PUNCTUATION

1. Capital letters and full stops (.)

 We use capital letters to mark the beginning of a sentence and we use full
stops to mark the end of a sentence:

e.g. We went to France last summer. We were really surprised that it was so easy

to travel on the motorways.

 We also use capital letters at the beginning of proper nouns. Proper nouns
include personal names (including titles before names), nationalities and
languages, days of the week and months of the year, public holidays as well
as geographical places:

e.g. Dr David James is the consultant at Leeds City Hospital.

They are planning a long holiday in New Zealand.

Can she speak Japanese?

The next meeting of the group will take place on Thursday.

What plans do you have for Chinese New Year?

 We use capital letters for the titles of books, magazines and newspapers,
plays and music:

e.g. ‘Oliver’ is a musical based on the novel ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens.

The Straits Times is a daily English language newspaper in Singapore.

They are performing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.

 In addition to closing sentences, we also use full stops in initials for personal
names:

e.g. G. W. Dwyer

 Full stops are also used after abbreviations, although this practice is becoming
less common:

e.g. Arr. (arrival) etc. (etcetera) Dr. (doctor)

2. Question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!)
 We use question marks to make clear that what is said is a question. When we
use a question mark, we do not use a full stop:

e.g. Why do they make so many mistakes?

A:So you’re Harry’s cousin?
B:Yes. That’s right.

 We use exclamation marks to indicate an exclamative clause or expression in

informal writing. When we want to emphasise something in informal writing, we
sometimes use more than one exclamation mark:

e.g Listen!
Oh no!!! Please don’t ask me to phone her. She’ll talk for hours!!!

3. Commas (,)
 We use commas to separate a list of similar words or phrases:

e.g. It’s important to write in clear, simple, accurate words.

They were more friendly, more talkative, more open than last time we met them.

 We do not normally use a comma before ‘and’ at the end of a list of single
words:

e.g. They travelled through Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

American English does use a comma in lists before ‘and’:

e.g. We took bread, cheese, and fruit with us.

 We use commas to separate words or phrases that mark where the voice
would pause slightly:

e.g. I can’t tell you now. However, all will be revealed tomorrow at midday.
We had, in fact, lost all of our money.

SEPARATING CLAUSES WITH COMMAS

 When main clauses are separated by ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’, we don’t normally use
a comma if the clauses have the same subject. However, we sometimes use
commas if the clauses have different subjects:

e.g. They were very friendly and invited us to their villa in Portugal. (same subject)

It was an expensive hotel in the centre of Stockholm, but we decided it was

worth the money. (different subjects)
  When a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, we commonly use
a comma to separate the clauses. However, we do not always do this in short
sentences:

e.g. If you get lost in the city centre, please don’t hesitate to text us or phone us.
If you get lost just phone us.

 When we use subordinate or non-finite comment clauses to give further

details or more information, we commonly use commas to separate the
clauses:

e.g. You do need to wear a darker jacket, if I may say so

COMMAS AND RELATIVE CLAUSES

 We use commas to mark non-defining clauses. Such clauses normally add

extra, non-essential information about the noun or noun phrase:

e.g. The ambulance, which arrived after just five minutes, took three people to the
hospital immediately.

Warning:

We don’t use commas to mark defining clauses:

e.g.Barcelona was the Spanish city that was selected for the Olympic Games.
Not: … the Spanish city, that was selected …

COMMAS AND SPEECH FORMS

 We commonly separate tags and yes-no responses with commas:

e.g. They are going to the party, aren’t they?

No, thank you. I’ve already eaten too much.

 We also usually separate vocatives, discourse markers and interjections with

commas:

e.g. Open the door for them, Kayleigh, can you. Thanks. (vocative)
Well, what do you think we should do about it? (discourse marker)
Wow, that sounds really exciting. (interjection)

 We use commas to show that direct speech is following or has just

occurred:
 e.g He said in his opening speech, ‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’ (or He said
in his opening speech: ‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’)

When the direct speech is first, we use a comma before the closing of the
quotation marks:

e.g. ‘We don’t want to go on holiday to the same place every year,’ he said
impatiently.

4. Colons (:) and semi-colons (;)

 We use colons to introduce lists:

e.g There are three main reasons for the success of the government: economic,
social and political.

 We also use colons to indicate a subtitle or to indicate a subdivision of a

topic:

e.g. Life in Provence: A Personal View

 We often use colons to introduce direct speech:

e.g. Then he said: ‘I really cannot help you in any way.’

 We commonly use a colon between sentences when the second sentence

explains or justifies the first sentence:

e.g. Try to keep your flat clean and tidy: it will sell more easily.

 We use semi-colons instead of full stops to separate two main clauses. In

such cases, the clauses are related in meaning but are separated
grammatically:

e.g. Spanish is spoken throughout South America; in Brazil the main language is
Portuguese.

Semi-colons are not commonly used in contemporary English. Full stops and
commas are more common.

5. Quotation marks (‘…’ or “…”)

Quotation marks in English are ‘…’ or “…”.
 In direct speech, we enclose what is said within a pair of single or double
quotation marks, although single quotation marks are becoming more common.
Direct speech begins with a capital letter and can be preceded by a comma or a
colon:
 e.g. She said, “Where can we find a nice Indian restaurant?” (or She said: ‘Where
can we find a nice Indian restaurant?’)

 We can put the reporting clause in three different positions. Note the position
of commas and full stops here:

e.g The fitness trainer said, ‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin.’ (quotation
mark after comma introducing speech and after full stop)
‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin,’ the fitness trainer said. (comma before
closing quotation mark)
‘Don’t try to do too much,’ the fitness trainer said, ‘when you begin.’ (commas
separating the reporting clause)

 When we use direct speech inside direct speech, we use either single
quotation marks inside double quotation marks, or double quotation marks
inside single quotation marks:

e.g. “It was getting really cold,” he said, “and they were saying ‘When can we go
back home?’”
Jaya said, ‘They were getting really excited and were shouting “Come on!”’.

 We also use single quotation marks to draw attention to a word. We can use
quotation marks in this way when we want to question the exact meaning of the
word:

e.g. I am very disappointed by his ‘apology’. I don’t think he meant it at all.

 We sometimes use quotation marks to refer to the titles of books,

newspapers, magazines, films, songs, poems, videos, CDs, etc:

e.g. There’s a special report all about it in ‘The Daily Mail’.

We can use italics instead of quotation marks for these citations:

There’s a special report all about it in The Daily Mail.

 Articles or chapters within books, or titles of short stories, are normally

punctuated by single quotation marks:

e.g.The longest chapter in the book is the last one called ‘The Future of Africa’.

6. Dashes ( – ) and brackets ( )

 Dashes are more common in informal writing. They can be used in similar ways
to commas or semi-colons. Both single and multiple dashes may be used:
e.g. Our teacher – who often gets cross when we’re late – wasn’t cross at all. No one
could believe it!
Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening – we really enjoyed it.
  Brackets ( ) have a similar function to dashes. They often add extra, non-
essential information:

e.g. Thriplow (pronounced ‘Triplow’) is a small village in the eastern part of England.

 We use brackets around dates and page numbers in academic writing:

e.g. Heaton (1978) gives a convincing explanation of how hurricanes are

formed (pages 27–32).