PUNCTUATION SYMBOLS

THE MOST COMMON PUNCTUATION SYMBOLS or MARKS

The full stop or the period (Am.E.) (.)
The comma (,)
The question mark (?)
The exclamation mark (!)
The slash (/)
The brackets or parentheses ( )
The colon (:)
The semi-colon (;)
The apostrophe (')
The hyphen (-)
The dash ( - )
The quotation marks ('' '')
The ellipsis ( ... )
The capital letter (A, B...)

GRAMMAR LOG

Punctuation symbols or marks

We put words together into a sentence or more sentences to express our thoughts, feelings, views, etc. To make the meaning of a written sentence clear, we use punctuation symbols or marks.

The apostrophe (') is used in contractions to show the omission of one or more letters and to express possession.

Today we're going for a drive in my father's car.

The brackets or parentheses ( ) add further data. If we remove the information from the brackets, the sentence still makes sense.

My students (and their parents) are very nice.

The comma (,) marks a pause. It is used for listing, separating parts of a sentence or sentences and in direct speech *for shorter quotations.

Mr Crystal is a linguist, an author, a lecturer and a broadcaster.
However, he works from home.
She was born in England, but she lives in the States.
He said, "I can't wait to meet them." OR "I can't wait to meet them," he said.

The colon (:) is placed before an explanation, an example, a list of items, and in *direct speech for longer quotations.

He mastered some foreign languages: Italian, French, and Czech.

Ann felt nervous: she hated flying.

My friend explained: “We've changed our holiday plans.Actually, we’restaying at home."

*This is just a helpful guideline, not a rule.

The dash( – ) is rather informal. It marks interruptions or a sudden change of thought. It can be used instead of colon or semi-colon.

All's well that ends well – or at least we think so.

The ellipsis ( ... ) means leaving out one or more words, sentences, lines, etc. of a quotation.

"I don't know...," he said.

The exclamation mark(!) is placed at the end of exclamations / a sentence to mark strong feelings. We should avoid using it, especially in formal writing.

Stop! What a surprise! Oops!

The full stop or the period (Am.E.) (.) is placed at the end of a sentence. It can also be used with some abbreviations.

Some people prefer texting to making a phone call.
It happened in the year 613 B.C.

In websites and email addresses this symbol (.) is called the dot.

[email protected] = punctuation at gmail dot com
.......................... = a dotted line

In numerical expressions this symbol is (.) the point.

0.56 =nought/zero point five six

The hyphen (-) connects letters with words, prefixes with words and, words with words to form compounds. There is a tendency to omit it and write compounds as one or two words.

an i-pad
an anti-nuclear movement
a three-year-old boy

The question mark (?) is placed at the end of a sentence to mark a question. 

How are you? You are tired, aren't you

The slash (/) is a symbol denoting "and,", "or."

In the year 2011/12

The semi-colon (;) is used to divide two sentences which are somehow connected.

Nina is a very kind person; she visits her elderly neighbour every day. (The full stop is also possible here.)

The quotation marks (''   '') indicate someone's direct quotation/direct speech, which is separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma.

"I really don't know,"said Mia.

Suzanne, Dorian, Los Angeles,  General Motors, Baker Street /Road/Avenue, the Soča, the
Alps, Venus, the Guardian, Professor, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, etc. 

We also use capital letters for days of the week, months of the year, continents, countries, nationalities, languages,etc. like:

Sunday, March, Europe, Slovenia, an Italian, English, Middle Ages, Easter, UNESCO.

WORDS TO REMEMBER

official = (adj.) here: approved by authority
holiday = (n.) a festive day, esp. if no work is done
newsletter = (n.) like a newspaper of an organisation, society, etc.
to spot = (v.) to see, to recognize
be aware (of) = (adj.) to know, be informed about
matter = (v.) to be important
social networking = (n.) using social media: twitter, facebook, etc.
graduate = (n.) someone who has finished high school and holds a diploma (A.E.) or has university degree (in)

SOLUTION


Is there such a thing as Punctuation Day?

NPD stands for National Punctuation Day; it is an official national holiday of punctuation in the States – the country where everything is possible.

How did it all begin? An American newsletter writer and speaker Jeff Rubin got tired of spotting so many punctuation mistakes in newspapers. As a result, he founded National Punctuation Day in 2004. He wants people to be aware of the fact that punctuation matters. He says, “In the age of social networking, high school graduates can't read and can't write, so they won't be able to get a job.”

The Americans celebrate National Punctuation Day on September 24.