Punctuation
Why do we need
punctuation?
Punctuation marks are
essential when you are writing. They show the reader where sentences start and
finish and if they are used properly they make your writing easy to understand.
This section gives practical guidance on how to use commas, semicolons, and
other types of punctuation correctly, so that
your writing will always be clear and effective.
You may find some
aspects of
punctuation harder to grasp than others (for example, when to use a
semicolon or a colon). If so, just click on the relevant heading in the list to
the left. There are also handy sections with advice on using punctuation when
writing direct speech, lists, or abbreviations.
Types of
punctuation
- full stop
- comma
- semicolon
- colon
- apostrophe
- hyphen
- dash
- brackets
- inverted commas
- exclamation mark
- question mark
- bullet point
Full stop (.)
Full stops are used:
-
to mark the end of a sentence that is a complete statement:
My name’s Beth and I
was 18 in July.
After leaving school,
she went to work in an insurance company.
-
to mark the end of a group of words that don’t form a conventional sentence, so as to emphasize a statement:
I keep reliving that
moment. Over and over again.
-
in some abbreviations, for example etc., Dec., or p.m.:
The coffee
morning will be held on Thursday 15 Sept. in the Waterfront
Restaurant.
There’s a wide
range of
sandwiches, pies, cakes, etc. at very reasonable
prices.
-
in website and email addresses:
If an abbreviation with a full stop comes
at the end
of a sentence you don’t need to add another full
stop:
Bring your own pens,
pencils, rulers, etc.
Comma (,)
A comma marks a slight break between
different parts of a sentence. Used properly,
commas make the meaning of sentences clear by grouping
and separating words, phrases, and clauses. Many people are uncertain about the
use of
commas, though, and often sprinkle them throughout
their writing without knowing the basic rules.
Here are the main cases when you need to use a
comma:
You need to put a comma between the different
items in a list, as in the following sentences:
Saturday morning
started with a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon,
sausage, and French toast.
The school has a
vegetable garden in which the children grow cabbages, onions, potatoes, and
carrots.
The final comma in these lists (before the word
‘and’) is known as the ‘serial comma’. Not all writers or publishers use it, but
it is used by Oxford Dictionaries – some people refer to it as ‘the Oxford
comma’. Using it can make your meaning clearer. Take a look at this
sentence:
My favourite sandwiches
are chicken, bacon and ham and cheese.
It isn’t entirely clear from this sentence
whether the writer is listing three or four of their favourite sandwich
fillings: is ‘ham’ one of their favourites and ‘cheese’
another, or is it ‘ham and cheese’ that they like? Adding an Oxford comma makes
the meaning clear:
My favourite sandwiches
are chicken, bacon, and ham and cheese.
When a writer quotes a speaker’s words exactly as
they were spoken, this is known as direct speech. If the piece of direct speech comes after the
information about who is speaking, you need to use a comma to introduce the
direct speech. The comma comes before the first quotation mark. Note that the
final quotation mark follows the full stop at the end of the
direct speech:
Steve replied, ‘No
problem.’
You also need to use a comma at the
end of
a piece of direct speech, if the speech
comes before the information about who is speaking. In this case, the comma goes
inside the quotation mark:
‘I don’t agree,’ I
replied.
‘Here we are,' they
said.
There are two exceptions to this rule. If a
piece of
direct speech takes the form of a question or an exclamation,
you should end it with a question mark or an exclamation mark, rather than a
comma:
‘Stop him!’ she
shouted.
‘Did you see that?’ he
asked.
Direct speech is often
broken up by the information about who is speaking. In these cases, you need a
comma to end the first piece of speech (inside the quotation
mark) and another comma before the second piece (before the quotation
mark):
‘Yes,’ he said, ‘and I
always keep my promises.’
‘Thinking back,’ she
added, ‘I didn’t expect to win.’
Commas are used to separate clauses in a complex sentence(i.e. a sentence which is made up of a
main clause and one or more subordinate clauses).
The following examples show the use of
commas in two complex sentences:
Having had lunch,
|
we went back to work.
|
[subordinate clause]
|
[main
clause]
|
I first saw her in Paris,
|
where I lived in the early
nineties.
|
[main clause]
|
[subordinate
clause]
|
If the commas were removed, these sentences wouldn’t be as clear but the meaning would still be the same. There are different types of subordinate clause, though, and in some types the use of commas can be very important.
A subordinate clause beginning with ‘who’,
‘which’, ‘that’, ‘whom’, or ‘where’ is known as a relative clause. Take a look at this example:
Passengers
|
who have young children
|
may board the aircraft
first.
|
[relative clause]
|
This sentence contains what’s known as a ‘restrictive relative clause’. Basically, a restrictive relative clause contains information that’s essential to the meaning of the sentence as a whole. If you left it out, the sentence wouldn’t make much sense. If we removed the relative clause from the example above, then the whole point of that sentence would be lost and we’d be left with the rather puzzling statement:
Passengers may board
the aircraft first.
You should not put commas round a
restrictive relative clause.
The other type of
subordinate clause beginning with ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘whom’, etc. is known
as a ‘non-restrictive relative
clause’. A non-restrictive relative clause
contains information that is not essential to the overall meaning of a
sentence. Take a look at the following example:
Mary,
|
who has two young children,
|
has a part-time job in the
library.
|
[relative clause]
|
If you remove this clause, the meaning of the sentence isn’t affected and it still makes perfect sense. All that’s happened is that we’ve lost a bit of extra information about Mary:
Mary has a
part-time job in the
library.
You need to put a comma both before and
after a non-restrictive relative
clause.
Commas are used to separate a part of a
sentence that is an optional ‘aside’ and not part of the main
statement.
Gunpowder is
not, of
course, a chemical compound.
His latest film,
Calypso Dreams, opens next month.
In these sentences, the role of
the commas is similar to their function in non-restrictive relative clauses: they
mark off information that isn’t
essential to the overall meaning. Using commas in this way can really help to
clarify the meaning of a sentence. Take a look at
this example:
Cynthia’s daughter,
Sarah, is a midwife.
The writer’s use of
commas tells us that Cynthia has only one daughter. If you removed
Sarah’s name from the sentence, there would still be no doubt as to who was the
midwife:
Cynthia’s daughter is a
midwife.
If you rewrite the original sentence without
commas its meaning changes:
Cynthia’s daughter
Sarah is a midwife.
The lack of commas tells us that the name
‘Sarah’ is crucial to the understanding of the sentence. It shows that
Cynthia has more than one daughter, and so the name of the
one who is a midwife needs to be specified for the meaning to be
clear.
If you aren’t sure whether you’ve used a
pair of
commas correctly, try replacing them with brackets or removing the
information enclosed by the commas altogether, and then see if the sentence is
still understandable, or if it still conveys the meaning you
intended.
Semicolon (;)
The main task of the
semicolon is to mark a break that is stronger than a comma but not as final as a
full stop. It’s used between two main clauses that balance
each other and are too closely linked to be made into separate sentences, as in
these two examples:
The road runs through a beautiful wooded valley;
the railway line follows it.
An art director searched North Africa; I went to
the Canary Islands.
You can also use a semicolon as a stronger division in a sentence that
already contains commas:
The study showed the following: 76% of
surveyed firms monitor employee Web-surfing activities, with 65%
blocking access to unauthorized Internet locations; over one-third of the
firms monitor employee computer keystrokes; half reported storing and reviewing
employee emails; 57% monitor employee telephone behaviour, including the
inappropriate use of
voicemail.
Colon (:)
There are three main uses of the colon:
-
between two main clauses in cases where the second clause explains or follows from the first:
That is the secret of my
extraordinary life: always do the unexpected.
It wasn’t easy: to begin with, I had to find the
right house.
-
to introduce a list:
The price includes the following: travel to
London, flight to Venice, hotel accommodation, and excursions.
The job calls for skills in the following
areas: proofing, editing, and database
administration.
-
before a quotation, and sometimes before direct speech:
The headline read: ‘Taxi Driver Battles
Gangsters’.
They shouted: ‘Our families are starving! We need
land!’
Apostrophe (’)
Are you uncertain about when to use an apostrophe? Many people have
difficulty with this punctuation mark. The best way to get apostrophes right is
to understand when and why they are used. There are two main cases – click on
the links below to find straightforward guidance:
People are often unsure about whether they
should use its (without an apostrophe) or it’s
(with an apostrophe). For information about this, you can go straight to
the section it's or its?
You use an apostrophe to show that a thing or person belongs or
relates to someone or something: instead of saying the
party of
Ben or the weather of yesterday, you can
write Ben’s party and yesterday’s weather.
Here are the main guidelines for using apostrophes to show
possession:
Singular nouns and most personal names
With a singular noun or most personal names: add an apostrophe plus
s:
We met at Ben’s party.
The dog’s tail wagged rapidly.
Yesterday’s weather was dreadful.
Personal names that end in –s
With personal names that end in -s: add an
apostrophe plus s when you would naturally pronounce an extra
s if you said the word out loud:
He joined Charles’s army in 1642.
Dickens's novels provide a wonderful insight into
Victorian England.
Thomas's brother was injured in the
accident.
Note that there are some exceptions to this rule, especially in
names of
places or organizations, for example:
St Thomas’ Hospital
If you aren’t sure about how to spell a name, look it up in an official
place such as the organization’s website.
With personal names that end in -s but are not
spoken with an extra s: just add an apostrophe after the
-s:
The court dismissed Bridges' appeal.
Connors' finest performance was in 1991.
Plural nouns that end in –s
With a plural noun that already ends in -s: add an
apostrophe after the s:
The mansion was converted into a girls’
school.
The work is due to start in two weeks’
time.
My duties included cleaning out the horses’
stables.
Plural nouns that do not end in -s
With a plural noun that doesn’t end in –s: add an apostrophe plus
s:
The children’s father came round to see me.
He employs 14 people at his men’s clothing
store.
The only cases in which you do notneed an apostrophe
to show belonging is in the group of words called possessive
pronouns -
these are the words his, hers,
ours, yours, theirs(meaning ‘belonging to him,
her, us, you, or them’) - and with the possessive
determiners. These are the words his, hers,
its, our, your, their (meaning 'belonging to
or associated with him, her, it, us, you, or them'). See also it's or its?
An apostrophe can be used to show that letters or numbers have been
omitted. Here are some examples of apostrophes that indicate
missing letters:
I’m- short for
I am
he’ll- short for
he will
she’d – short for she had or she would
pick ‘n’ mix- short for
pick and mix
it’s hot- short for
it is hot
didn’t- short for
did not
It also shows that numbers have been omitted, especially in dates, e.g.
the Berlin Wall came down in the autumn of ’89 (short for
1989).
These two words can cause a lot of confusion: many people are
uncertain about whether or not to use an apostrophe. These are the rules to
remember:
-
its (without an apostrophe) means ‘belonging to it’:
The dog wagged its tail.
Each case is judged on its own merits.
-
it’s (with an apostrophe) means ‘it is’ or ‘it has’:
It’s been a long day.
It’s cold outside.
It’s a comfortable car and it’s got some great
gadgets.
The general rule is that you should notuse an
apostrophe to form the plurals of nouns, abbreviations, or dates
made up of
numbers: just add -s (or -es, if the noun in
question forms its plural with -es). For
example:
euro
|
euros
|
(e.g. The cost of the
trip is 570 euros.)
|
pizza
|
pizzas
|
(e.g. Traditional Italian pizzas are
thin and crisp.)
|
apple
|
apples
|
(e.g. She buys big bags of
organic apples and
carrots.)
|
MP
|
MPs
|
(e.g. Local MPs are divided on this
issue.)
|
1990
|
1990s
|
(e.g. The situation was different in
the 1990s.)
|
It's very important to remember this grammatical rule.
There are one or two cases in which it is acceptable to use an
apostrophe to form a plural, purely for the sake of clarity:
-
you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single letters:
I've dotted the i's and crossed the t's.
Find all the p's in appear.
-
you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single numbers:
Find all the number 7’s.
These are the only cases in which it is generally considered acceptable to
use an apostrophe to form plurals: remember that an apostrophe should
neverbe used to form the plural of
ordinary nouns, names, abbreviations, or numerical
dates.
Hyphen (-)
Hyphens are used to link words and parts of
words. They are not as common today as they used to be, but there are
three main cases where you should use them:
Hyphens are used in many compound words to show that the component words
have a combined meaning (e.g. a pick-me-up, mother-in-law,
good-hearted) or that there
is a relationship between the words that make up the compound: for example,
rock-forming
mineralsare minerals that form rocks. But you don’t need to
use them in every type of compound word.
Compound adjectives
Compound adjectives are made
up
of a noun + an adjective, a noun + a participle, or an adjective
+ a participle. Many
compound
adjectives should be hyphenated. Here are some examples:
noun +
adjective
|
noun +
participle
| adjective + participle |
accident-prone
|
computer-aided
| good-looking |
sugar-free
|
power-driven
| quick-thinking |
carbon-neutral
|
user-generated
| bad-tempered |
sport-mad
|
custom-built
| fair-haired |
camera-ready
|
muddle-headed
| open-mouthed |
With compound adjectives formed from the adverb well and a participle (e.g. well-known), or from a phrase (e.g. up-to-date), you should use a hyphen when the compound comes before the noun:
well-known brands of
coffee
an up-to-date account
but not when the compound comes after the noun:
His music was also well known in England.
Their figures are up to date.
It’s important to use hyphens in compound adjectives
describing ages and lengths of time: leaving them out can
make the meaning ambiguous. For example, 250-year-old trees
clearly refers to trees that are 250 years old, while 250 year
old trees could equally refer to 250 trees that are all one year old.
Compound verbs
Use a hyphen when a compound formed from two nouns is made into a verb, for
example:
noun
|
verb
|
an ice
skate
|
to ice-skate
|
a booby
trap
|
to booby-trap
|
a spot
check
|
to spot-check
|
a court
martial
|
to court-martial
|
Phrasal verbs
You should NOT put a hyphen within phrasal verbs
- verbs made up of a
main verb and an adverb or preposition. For example:
Phrasal
verb
|
Example
|
build
up
|
You should continue to build up your
pension.
|
break
in
|
They broke in by forcing a lock on the
door.
|
| stop off |
We stopped off in
Hawaii on the way home.
|
If a phrasal verb is made into a noun, though, you SHOULD use a hyphen:
Noun
|
Example
|
build-up
|
There was a build-up of
traffic on the ring
road.
|
| break-in |
The house was unoccupied at the
time of
the break-in.
|
| stop-off |
We knew there would be a
stop-off in
Singapore for refuelling.
|
Compound nouns
A compound noun is one consisting of two component nouns. In
principle, such nouns can be written in one of three different
ways:
one
word
|
two
words
|
hyphenated
|
aircrew
|
air
crew
|
air-crew
|
playgroup
|
play
group
|
play-group
|
chatroom
|
chat
room
|
chat-room
|
In the past, these sorts of compounds were usually hyphenated, but the situation is different today. The tendency is now to write them as either one word or two separate words. However, the most important thing to note is that you should choose one style and stick to it within a piece of writing. Don’t refer to a playgroup in one paragraph and a play-group in another.
Hyphens can be used to join a prefix to another word,
especially if the prefix ends in a vowel and the other word also begins with one
(e.g. pre-eminent or
co-own). This use is
less common than it used to be, though, and one-word forms are becoming more usual
(e.g. prearrange or cooperate).
Use a hyphen to separate a prefix from a name or date, e.g.
post-Aristotelian or
pre-1900.
Use a hyphen to avoid confusion with another word: for example, to
distinguish re-cover (= provide
something with a new cover) from recover (= get well again).
Hyphens can also be used to divide words that are not usually
hyphenated.
They show where a word is to be divided at the end of a
line of
writing. Always try to split the word in a sensible place, so that the
first part does not mislead the reader: for example, hel-met not
he-lmet;
dis-abled not
disa-bled.
Hyphens are also used to stand for a common second element in all but
the last word of a list, e.g.:
You may see a yield that is two-, three-, or fourfold.
Dash (–)
A dash is used:
-
in pairs, to mark off information or ideas that are not essential to an understanding of the rest of the sentence:
Thousands of children – like the girl in
this photograph – have been left homeless.
My son – where has he gone? – would like to meet
you.
-
to show other kinds of break in a sentence where a comma, semicolon, or colon would be traditionally used:
One thing’s for sure – he doesn’t want to face
the truth.
Things have changed a lot in the last year –
mainly for the better.
Dashes are especially common in informal writing, such as personal emails
or blogs, but it’s best to use them sparingly when you are writing
formally.
Inverted commas
Inverted commas can be single - ‘x’ - or double - ‘’x‘’.
They are also known as quotation marks, speech
marks, or quotes.
Main uses
Inverted commas are mainly used in the following cases:
-
to mark the beginning and end of direct speech (i.e. a speaker’s words written down exactly as they were spoken):
‘That,’ he said, ‘is nonsense.’
‘What time will he arrive?’ she asked.
See more information about how to use punctuation when you’re writing direct speech.
-
to mark off a word or phrase that’s being discussed, or that’s being directly quoted from somewhere else:
He called this phenomenon ‘the memory of
water’.
What does ‘integrated circuit’ mean?
Single or double?
There’s no rule about which to use but you should stick to one or the
other throughout a piece of writing. Single inverted
commas are generally more common in British English while American English tends
to prefer double ones.
If you find that you need to enclose quoted material within direct speech
or another quotation, use the style you haven’t used already. So, if you’ve been
using single inverted commas, put any further quoted material within double ones
and vice versa. For example:
She still sounds amazed when she says: ‘We
were turned down because “we represented too small a minority of the
population”. They could still get away with saying things like that
then.’
Exclamation mark (!)
The main use of the
exclamation mark is to end sentences that express:
-
an exclamation:
Ow!
That hurt!
Hello! How are you?
-
direct speech that represents something shouted or spoken very loudly:
‘Look
up there!’ she yelled.
-
something that amuses the writer:
Included on the list of
banned items was 'crochet hooks'!
-
An exclamation mark can also be used in brackets after a statement to show that the writer finds it funny or ironic:
She
says she’s stopped feeling insecure (!) since she met him.
People tend to use a
lot of
exclamation marks in informal writing such as emails or text messages,
but you should avoid using them in formal
writing.
Question mark (?)
A question mark is used to indicate the end of a question:
Have
you seen the film yet?
He
asked if I had seen the film yet.
A question mark can also be
used in brackets to show that the writer is unconvinced by a
statement:
I’m
about to get started on the new project, which is apparently quite
straightforward (?).
Bullet points
Bullet points are used to draw attention to important information within a document so that a reader can identify the key issues and facts quickly. There are no fixed rules about how to use them, but here are some guidelines.
- The text introducing the list of bullet points should end with a colon.
- If the text that follows the bullet point is not a proper sentence, it doesn’t need to begin with a capital letter and it shouldn’t end with a full stop, for example:
Tonight's agenda
includes:
- annual review of capital gains issues
- outstanding inheritance tax issues
- If the text following the bullet point IS a complete sentence, it should begin with a capital letter. A full stop at the end is technically required but is not absolutely essential:
The agenda for
tonight is as follows:
- We will conduct an annual review of capital gains issues.
- The senior tax manager will talk about outstanding inheritance tax issues.
- Lists of bullet points will have more impact if each one begins with the same word class (or part of speech) and if they are all of a similar length. Action verbs are a good choice for the first word, i.e. verbs that describe the performing of an action. If you do use verbs, make sure that each one is in the same tense. Here’s an example of the effective use of action verbs in a person’s CV/résumé:
Duties and responsibilities
included:
- teaching national curriculum to Key Stage 1 pupils
- reaching attainment targets and improving learning performance
- developing extracurricular sports programme
- Bullet points tend to have more impact if their text is relatively short. Make sure you use the same typeface and margin width within each section.
Bullet points are
visually attractive and make it easy for a reader to locate important
information. Nevertheless, try to use them sparingly: too many bullet-pointed
sections in the same document will mean that their impact is
lost.
See also
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