Punctuation Review, Part 1 By Glynnis Whitwer Compel Training
What is Punctuation?? - The marks, such as period, comma and parentheses, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning.
Punctuation is part of grammar
Mini History of Language First written language was Sumerian or Egyptian (both start appearing about 3200 BC)* Chinese is the oldest surviving language (first written 1500 BC)* * Indiana University, Department of Linguistics 26th century BC Sumerian document
Scriptio Continua
Paragraphos - first punctuation
Developing punctuation Middle and high points in John 5 from Codex Sinaitucus, circa 4th century. Image from: Image from www.shadycharacters.co.uk.
Printing Press - 1452
Style Guides G. V. Carey observed decades ago, that punctuation is governed "two-thirds by rule and one-third by personal taste."
14 Common Punctuation Marks 1. Apostrophe 2. Braces 3. Brackets 4. Colon 5. Comma 6. Dash 7. Ellipsis 8. Exclamation point 9. Hyphen 10. Parenthesis 11. Period 12. Question mark 13. Quotation mark (including single) 14. Semicolon
Complete a Thought Period Question Mark Exclamation Point
Period Always put inside quote marks. The teacher said, Take out your pencils.
Question Mark Put inside quote marks, when it pertains to the quoted material. Put question mark outside the quotes when it applies to the sentence. Did you hear Janette say, I m happy today? Janette said, Are you happy today?
Exclamation Mark Same rules apply as question mark for location in a sentence. Put inside quote marks when it pertains to the quoted material. Put outside the quotes when it applies to the sentence. John said, What a great game I can t believe she asked, What time does it start?
Used to Clarify Meaning
Comma Comma always go inside quote marks. In a series. AP Style does not include a comma in a series. (We had coffee, tea and cookies.) Chicago does include a comma (called Oxford comma) (We had coffee, tea, and cookies.)
1. For joining two complete sentences using a conjunction: and, or, but, while, yet EX: The boys wanted to stay up till midnight, but they fell asleep at 10:00. 2. In an introductory clause or phrase: EX: When she finished breakfast, she sat down to write. Comma can be omitted after short introductory clause if no ambiguity would arise: Every morning she writes. 3. In a non-essential phrase (one that can be pulled out without changing the meaning of the sentence.) Writers, who do not know correct punctuation, should not criticize their editors. Writers who do not know correct punctuation should not criticize their editors.
Semi-colon Use a semicolon between two related sentences (independent clauses) where you don t use a conjunction. EX: The package was due last week; it arrived today. Use to separate items in a series that have commas in them. EX: The women attending the conference were Mary, from North Carolina; Ginger, from Alabama; and Glynnis, from Arizona. (Note: AP Style includes the semicolon before the and. )
Quotation Marks In American English, periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks, with the exception of some uses of a single quote mark. Scare quote: Alerts readers that a term is used in a nonstandard, ironic or other sense. Irony is the presence of a second, contradictory meaning within a situation or expression. The girls had a discussion after school. She put on her running shoes.
Single Quotation Marks 1) A quote within a quote 2) Academic studies And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son,with whom I am well pleased. Matthew 3:16-17 NIV In linguistic and phonetic studies a definition is often enclosed in single quotation marks with no intervening punctuation; any following punctuation is placed after the closing quotation marks. Chicago Manual of Style The gap is narrow between mead a beverage and mead a meadow.
Why Bother? Your reader needs to hear and understand your message.