Punctuation

WISER

Punctuation matters

Along with grammar and spelling,

punctuation helps clarify meaning and
enhances fluent reading.

Each punctuation mark has specific a job (or

jobs) to do. If it is not doing a specific job,
dont use it.

Range of symbols

There are various punctuation marks but many

have just one job to do, for instance:
to indicate:
! an exclamation
? a question
speech
. the end of a sentence

Others are more complex and these are the ones

we will focus on here.
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Topics covered
Apostrophes
slides 5-13
Commas ,
slides 14- 27
Hyphen
slides 28 - 32
Semi-colon
;
slides 33 - 38
Colon
:
slide 39
Check your understanding
slide 40 50
A useful resource
slide 51

Apostrophes
abuse

use and

2 uses:

1) Show possession
(i.e. belonging to) the dogs dinner
2) Show omission
it isnt cool
(i.e. missing letters)

It is not used to show plural (i.e. more than one)

Except:
at the greengrocers!
in older usage: DVDs, CDs, TVs - now dying out.

Examples of misuse.
No apostrophe needed.
taxis
pies, pasties & sandwiches
drinks, thanks
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Apostrophes
- The Grocers Plural

No need for an apostrophe here.

Some bananas
Some plums

Apostrophes for possession

Where to put the apostrophe

the

dogs dinner
= the dinner of the dog

the

dogs dinner
= the dinner of the dogs

Note:

childrens

peoples

apostrophes - other misuse

whose
safety?

Apostrophes for omission

5 oclock = 5 of the clock

Lets go = let us go

We no longer ever write the full form in

these cases.
In most cases, it depends on the style and
purpose of writing whether we write the full
form or contracted (short) form. The full form is
generally used in formal writing.
Therefore, in academic writing we tend to use the
full form.
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Apostrophes for omission

Note what the missing word is.
Isnt = is not
Hasnt = has not

Its been good = It has been good

Its being mended = It is being mended

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Apostrophes in academic
writing

Remember academic style prefers no

contractions (short forms ) such as isnt,
cant, hasnt, so the only apostrophes in your
academic essays should be those to show
possession.

e.g.
the governments policies ....
the peoples choice ...
societys responsibility ....
the policies supporters ....
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Apostrophes common confusion

Its or its? Whos or whose?

ALWAYS Its = it is whos = who is (omission)

Its, whose - THINK: his, hers, theirs, ours, its and

whose.
(possession)

Examples:
Its a wonderful life.
Whos the daddy?
Each moment of the year has its own beauty.
Whose life is it anyway?
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Commas

Commas help divide up information in a

sentence into meaningful units.

Main uses:
Lists
Indicating extra information
which can change meaning of the sentence
which re-names

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Commas lists
Examples:
He got figures from books, academic journals,
websites or the business press.

This is a thorough, well-organised, well-presented

and interesting report.

He spell-checked the essay, printed it of, and

submitted it to his tutor.

Note the use of and and or before the final item in

the list.
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Commas - lists

Commas also divide up strings of adjectives

Examples:
Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world.
An itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, polka-dot bikini.
The difficult, dangerous, and expensive
journey home was unforgettable.

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Commas - indicating extra information

a) The students who are lazy will fail their

exams.
All the lazy students, but not the others, will fail.

b) The students, who are lazy, will fail their

exams.
All students will fail. They are all lazy.

Which students will fail? All? Just the lazy ones?

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Commas - indicating extra

information

a) The trade unions which oppose the governments

plans will organise a demonstration.
a) No only those who oppose the plans.
b) The trade unions, which oppose the governments
plans, will organise a demonstration.
b) Maybe not all but we do not know which ones
specifically. All the trade unions oppose the plans.

Will all trade unions organise demonstrations?

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Commas some terminology

The phrases which give us extra information,

where the meaning changes depending on
whether they are within commas or not, are
known as defining /identifying and nondefining / non-identifying clauses.

Students who are lazy will fail their exams.

Defining /identifying (i.e. tell us which ones)

Students, who are lazy, will fail their exams.

Non-defining/ non-identifying

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Commas - indicating a phrase which

re-names
Examples:

Gordon Brown, former Prime-Minister, yesterday said

that ...

Brontes first novel, Jane Eyre, was swiftly followed by

her best novel, Villette.

Mr X, Chief Executive of the NHS, claims that ..

The Scilly Isles, a group of islands of the tip of

Cornwall, are very beautiful.
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Commas - indicating a phrase which

re-names
Note each of these sentences is grammatical
and therefore reads sensibly without the information
within commas:
Gordon Brown, former Prime-Minister, yesterday
said that ...
Gordon Brown yesterday said that...
The commas are here acting like brackets.
Unlike the previous examples, the presence or
absence of commas will not change the
meaning. In these cases they simply clarify.
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Commas - indicating extra information

Where to put the comma

We can include in a sentence a phrase that is

providing extra information or is, for example, a
link to the previous sentence. We show this by
putting a comma between this extra information,
and the part, which could stand alone as a
complete sentence by itself (shown underlined).

Example:
Therefore, this business cannot be launched.
Whenever I go to London, I like to visit the
National Portrait Gallery.

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Commas - indicating extra information

Where to put the comma

Both halves (not necessarily of equal length, note) of the

sentences could go in either first or second position with no
change in meaning. The commas shows where the sentence
breaks, dividing the main part, and the extra information.

Further examples:
However, I cannot agree with that proposition.
I cannot agree with that proposition, however.
Although we have been friends for years, I do not know her
address.
I do not know her address, although we have been friends for
years.

If you see him, tell him I need to talk with him.

Tell him I need to talk with him, if you see him.

Common comma misuse comma splice

In order not to misuse commas when dividing

sentences, you need to recognise a complete,
grammatical sentence.

A common mistake is to link 2 complete sentences

with just a comma. This is known as comma splice.

Example:
The children had never been away from home before,
they were scared and tired.
[The children had never been away from home
before], [they were scared and tired].
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3 ways to fix a comma splice:

Start a new sentence.
The children had never been
away from home before. They were scared and
tired.
Link with a semi-colon
The children had never been away from home
before; they were scared and tired.
Use a linking word
The children had never been away from home
before and they were scared and tired.
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Commas a tip
Keeping track of the central sentence, onto
which extra information is being added, helps
to ensure the sentence is grammatical
and to decide how to divide up these extra chunks
with commas.
Before this person retired, he would work away for
weeks at a time, where there was no alcohol and
when he came home he consumed large amounts
of alcoholic drinks at the weekends, consuming far
more than the average daily allowance of
recommended alcohol.
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Style variation

Note the comma splice is to be avoided in

formal writing. In other genres (e.g.
journalese, creative writing) it is not so
important to avoid it since the use of
commas can vary for creative efect.

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Hyphens

Hyphens link words to show the resulting

new meaning

Examples:
The student-centred approach to teaching
not a student approach, not a centred approach

An evidence-based argument.

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Misuse can change the meaning

He swallowed six inch nails

Or
He swallowed six-inch nails

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Misuse can change the meaning another

example

Extra can have 2 meanings:

Extra = more
e.g. I did not want the extra work.

Extra = outside of
e.g. I enjoyed the extra-curricular activities on
the course.

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Misuse can change the meaning

contd.
In the the 2 previous cases did you notice the
hyphen? An omitted hyphen in many cases
may not make too much diference because
of the context.
In some cases, however, the placing of the
hyphen will make a noticeable diference to
meaning, as in the use of extra since it has
2 meanings:

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Misuse can change the meaning

(contd.)

Letter in Amnesty Magazine Nov/Dec 2009

Apologies for seeming facetious about a serious issue

(but it did make us laugh) and double apologies for
being pedantic, but I doubt very much that anyone in
the Maldives has ever been flogged for extra marital
sex. In fact most religions (and it is probably religion
behind this punishment) condone extra marital sex,
even when one of the parties doesnt want it though
they are usually amazingly censorious and punitive
about extra-marital sex.
From Marilyn Mason, Kingston Upon Thames
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Semi-colon ;

The semi-colon has 2 main uses:

Linking 2 sentences
In complex lists

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Semi-colon - linking 2
sentences

Examples:

Some of the programs are very user-friendly; others

are more difficult to learn.
This workshop is about punctuation; last weeks was
about grammar.

Think of two arms of a balance.

On each side of the semi-colon
(the pivot) there needs to be a
complete sentence.

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Semi-colons some alternatives

The lecturer did not show the diagram; the

students obviously understood.

Compare:
The lecturer did not show the diagram. The
students obviously understood.
The lecturer did not show the diagram, as
the students obviously understood.
All are correct ways to express this.
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Semicolons complex lists

A number of suspects had been held,

including Roger Hunt, the husband of the
deceased, Ruth Ellis, his wifes best friend,
Jane Osborne, his former girlfriend, and Hugh
Thomas, an old family friend.

How many people are involved here? 7? 4?

Anything in between? Is Jane Osborne his
wifes best friend or she his old girlfriend?
What is everyones relationship to the
deceased?
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Semi-colons

complex lists contd.

A number of suspects had been held: Roger

Hunt, the husband of the deceased; Ruth
Ellis, his wifes best friend; Jane Osborne,
his former girlfriend; and Hugh Thomas, an
old family friend.

Now there is no ambiguity. Only 4 people

were held.

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Tips:

Do not overuse the semi-colon.

Do not confuse it with a comma. They have
very diferent jobs to do.
Do not confuse it with a colon (: ) which
introduces a list (see next slide).

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Semi-colon (;) versus Colon (:)

Dont confuse the semi-colon with a colon.
A colon is for:

introducing a list
e.g. Several people visited: the priest, the doctor, his
boss and the children.

acting rather like an equals sign

e.g. Britain is facing a huge problem: no-one can spell!
(Note: here, you could substitute namely or i.e. in the
place of the colon).

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Check your understanding

That is the end of the explanation of the
more complex punctuation marks.
In the following slides you can check how
well you understood the main points.
Click the mouse to display the answer and
further questions (in some cases).

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Apostrophes - practice
a) Mother and child have had and are continuing to experience
difficulties, the origins of which can be traced back to the
motherschildhood.
mothers(just one mother)
b) The United States ability to undertake this operation is admirable
or foolhardy.
States
c) Bowlbys theories were developed by researchers including
Ainsworth.
Bowlbys
d) The seven dwarves luck was in!
dwarves

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Commas - practice

Would you add commas to these sentences? If so,

where?

a) Because of the difficult current economic climate the

UK grocery market was afected by rising food prices.
a) Because of the difficult current economic climate, the
UK grocery market was afected by rising food prices.
b) My sister who is a doctor advised me not to go.
b) My sister, who is a doctor, advised me not to go =
simply extra info about my sister
b) My sister who is a doctor advised me not to go = the
sister whos a doctor advised me, not one of my other
sisters.
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Comma - practice

Is this sentence demonstrating correct use of commas? If not, how

would you correct it?

Health needs assessment and health impact assessment are similar

terms used in current practice, both use the same planning process,
however, they difer in terminology (Hooper and Longworth, 2002).

Health needs assessment and health impact assessment are similar

terms used in current practice; both use the same planning process.
However, they difer in terminology (Hooper and Longworth, 2002).
OR
Health needs assessment and health impact assessment are similar
terms used in current practice. Both use the same planning process;
however, they difer in terminology (Hooper and Longworth, 2002).

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Semi-colon practice or
a) Some of the programs are very user-friendly; others are
more difficult to learn.
OK
b) There are various ways to lose friends; tell them lies, stand
them up, forget their birthdays and ignore their calls.
No. There are various ways to lose friends: tell them lies,
stand them up, forget their birthdays and ignore their calls.
(Use a colon before a list)
c) However; the issues were too complicated to explain
satisfactorily.
No. However, the issues were too complicated to explain
satisfactorily. (Use commas to divide extra information from
the core sentence)

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How could the punctuation of this sentence be

improved?
a) Shane Chowen 22 who has four science levels from
City College Plymouth is the frontrunner in the race
to be the next NUS president a contest which will be
decided when student delegates gather for a
national conference in Gateshead this week.
Shane Chowen, 22, who has four science A-levels
from City College Plymouth, is the front runner in the
race to be the next NUS president, a contest which
will be decided when student delegates gather for a
national conference in Gateshead this week.
(underlining simply shows the central, core
sentence)
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How could the punctuation of this

sentence be improved?
b) First it will need an elite athlete in tip-top
condition probably one from east Africa.
Second it will need to be on a fast, flat
course such as Berlin London or Rotterdam.
First, it will need an elite athlete in tip-top
condition, probably one from east Africa.
Second, it will need to be on a fast, flat
course such as Berlin, London or Rotterdam.

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How could the punctuation of this

sentence be improved?
c) It is important that all healthcare professionals from diferent
services work together and communicate clearly if communication is
poor important details can be missed resulting in the patient being
cared for incorrectly and possibly important diagnosis being missed.
It is important that all healthcare professionals from diferent
services work together and communicate clearly; if communication
is poor, important details can be missed resulting in the patient
being cared for incorrectly and possibly important diagnosis being
missed.
OR
It is important that all healthcare professionals from diferent
services work together and communicate clearly. If communication
is poor, important details can be missed resulting in the patient
being cared for incorrectly and possibly important diagnosis being
missed.

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Whats wrong with this sign?

Smile.
Youre on
camera

48

Whats wrong with this slogan?

Whose
side
are you
on?

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 or

Whos book is this?

Whose
Its front cover is torn so its going cheap.
Its Its front cover is torn so its going cheap.
There are various learning styles according to diferent
models. These include: converger, diverger, audio,
kinaesthetic, visual, activist, reflector and theorist.

Despite being a doctor himself he never looks after his health.

Despite being a doctor himself, he never looks after his
health.

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Useful resources:

Peck, J. & Coyle, M. (1999) The Students

Guide to Writing: Grammar, Punctuation and
Spelling. Cardif: Macmillan

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Some light relief

Victor Borge made the attempt to draw on
the power of punctuation to great efect ...
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum
=12478#

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Feedback

Any feedback on the usefulness (or

otherwise) of this material would be warmly
welcomed.

Please contact me:

Tania Hork
Thorak@uclan.ac.uk or
Ext 3055
(01772 893055)

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