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PUNCTUATION. IMPORTANT FOR ALL. Introduction. Punctuation marks are used to ‘chunk’ text up into meaningful units, marking a variety of grammatical boundaries. Punctuation is all about awareness of these grammatical chunks. Explanation.
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PUNCTUATION IMPORTANT FOR ALL
Introduction • Punctuation marks are used to ‘chunk’ text up into meaningful units, marking a variety of grammatical boundaries. Punctuation is all about awareness of these grammatical chunks.
Explanation • To split up texts into sentences, indicating clearly where each major chunk of meaning begins and ends, we use capital letters and full stops. • Within the sentence, we use a variety of punctuation marks to show breaks between phrases, clauses and, sometimes, words. • Punctuation marks can sometimes suggest the tone of voice in which a sentence should be read. • There are also some punctuation marks (the hyphen and apostrophe) which work within words to help clarify meaning.
FULL STOP … • We mark the start of a sentence with a capital letter and the end with a full stop, exclamation mark or question mark. • EG: The big dog was barking.
QUESTION MARK ??? • Used at the end of an interrogative sentence. • EG: Who was that? • OR whose function is a question. • EG: You’re leaving already?
EXCLAMATION MARK !!! • Used at the end of a sentence (which may be exclamative, imperative or declarative) or an interjection to show strong emotion. • Exclamative: What a pity! • Imperative: Get out! • Declarative: It’s a goal! • Interjection: Oh dear!
DASH - • A dash (-) can function like a colon to introduce a quotation or a list, an explanation or elaboration, or a summing up and two dashes can mark off a parenthesis • Used to replace other punctuation marks (colons, semi-colons, commas) or brackets. • Especially used in informal writing. • EG: It was a great day out – everyone enjoyed it. • Today I am going to go shopping – (it is so cold outside, I must be mad) – mainly because I organised a party tomorrow night. • (either side of parenthesis)
BRACKETS ( ) • A parenthesis is a word or phrase inserted into a sentence to explain or elaborate. It may be placed in brackets or between dashes or commas. • Brackets:Sam and Emma (his oldest children) are coming next weekend. • Dashes:Michael is generally happy – he sings in the mornings! – but responsibility weighs him down. • Commas:Paul is, I believe, our best student. • The term parentheses (plural of parenthesis) can also refer to the brackets themselves.
COMMA ,,, • Separates parts of sentences, sometimes corresponds to a pause in speech. • EG: My favourite sports are football, motor cross and badminton. • EG: I got home, had a bath and went to bed. • To mark off extra information = Jill, my boss, is full of fun. • After a subordinate clause which begins a sentence = Although it was cold, we didn’t wear our coats. • With many connecting adverbs (e.g. however, on the other hand, anyway, for example). EG: Anyway, I decided not to go.
COLON : • A colon (:) introduces a quotation or a list; an explanation or elaboration; or a summing up. • List: Today I will buy: milk, jam, coffee and sugar. • It can also be used before a second clause to expand or explain the first part of the sentence. Explanation: He was very cold: the temperature was below freezing. • Summing up: It can therefore be concluded that: he was guilty of murder, guilty of theft, guilty of adultery and should be imprisoned
SEMI-COLON ; • A semi-colon (;) finishes off one part of a sentence. • Used to separate two main clauses in a sentence. EG: I liked the book; it was a pleasure to read. (It could be written as two separate sentences, but they are closely related). • Also used to separate items in a list IF these items consist of longer phrases. EG: I need large, juicy tomatoes; half a pound of unsalted butter; a kilo of fresh pasta, preferably tagliatelli; and a jar of black olives.
INVERTED COMMAS “ ” • Inverted commas (‘ ’) ( “ ”) mark quotations, direct speech, foreign words or words used in an unusual way. (Italics may sometimes be used similarly) • “Hello, I am Joe,” replied the strange man. (speech) • I don’t like their clothes, but ‘c`est la vie’. (foreign word) • In the novel ‘Holes’, Stanley “was glad that he agreed to let X-Ray have anything he might find.” (quote)
HYPHEN - • Sometimes used to join two parts of a compound noun. EG: city-centre. • EG: break-in, write-off, mix-up, passer-by. • Also with prefixes. EG: co-worker, non-smoker, and ex-wife, non-existent.
APOSTROPHE ‘ • An apostrophe is used for omitted letter(s) when a verb is contracted (i.e. shortened). • I am = I’m • Who has = who’s • Would have = would’ve • Or not is contracted to join the verb = could not becomes couldn’t. • Also let’s and o’clock. • Formal writing tends to write them out full. • Possessive forms: the cat’s tail, mother’s iron. • Plural, put the apostrophe at the end: parents’ car. • Irregular plurals, add the s: children’s toys. • GOOD LUCK
ELLIPSIS … • Ellipsis is the term used for three dots (…) which shows that something has been omitted or is incomplete. • He said that he would “…maybe throw the stone…” then he left. • It can also be used for suspense, not immediately telling the rest of the story or having an open ending. • It was very misty and as he turned the corner …