotation:

·         Summing up this argument, Peter Coveney writes, "The purpose and strength of the romantic image of the child had been above all to establish a relation between childhood and adult consciousness."

If an attribution of a quoted element comes in the middle of the quotation, two commas will be required. But be careful not to create a comma splice in so doing.

·         "The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many things."

·         "I should like to buy an egg, please," she said timidly. "How do you sell them?"

Be careful not to use commas to set off quoted elements introduced by the word that or quoted elements that are embedded in a larger structure:

·         Peter Coveney writes that "[t]he purpose and strength of . . ."

·         We often say "Sorry" when we don't really mean it.

And, instead of a comma, use a colon to set off explanatory or introductory language from a quoted element that is either very formal or long (especially if it's longer than one sentence):

·         Peter Coveney had this to say about the nineteenth-century's use of children
in fiction: "The purpose and strength of . . . . "

7. Use commas to set off phrases that express contrast.

·         Some say the world will end in ice, not fire.

·         It was her money, not her charm or personality, that first attracted him.

·         The puppies were cute, but very messy.

(Some writers will leave out the comma that sets off a contrasting phrase beginning with but.)

8. Use a comma to avoid confusion. This is often a matter of consistently applying rule #3.

·         For most the year is already finished.

·         For most, the year is already finished.

·         Outside the lawn was cluttered with hundreds of broken branches.

·         Outside, the lawn was cluttered with hundreds of broken branches.

I have spent most of the day putting in a comma and the rest of the day taking it out. — Oscar Wilde

 

 

 

9. Grammar English's Famous Rule of Punctuation: Never use only one comma between a subject and its verb. "Believing completely and positively in oneself is essential for success." [Although readers might pause after the word "oneself," there is no reason to put a comma there.]

10. Typographical Reasons: Between a city and a state [Mumbai, Maharashtra], a date and the year [June 15, 1997], a name and a title when the title comes after the name [Bob Downey, Professor of English], in long numbers [5,456,783 and Rs.14,682], etc. Although you will often see a comma between a name and suffix — Bob Downey, Jr., Richard Harrison, III — this comma is no longer regarded as necessary by most copy editors.

Note that we use a comma or a set of commas to make the year parenthetical when the date of the month is included:

·         July 4, 1776, is regarded as the birth date of American liberty.

Without the date itself, however, the comma disappears:

·         August 1947 was one of the most eventful months in our history.

In international or military format, no commas are used:

·         The Declaration of Independence was signed on 4 July 1776.

 

 

 

Semicolon [ ; ]

·         to help sort out a list:
We had four professors on our committee: Rajesh Chauhan, Professor of Mathematics; Sonia Verma, Professor of English; Salim  Khan, Professor of Education; and Nadia Light, Professor of Philosophy.

·         to separate closely related independent clauses:
My grandmother seldom goes to bed this early; she's afraid she'll miss out on something.

The semicolon allows the writer to imply a relationship between nicely balanced ideas without actually stating that relationship. (Instead of saying because my grandmother is afraid she'll miss out on something, we have implied the because. Thus the reader is involved in the development of an idea—a clever, subliminal way of engaging the reader's attention.)

It is rare, but certainly possible, that you will want a semicolon to separate two independent clauses even when those two independent clauses are connected by a coordinating conjunction. This is especially true when the independent clauses are complex or lengthy and when there are commas within those independent clauses. You might consider breaking those two independent clauses into separate sentences when this happens.

·         Coach Goswami realized that his next recruiting class contained two superb guards, a fine post player, and a power forward; but as of the end of the spring recruiting season, he was still pushing to discover better first-year players for the interior positions

The Colon [ : ]

 

1.Use a colon before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself. Think of the colon as a gate, inviting one to go on:

There is only one thing left to do now: confess while you still have time.

The charter review committee now includes the following people:

the mayor

the chief of police

the fire chief

the chairman of the town council

2. We will often use a colon to separate an independent clause from a quotation (often of a rather formal nature) that the clause introduces:

The acting director often used her favourite quotation from Shakespeare's Tempest: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

With today's sophisticated word-processing programs (which know how much space to put after punctuation marks), we insert only one space (hit the space-bar only once) after a colon.

3. It might be useful to say, also, when we don't use a colon. Remember that the clause that precedes the mark (where you're considering a colon) ought to be able to stand on its own as an independent clause. We would not use a colon in situations like the following:

·         His favorite breakfast cereals were puffed rice, corn flakes, and dalia. (no colon after "were")

·         Her usual advice, I remember, was "Keep your head up as you push the ball up the court." (no colon after "was")

4. One of the most frequently asked questions about colons is whether we should begin an independent clause that comes after a colon with a capital letter. If the independent clause coming after the colon is a formal quote, begin that quoted language with a capital letter.

Whitehead had this to say about writing style: "Style is the ultimate morality of mind."

5. If the explanatory statement coming after a colon consists of more than one sentence, begin the independent clause immediately after the colon with a capital letter:

There were two reasons for a drop in attendance at NBA games this season: First, there was no superstar to take the place of Michael Jordan. Second, fans were disillusioned about the misbehaviour of several prominent players.

6. If the introductory phrase preceding the colon is very brief and the clause following the colon represents the real business of the sentence, begin the clause after the colon with a capital letter:

Remember: Many of the prominent families of this New England state were slaveholders prior to 1850.

7. If the function of the introductory clause is simply to introduce, and the function of the second clause (following the colon) is to express a rule, begin that second clause with a capital:

Let us not forget this point: Appositive phrases have an entirely different function than participial phrases and must not be regarded as dangling modifiers.

8. We also use a colon after a salutation in a business letter . . .

Dear Mr. Jai Singh:

It has come to our attention that . . . . .

9. We use a colon when we designate the speaker within a play or in court testimony:

BIFF: He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong.
HAPPY (almost ready to fight Biff): Don't say that!
BIFF: He never knew who he was.

 

The Apostrophe [ ’ ]

 

 

We use an apostrophe to create possessive forms, contractions, and some plurals .The apostrophe shows where a letter or letters have been left out of a contracted verb:

contractions

I am = I'm

you are = you're

she is = she's

it is = it's

do not = don't

she would = she'd

he would have = he would've

let us = let's

who is = who's

she will = she'll

they had = they'd

 

In possessives, the placement of the apostrophe depends on whether the noun that shows possession is singular or plural. Generally, if the noun is singular, the apostrophe goes before the s. The witch's broom. If the noun is plural, the apostrophe goes after the s: The witches' brooms. However, if the word is pluralized without an s, the apostrophe comes before the s: He entered the men's room with an armload of children's clothing. If you create a possessive with a phrase like of the witches, you will use no apostrophe: the brooms of the witches.

«  Remember that it's means it is or it has. Confusing it's with its, the possessive of it, is perhaps the most common error in writing.

«  Remember, too, that there is no appropriate contraction for "there are." Don't confuse "they're," which means "they are" with "there are" (which can sound like "ther're," [or some such set of rumbling r's] in casual speech).

An apostrophe is also used to form some plurals, especially the plural of letters and digits.

·         Rahul got four A's last term and his sister got four 6's in the ice-skating competition.

This is particularly useful when the letter being pluralized is in the lower case: "minding one's p's and q's" or "Don't forget to dot your i's." (In a context in which the plural is clear, apostrophes after upper-case letters are not necessary: "He got four As, two Bs, and three Cs.") It is no longer considered necessary or even correct to create the plural of years or decades or abbreviations with an apostrophe:

·         He wrote several novels during the 1930s.

·         There are fifteen PhDs on our faculty.

·         My sister and I have identical IQs.

(If you wrote Ph.D. with periods, you would add an apostrophe before the pluralizing "s": Ph.D.'s) If the abbreviation or acronym ends in "S," it's a good idea to separate this final "S" from the pluralizing "s" with an apostrophe: SOS's

The Bracket [ [ ] ]

Use brackets in the following situations:

1. You can use them to include explanatory words or phrases within quoted language:

Lew Perkins, the Director of Athletic Programs, said that Pumita Espinoza, the new soccer coach [at Notre Dame Academy] is going to be a real winner.

2. If you are quoting material and you've had to change the capitalization of a word or change a pronoun to make the material fit into your sentence, enclose that changed letter or word(s) within brackets:

Sheena charged her former employer with "falsification of [her] record."

3. Also within quotations, you could enclose [sic] within brackets (we italicize but never underline the word sic and we do not italicize the brackets themselves) to show that misspelled words or inappropriately used words are not your own typos or blunders but are part of an accurately rendered quotation:

Reporters found three mispelings [sic] in the report.

(It is bad manners, however, to use this device to show that another writer is a lousy speller or otherwise unlettered. Also, use it only when it is important to maintain the original spelling for some reason. If you can edit (remove) the error without violating some scholarly or ethical principle, do so.) Note, also, that the word sic means "thus" or "that's how it was" and is not an abbreviation; thus, no period.

4. If you have italicized or underlined words within quoted language that was not italicized or underlined in the original, you can note that change in brackets included within the sentence or paragraph:

It was the atmosphere of the gym that thrilled Jacobs, not the eight championship banners hanging from the beams [italics added].

("Italics mine" or "emphasis added" would be other acceptable phrases.)

5. You can use brackets to include parenthetical material inside parenthetical material:

Chernwell was poet laureate of Bermuda (a largely honorary position [unpaid]) for ten years.

 

 The Dash [ — ]

The dash is a handy device, informal and esentially playful, telling you that you're about to take off on a different tack but still in some way connected with the present course — only you have to remember that the dash is there, and either put a second dash at the end of the notion to let the reader know that he's back on course, or else end the sentence, as here, with a period.

^__ Lewis Thomas

Use a dash or dashes as a super-comma or set of super-commas to set off parenthetical elements, especially when those elements contain internal forms of punctuation:

All four of them—Bob, Jeffrey, Jason, and Brett—did well in college.

v  Do not use dashes to set apart material when commas would do the work for you. Usually, there are no spaces between the dash and the letters on either side of a dash, although the dash is frequently shown that way in documents prepared for the World Wide Web and e-mail for typographical and aesthetic reasons (because the WWW authoring and e-mail clients have little control over line-breaks).

v  In writing dialogue, the dash is used to show breaks in thought and shifts in tone:

                        "How many times have I asked you not to —" Jasion suddenly stopped                              talking and looked out the window.

                        "Not to do what?" I prompted.

                        "Not to — Oh heck, I forget!" 

 

The Ellipsis [ … ]

An ellipsis proves to be a handy device when you're quoting material and you want to omit some words. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks.

1. Let's take the sentence, "The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes from Pakistan who were visiting India." and leave out "from Pakistan who were":

The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes … visiting India.

If the omission comes after the end of a sentence, the ellipsis will be placed after the period, making a total of four dots. … See how that works? Notice that there is no space between the period and the last character of the sentence.

2. The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech:

Juan thought and thought … and then thought some more.
"I'm wondering …" Juan said, bemused.

Note carefully the spacing of the ellipsis marks and the surrounding characters in the examples above. In mid-sentence, a space should appear between the first and last ellipsis marks and the surrounding letters. If a quotation is meant to trail off (as in Juan's bemused thought), leave a space between the last letter and the first ellipsis mark but do not include a period with the ellipsis marks.

If words are left off at the end of a sentence, and that is all that is omitted, indicate the omission with ellipsis marks (preceded and followed by a space) and then indicate the end of the sentence with a period … . If one or more sentences are omitted, end the sentence before the ellipsis with a period and then insert your ellipsis marks with a space on both sides. … As in this example. A coded ellipsis (used in the construction of this page) will appear tighter (with less of a space between the dots) than the use of period-space-period-space-period.

When words at the beginning of a quoted sentence are omitted, it is not necessary to use an ellipsis to indicate that words have been left out when that fragment can fit into the flow of your text. An exception: in a blockquoted fragment, use an ellipsis to indicate an omission:

According to Quirk and Greenbaum, the distinctions are unimportant … for count nouns with specific reference to definite and indefinite pronouns.

However, if the material quoted can be read as a complete sentence, simply capitalize the first word of the material and leave out the ellipsis marks:

This principle is described by Quirk and Greenbaum:
The distinctions for count nouns with specific reference to definite and indefinite pronouns remain unimportant.

When a lengthy quotation begins with a complete sentence and ends with a complete sentence, do not use an ellipsis at either the end or the beginning of the quotation unless it is, for some reason, important to emphasize that some language has been omitted.

The MLA Handbook recommends using square brackets on either side of the ellipsis points to distinguish between an ellipsis that you've added and the ellipses that might have been in the original text. Such a bracketed ellipsis in a quotation would look like this:

"Bohr […] used the analogy of parallel stairways […]" (Smith 55).

 

The Exclamation Mark [ ! ]

1. Use an exclamation point at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command.

"No!" he yelled. "Do it now!"

2. An exclamation mark may be used to close questions that are meant to convey extreme emotion, as in

What on earth are you doing! Stop!

3. An exclamation mark can be inserted within parentheses to emphasize a word within a sentence.

We have some really(!) low-priced rugs on sale this week.

Note that there is no space between the last letter of the word so emphasized and the parentheses. This device should be used rarely, if ever, in formal text.

4. An exclamation mark will often accompany mimetically produced sounds, as in

"All night long, the dogs woof! in my neighbour’s yard" and

"The bear went Grr!, and I went left."

If an exclamation mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make sure that the exclamation mark is also italicized or underlined:

My favorite book is Oh, the Places You'll Go!

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title's exclamation mark. The exclamation mark will also suffice to end the sentence.) If the exclamation mark is not part of a sentence-ending title, don't italicize the exclamation mark:

I've asked you not to sing la Marseillaise!

In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all, and in newspaper writing the exclamation point is virtually nonexistent.

 

The Hyphen

 

Although smart word-processors seem to have taken over the job of hyphenating broken words at the right-hand end of our lines and spellcheckers can review our use of hyphens in other places, these technological marvels are by no means infallible. Microsoft Word, for example, flags as misspelled almost any word with an unhyphenated prefix: antidiscrimination and cogeneration, for example, are marked as misspelled words and re-sign, co-bra, ever-green, and be-loved are marked as correctly hyphenated words by that software. Generally, it is a good idea not to use justified text in academic papers; that will cut down on a lot of decisions about hyphenating. The APA Publication Manual, in fact, insists that you not break words at line-endings in any case, but that can lead to lines that are too brief and aesthetically unbalanced.

The rules for hyphenating at line endings are so complicated that no one can be expected to keep track of them. If you're ever in a situation where you have to hyphenate at line-breaks, go to a dictionary—unless you can explain why you would break experience between the e and the r, that is, and then you can do whatever you want. Remember that if you adjust one line-break for aesthetic reasons, that may well affect subsequent line-breaks in the text.

Hyphens have other uses

a.       creating compound words, particularly modifiers before nouns (the well-known actor, my six-year-old daughter, the out-of-date curriculum

b.       writing numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions (five-eighths, one-fourth)

c.       creating compounds on-the-fly for fly-by-night organizations

d.       adding certain prefixes to words: When a prefix comes before a capitalized word or the prefix is capitalized, use a hyphen (non-English, A-frame, I-formation). The prefixes self-, all-, and ex- nearly always require a hyphen (ex-husband, all-inclusive, self-control), and when the prefix ends with the same letter that begins the word, you will often use a hyphen (anti-intellectual, de-emphasize), but not always (unnatural, coordinate, cooperate). By all means, use a good dictionary when in doubt! For further information about compound nouns and compound modifiers, see the separate section on Compound Words.

There is no space between a hyphen and the character on either side of it.

The Question Mark [ ? ]

1. Use a question mark at the end of a direct question. It is considered bad form to use a question mark in combination with other marks, although that is often done in informal prose in an attempt to convey complex tones: He told you what!? That combination (or similar combination) of punctuation marks is sometimes called an interrobang, but the interrobang currently has no role in academic prose.*

2. A tag question is a device used to turn a statement into a question. It nearly always consists of a pronoun, a helping verb, and sometimes the word not. Although it begins as a statement, the tag question prevails when it comes to the end-mark: use a question mark. Notice that when the statement is positive, the tag question is expressed in the negative; when the statement is negative, the tag question is positive. (There are a few exceptions to this, frequently expressing an element of surprise or sarcasm: "So you've made your first million, have you?" "Oh, that's your plan, is it?") The following are more typical tag questions:

·         He should quit smoking, shouldn't he?

·         He shouldn't have quit his diet, should he?

·         They're not doing very well, are they?

·         He finished on time, didn't he?

·         She does a beautiful job, doesn't she?

·         Harold may come along, mightn't he?

·         There were too many people on the dock, weren't there?
(Be careful of this last one; it's not "weren't they?")

♠     Be careful not to put a question mark at the end of an indirect question.

·         The instructor asked the students what they were doing.

·         I asked my sister if she had a date.

·         I wonder if Cheney will run for vice president again.

·         I wonder whether Cheney will run again.

♠     Be careful to distinguish between an indirect question (above), and a question that is embedded within a statement which we do want to end with a question mark.

·         We can get to Boston quicker, can't we, if we take the interstate?

·         His question was, can we end this statement with a question mark?

·         She ended her remarks with a resounding why not?

·         I wonder: will Cheney run for office again?

3. Put a question mark at the end of a sentence that is, in fact, a direct question. (Sometimes writers will simply forget.) Rhetorical questions (asked when an answer is not really expected), by the way, are questions and deserve to end with a question mark:

·         How else should we end them, after all?

·         What if I said to you, "You've got a real problem here"? (Notice that the question mark here comes after the quotation mark and there is no period at the end of the statement.)

4. Sometimes a question will actually end with a series of brief questions. When that happens, especially when the brief questions are more or less follow-up questions to the main question, each of the little questions can begin with a lowercase letter and end with a question mark.

·         Who is responsible for executing the plan? the coach? the coaching staff? the players?

5. If a question mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make sure that the question mark is also italicized:

·         My favorite book is Where Did He Go?

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title's question mark. The question mark will also suffice to end the sentence.) If the question mark is not part of a sentence-ending title, don't italicize the question mark:

·         Did he sing the French national anthem, la Marseillaise?

6. When a question ends with an abbreviation, end the abbreviation with a period and then add the question mark.

·         Didn't he use to live in Washington, D.C.?

7. When a question constitutes a polite request, it is usually not followed by a question mark. This becomes more true as the request becomes longer and more complex:

·         Would everyone in the room who hasn't received an ID card please move to the front of the line.

The Slash or Virgule   [ / ]

A slash or slant or solidus or virgule (take your pick of names) is used to indicate a choice between the words it separates.

·         Using the pass/fail option backfired on her; she could've gotten an A.

The slash can be translated as or and should not be used where the word or could not be used in its place. To avoid gender problems with pronouns, some writers use he/she, his/her, and him/her. Many authorities despise that construction and urge writers either to pluralize when possible and appropriate (to they, their, them) or to use he or she, etc. instead. Notice there is no space between the slash and the letters on either side of it.

There is, however, a space when the slash is used to indicate a line-break in quoted poetry: "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep / but I have promises to keep." (This way of quoting poetry is limited to four or five lines of verse, within the normal flow of text.)

When using slashes in a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for a World Wide Web address (http://www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/), be especially sure not to include spaces and not to confuse the slash with its backward cousin, \, used as a path separator in Windows (for example, c:\program files\Adobe).

Parentheses [  ( ) ]

 

Use parentheses to include material that you want to de-emphasize or that wouldn't normally fit into the flow of your text but you want to include nonetheless. If the material within parentheses appears within a sentence, do not use a capital letter or period to punctuate that material, even if the material is itself a complete sentence. (A question mark or exclamation mark, however, might be appropriate and necessary.) If the material within your parentheses is written as a separate sentence (not included within another sentence), punctuate it as if it were a separate sentence.

·         Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost (we remember him at Kennedy's inauguration) remains America's favorite poet.

·         Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost (do you remember him?) remains America's favorite poet.

·         Thirty-five years after his death, Robert Frost remains America's favorite poet. (We remember him at Kennedy's inauguration.)

If the material is important enough, use some other means of including it within your text—even if it means writing another sentence. Note that parentheses tend to de-emphasize text whereas dashes tend to make material seem even more important.

Quotation Marks [ “ ” ]

Use quotation marks to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language. Quotation marks also set off the titles of things that do not normally stand by themselves: short stories, poems, and articles. Usually, a quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by a comma; however, the typography of quoted material can become quite complicated. Here is one simple rule to remember:

In the United States, periods and commas go inside quotation marks regardless of logic.

In the United Kingdom, Canada, and islands under the influence of British education, punctuation around quotation marks is more apt to follow logic. In American style, then, you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design." But in England you would write: My favorite poem is Robert Frost's "Design". The placement of marks other than periods and commas follows the logic that quotation marks should accompany (be right next to) the text being quoted or set apart as a title. Thus, you would write:

·         What do you think of Robert Frost's "Design"? and

·         I love "Design"; however, my favourite poem was written by Emily Dickinson.

Further, punctuation around quoted speech or phrases depends on how it fits into the rest of your text. If a quoted word or phrase fits into the flow of your sentence without a break or pause, then a comma may not be necessary:

·         The phrase "lovely, dark and deep" begins to suggest ominous overtones.

Following a form of to say, however, you'll almost always need a comma:

·         My father always said, "Be careful what you wish for."

If the quoted speech follows an independent clause yet could be part of the same sentence, use a colon to set off the quoted language:

·         My mother's favourite quote was from Shakespeare: "This above all, to thine own self be true."

When an attribution of speech comes in the middle of quoted language, set it apart as you would any parenthetical element:

·         "I don't care," she said, "what you think about it."

Be careful, though, to begin a new sentence after the attribution if sense calls for it:

·         "I don't care," she said. "What do you think?"

Convention normally insists that a new paragraph begins with each change of speaker:

"I don't care what you think anymore," she said, jauntily tossing back her hair and looking askance at Edward.
"What do you mean?" he replied.
"What do you mean, 'What do I mean?'" Alberta sniffed. She was becoming impatient and wished that she were elsewhere.
"You know darn well what I mean!" Edward huffed.
"Have it your way," Alberta added, "if that's how you feel."

In reporting "silent speech"—noting that language is "said," but internally and not spoken out loud—writers are on their own. Writers can put quotation marks around it or not:

·         Oh, what a beautiful morning, Curly said to himself.

·         "Oh, what a beautiful morning!" Curly said to himself.

Some writers will set such unspoken language in italics or indent it in order to set it off from other "regular" language. That's probably not a good idea if there is a lot of it because the indents can be confusing and italics can become tiresome to read after a while. The decision will probably depend on the amount of silent speech within the text. Be careful not to use quotation marks in an attempt to emphasize a word (the kind of thing you see in grocery store windows—Big "Sale" Today!). Underline or italicize that word instead. (The quotation marks will suggest to some people that you are using that word in a special or peculiar way and that you really mean something else—or that your sale is entirely bogus.)

The American Medical Association Manual of Style (9th ed, 1998) calls misused quotation marks like this Apologetic Quotation Marks and says:

Quotation marks used around words to give special effect or to indicate irony are usually unnecessary. When irony or special effect is intended, skillful preparation can take the place of using these quotes. Resort to apologetic quotation marks or quotation marks used to express irony only after such attempts have failed, keeping in mind that the best writing does not rely on apologetic quotation marks. (p 220)

We do not enclose indirect quotations in quotation marks. An indirect quotation reports what someone says but not in the exact, original language. Indirect quotations are not heard in the same way that quoted language is heard.

·         The President said that the agreement would eventually be a boon to small businesses in both countries.

·         Professor Vinita told her students the textbooks were not yet in the bookstore.

Double Punctuation with Quotations

Occasionally — very occasionally, we hope — we come across a sentence that seems to demand one kind of punctuation mark within quotation marks and another kind of punctuation mark outside the quotation marks. A kind of pecking order of punctuation marks takes over: other marks are stronger than a period and an exclamation mark is usually stronger than a question mark. If a statement ends in a quoted question, allow the question mark within the quotation marks suffice to end the sentence.

·         Malcolm X had the courage to ask the younger generation of American blacks, "What did we do, who preceded you?"

On the other hand, if a question ends with a quoted statement that is not a question, the question mark will go outside the closing quotation mark.

·         Who said, "Fame means when your computer modem is broken, the repair guy comes out to your house a little faster"?

If a question ends with a quotation containing an exclamation mark, the exclamation mark will supersede the question and suffice to end the sentence.

·         Wasn't it Malcolm X who declared, "Why, that's the most hypocritical government since the world began!"

A single question mark will suffice to end a quoted question within a question:

·         "Didn't he ask, 'What did we do, who preceded you?'" queried Johnson.

Single Quotation Marks[ ‘ ’ ]

 In America single quotation marks are used to enclose quoted material (or the titles of poems, stories, articles) within other quoted material:

·         "'Design' is my favorite poem," he said.

·         "Did she ask, 'What's going on?'"

British practice, again, is quite different. In fact, single-quote marks and double-quote marks are apt to be reversed in usage.

1. In newspapers, single quotation marks are used in headlines where double quotation marks would otherwise appear.

·         Congress Cries 'Shame!'

2. One further use, according to the Chicago Manual of Style: in philosophical discourse, key concepts may be set apart with single-quote marks. When such concepts are set off in this way, periods and commas go outside the single-quote marks:

·         Sartre's treatment of 'being', as opposed to his treatment of 'non-being', has been thoroughly described in Kaufmann's book.

 

 

 

EXERCISE

Use appropriate punctuation marks in the following sentences.

1.      We had a great time in France  the kids really enjoyed it

2.      Some people work best in the mornings others do better in the evenings

3.      What are you doing next weekend

4.      Mother had to go into hospital she had heart problems

5.      did you understand why I was upset

6.      It is a fine idea let us hope that it is going to work

7.      We will be arriving on Monday morning  at least I think so

8.      a textbook can be a wall between teacher and class

9.      the girls father sat in a corner

10.  In the words of Murphys Law Anything that can go wrong will go wrong

11.  i like playing with my friends sandy sunny sameer

12.  we went through the smoky mountains, near shimla on our way to leh

13.  my favourite soap is pears and my favourite toothpaste is pepsodent

14.  i’m a catholic and that’s why i go to st.joseph’s school

15.  my friend priya speaks german and she is teaching me some words 

16.  he was honest sincere hard working

17.  hindus muslims Sikhs christians live together in India

18.  Long ago in a town in Switzerland there lived a famous man called William

19.  akbar the greatest of the mughal emperors ruled wisely

20.  tanya said to ila rahul is a nice guy

 

 

Answers

1.      We had a great time in France – the kids really enjoyed it.

2.      Some people work best in the mornings; others do better in the evenings.

3.      What are you doing next weekend?

4.      Mother had to go into hospital: she had heart problems.

5.      Did you understand why I was upset?

6.      It is a fine idea; let us hope that it is going to work.

7.       We will be arriving on Monday morning – at least, I think so.

8.       A textbook can be a ‘wall’ between teacher and class.

9.       The girl’s father sat in a corner.

10.   In the words of Murphy’s Law: ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’

11.  I like playing with my friends-Sandy, Sunny and Sameer.

12.  We went through the smoky mountains near Shimla, on our way to Leh.

13.  My favourite soap is Pears and my favourite toothpaste is Pepsodent.

14.  I'm a Catholic and that's why I go to St. Joseph's School.

15.  My friend, Priya speaks German and she is teaching me some words.  

16.  He was honest, sincere and hard working.

17.  Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians live together in India.

18.  Long ago, in a town in Switzerland, there lived a famous man called William.

19.  Akbar, the greatest of the Mughal emperors, ruled wisely.

Tanya said to Ila, "Rahul is a nice guy."