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Types of common punctuation marks, purpose and usage
Community Literacy Improvement
Writing Skills Focus 2: Punctuation
Why punctuate?
Punctuation marks are essential principles for making writing easy to understand
and for indicating direction in a line of thought. Punctuation marks can emphasis
ideas, offer pauses for the reader, add emotion and show surprise. However, this is
dependent on which punctuation mark you use and when you use it.
Write Right Skills Focus 2 on the use of punctuation, gives practical guidance on
how to use common types of punctuation correctly so that your writing will always
be clear and effective.
Common punctuation errors
Can you spot the non-standard use of punctuation? Can you explain why?
* Answers
Tips for improving YOUR use of punctuation:
Read quality writing and take note of the punctuation used
Try an online test see http://www.mondofacto.com/study-skills/
writing/how-to-improve-your-punctuation
Attend a short language course at college or study The Penguin Guide to Punctuation (1997)
Learn from your writing mistakes – IT TAKES TIME TO MASTER PUNCTUATION.
Punctuation Mark
Proofreading
Copy Writing
Translation
Job applications
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0745 1087 057
0798 4825 482
Purpose Examples of Usage
Full-stop . To complete a sentence
(which is not question or
exclamation) The parade went through the city.
Exclamation mark ! To show surprise and
emotion Be quiet!
That was a fantastic steel pan
performance!
Question mark ? To pose a question that
needs an answer Where are my shoes?
In which country did the carnival
originate?
Comma , To separate clauses, lists
and numbers He came, he saw, he conquered.
What a happy, intelligent child.
53, 693
Semi-colon ; To join two complete
sentences which are very
closely related. Women’s conversation is
cooperative; men’s is competitive.
It was the best of times; it was the
worst of times.
Colon : To introduce a list A carnival picnic basket might
include: water, mangoes, hot patties
and sugar cane.
Slash / To separate alternatives
To write fractions
To show periods of time Have the chicken and/or mutton.
¼ ½
The winter of 2011/2012 was the
worst.
Apostrophe ‘ To show possession or
contraction This is Janet’s costume.
Don’t do that as he’ll be here soon!
Hyphen - Used to unite words Sugar-free, computer-aided,
well-read, up-to-date
Ellipsis … To show suspense or
mystery The door opened slowly…
Used to separate words,
used to explain or interrupt The agent – a good friend of mine –
denied the charge.
Talent, hard work, good luck – these
are the ingredients of success.
Dash
•
•
•
•
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Nottingham connected
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Speech marks “ ” To show direct speech “No drinks in here,” said the
doorman.
Brackets ( )
[ ]
{ } To show additional
information, asides, brief
explanations The (French) horn can be difficult
to play.
Marcus Garvey (1887-1940) was a
writer, entrepreneur and leader.
If you need help checking punctuation in your essay, brochure, manuscript or any written
text, call Curuba Education and Language Services (CELS) to check and edit your work at very
reasonable prices saving you time to do other things.
We offer 20% discount for students at Nottingham University and Nottingham Trent
University.
www.curuba.co.uk
Don’t lose marks or that job offer you deserve. Write Right!
[email protected]
Tel: 07451 087057
07984 825482