Punctuation

PUNCTUATION MARKS AND CAPITAL LETTERS

INTRODUCTION 

If we go on speaking without any pauses, our speech would become meaningless a group of jumbled words. So in order to make the sense of our conversation clear, we have pauses in our speech. similarly punctuation marks are used for making the sense of a writing clear by separating different parts and stopping at certain points. The correct use of such marks is quite necessary because an un-punctuated or wrongly punctuated writing is likely to alter the meanings, as a general rule, as far as possible, the sentences should be short so that the fewest possible marks may he used. 

The chief marks of punctuation are as follows: 

1. The full-stop or the Period (.)

2. The question Mark (?) 

3. The Exclamation Mark (!)

4. The Comma (,)

5. The Semi-Colon (;) 

6. The Colon  (:)

7. The Dash (— )

8. The Hyphen (-)

9. The Inverted Commas or the Quotation Marks (" ") 

10.  The Quotation Marks (' ') 

11. The Apostrophe (') 

12. The Brackets or Parentheses [()]

 

1. The full-stop or the Period (.): 

The full stop shows the longest pause or stop. It is used: 

(i) In the end of a declarative sentences indirect question, and imperative sentence: 

lqbal is our national poet.(Declarative Sentence)

 He asked me where I lived. (Indirect Question)

Do your duty. (Imperative sentence)

(ii) After most abbreviations: 

B.A., M.A., Prof., Gen., i.e., e.g. 

(iii) After initials: 

M.A. Jinnah, A.K. Brohi, Z.H.Gilani 

(iv) At the end of a polite request in the form of a question: 

Would you please give me your book.

OMISSION OF FULL-STOP 

(i) Abbreviations for government agencies and international agencies do not have full stops. 

PAF____ Pakistan Air Force PN___Pakistan Navy 

(ii) If a word is abbreviated by combining its first and last letters, a full stop is not used after It. 

Doctor (Dr) 

Mister (Mr) 

Ditto (do) 

Mistress (Mrs) 

Honour (hr) 

Limited (Ltd) 

Street (St) 

(iii) A full stop is not used at the end of the title of a book, magazine, article, poem or story.

 Oxford Learner's Dictionary; Far Eastern Review; We Are Seven, The Doll's House.

2. The Question Mark (?) 

(i) The questions mark is used at the end of a direct question: She said, "Who are you?" He said, "Where do you live?" 

(ii) A question mark is not used after an indirect question: 

He asked me where I lived. 

3. The Exclamation Mark (!) 

(i) The exclamation Mark is used: 

At the end of the interjection and forceful utterance: 

Thank God! We have achieved our target. Hurrah! I won the first prize. 

(ii) After the nominative address when it is emphatic: 

"Mother! Mother! Where are you?" cried the little girl. 

(iii) When the interjection "O" is placed before the nominative of address, the mark of exclamation is used either after the nominative of address or at the end of sentence.

O God! Help us. 

O God help us! 

(iv) After exclamatory & optative sentence:

What a beautiful flower it is! 

May he rain! 

Would that I were a millionaire! 

4. The Comma (,) 

The comma shows the shortest pause. The use of this mark of punctuation is very frequent. Therefore, care should be exercised in correct use of this mark. 

A comma is used: 

(i) To separate nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns, phrases, and clauses in a series:

Mr. Masood is an honest, sincere and hardworking person. 

Getting up early in the morning, taking a bath and going out for a walk are useful for health.

(ii) To mark off the nominative of address, introductory yes, no and mild exclamation: 

Ali, don't waste your time. 

Yes, I agree to your proposal. 

No, he is not sincere to me. 

Oh, I don't care. 

(iii) To mark off a noun or phrase in apposition. 

Iqbal, the poet philosopher, gave us the idea of an independent homeland.  

Lahore, the capital of the Punjab, is the historical and cultural centre of Pakistan.   

(iv) To mark off transitional introductory words like therefore, moreover, however, nevertheless, anyway, consequently, accordingly, etc. 

He has been appointed lecturer and is, therefore, teaching in Govt. College. 

His attitude was shameful, irresponsible and, moreover, unworthy of a gentle man. 

Though very intelligent, she is nevertheless, very modest. 

Anyway, we did our best. 

Consequently, he was forced withdraw from the contest.

His father advised him not to marry her and he has, accordingly, changed his mind. 

(v) To set off dates, addresses and titles; 

We received your letter of March 12, 1998. 

My present address is 828-Hassan Manzil, 23-Milkhi Ram Street, Railway Road, Lahore.

Prof. Hameed Ahmed Khan, Vice Chancellor, Punjab University. 

(vi) After the salutation and complimentary closing in letter writing: 

My dear Ahmed, 

Yours cordially, or yours truly, 

(vii) To separate a direct quotation from the rest of the sentences: (to separate reporting speech from reported speech) 

I said to him, "Serve your parents". 

(viii) To join the two closely related clauses:

Life is short, time is fleeting. 

(ix) To separate the adverbial clause from the principal clause when the former comes first:

When we reached the station, the train had arrived. 

If you work hard, you will succeed. 

(x) To mark off an adverbial sentence occurring in the middle of the sentence: 

He, after completing his education, returned to Pakistan. 

(xi) To separate an introductory phrase or clause from the main clause: 

In spite of his bad health, Mr. Jinnah worked devotedly for Pakistan. 

(xii) To separate adverbs or adverbial phrases that modify the whole clause or sentence:

Fortunately, rains started in time. 

(xiii) To mark off words, phrases or clauses introduced in the middle of a sentence. 

He is, after all, our friend. 

5. The semi-Colon (;):

The semi-colon makes a greater pause than the comma. 

The semi colon is used: 

(i) Between independent clauses when they are not joined by a coordinate conjunction:

(usually "and") 

To err is human; to forgive divine. 

Tipu lived boldly; fought fiercely; laid down his life heroically. 

(ii) To separate independent clauses joined by conjunctive adverbs, however, nevertheless, accordingly, then, consequently, moreover, also, thus, beside, etc: 

Leaders come and go; however, the nation abides. 

(iii) To give greater emphasis to the various clauses: 

People need a house to live in; meal to eat; clothes to cover their bodies. 

(iv) To separate pairs of words when the words of each pair are distinguished by a comma: 

access, excess; coma, comma; principal, principle 

(v) In lists of names, title, degree and address:

Mr. Rezi Abedi M.A. (English); Tri-pass (Cambridge). 

6. The Colon (:) 

The colon shows greater pause than the comma or the semi colon. It is chiefly used: 

(i) before introducing a direct quotation: (To separate reporting speech & reported speech)

He cited the line from Shakespeare: 

All that glitters is not gold. 

(ii)After the salutation in a business letter:

Dear sirs:, Gentlemen:, Dear Madam: 

(iii)  after an address: 

Mr. President: Ladies and Gentlemen: 

(iv) to introduce an enumeration or examples: (list of things) 

The historical places in Lahore are: The Shalimar Garden, Jahangir's Tomb, Shahi Mosque, Shahi Fort, etc. 

(v) to separate two clauses expressing contrast when the conjunction but is omitted:

Man proposes: 

God disposes. 

(vi) between hours and minutes showing clock time: 

It was 5:30 p.m. when the train started. 

7. The Dash (— ) 

The dash is a horizontal mark. It is chiefly used: 

(i) to show an abrupt change of thought: 

I shall tell you all — but what is the good of telling you when you turn a deaf ear to what I say. 

(ii) to prepare the reader for something unexpected: 

Tired and fatigued, the traveller reached a deserted house ___ to find that there was nobody inside it. 

(iii) before a word that is repeated for emphasis: 

He repeated his promise ___ a promise he never fulfilled. 

(iv) between extreme distance, dates, number to indicate their link and continuity: 

Islamabad — Lahore flight (Islamabad to Lahore) 

Pages 50 — 70 (All pages from 50 to 70) 

8. The Hyphen (-)

The hyphen is a shorter horizontal line than the dash. 

It is chiefly used: 

(i) to form compound words: 

Mother-in-law; ex-ship, commander-in-chief.

(ii) to divide words into syllable and between one line and next: 

For-ma-tion, in-telli-gent, par-a-graph. 

9. The inverted Commas or Quotation Marks (" ") 

The inverted commas or quotation marks are used 

(i) to enclose the actual words of a speaker or a quotation: (Reported speech) 

The teacher said, "Honesty is the best Policy." 

(ii) to enclose technical or unfamiliar terms or such words as are used to convey unusual meanings or for the sake of emphasis: 

The "bulls" are sweeping the market. 

The "invisible" hands are causing sectarian violence in our country.

10. The Quotation Marks single (' ') 

The single quotation marks are used to indicate a quotation within quotation: 

The teacher said to the students, "Remember, 'God helps those who help themselves', boys."

11. The apostrophe (') 

The apostrophe is used 

(i) to indicate omission of a letters or figures from a date:

Don't = Do not, Won't = will not  

Hon'ble = Honourable, '98 = 1998 

(ii) to indicate a sign in the possessive case of nouns: 

Arsalan's book;  Ghalib's poetry; children's park. 

(iii) to make a plurals of letters, figures and abbreviations: 

You should mind your P's and Q's. 

Your 4's look like 9's. 

There are 3 CA's and 5 MBA's in this firm.

Note: 

(a) When a singular noun ends in an s, an apostrophe with or without "s" is used: 

Ass's tail or ass' tail; Haris's book or Haris' book; 

Keats's poem or Keat's poem. 

(b) When a plural noun ends in an s, an apostrophe without s is used:

Parents' day; students' hostel; teachers' respect. 

12. The brackets or Parentheses: 

The brackets or parentheses are used to enclose a parenthesis. Parenthesis is an additional word, phrase or clause inserted into a sentence usually separated from it by Brackets. Generally, it is use for explanation but is not grammatically connected with the rest of the sentences as: Of all the story books that I have read so far, I like "Aesop's Fables" (Collection of interesting fables) most. 

THE USE OF CAPITAL LETTERS 

Capitalize the first word of 

(1) a sentence or a group of words used as a sentence: 

We always supply the goods in time.( Sentence) 

Now come to the main point. (Group of words which used as a sentence) 

(2) a direct quotation: 

The young man said, "Please show the shirts and pants of the latest designs." 

(3) each item in a listing: 

I have enclosed the following documents: 

1. A copy of contract 

2. Site-Plan 

3. Feasibility Report 

(4). Each line in a poem:  

We have no time to stand and stare? 

No time to stand beneath the bows, 

And stare as long as sheep or cows. 

(5). All proper nouns: 

Lahore; the Ravi; the Punjab; the Quran; the Muslims, the Christians, Allama lqbal, Ghalib, Urdu, Persian. 

(6). All the words except articles, conjunctions, prepositions in titles of books, newspapers, magazines, articles, etc: 

The Doll's House (a short story)

On Liberty (an essay )

The Herald (a magazine)

The Pakistan Times (a newspaper)

The Old Man and the Sea (a novel book)

(7). Names of religion and festivals: 

Islam; Christianity, Eid; Christmas; Moherrum 

(8). All degrees and titles of honour, profession, rank used with the names of individuals: 

Dr. Muhammad lqbal M.A., Ph. D; Justice A. R. Kiani; Professor Zahir Ahmed Siddiquai, Head of the Persian Department; Governor Amir Muhammad Khan; Prime Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Ali. 

(9). Names of recognised geographical regions. 

The Sub-Continent; South East Asia; Central Regions. 

(10). the names of stars and other heavenly bodies: 

The Venus; the Saturn; the Mars; the Milky — way 

(11). the names of days; months 

Friday; Sunday; January; December; etc.

 

(12). the names of ships, public institutions, political parties; 

The Babar; (a ship); Government College Lahore; Watan Islamia High School; Muslim League; The Republicans. 

(13). the pronoun 'I' and the interjection 'O' are always written capital: 

Was I invited by him? 

O God! show us the right path.