Punctuation by Md. Saiful Alam

PUNCTUATION

Full Stop, Comma, Semicolon, Colon, Interrogation Mark, Exclamation Mark, Inverted Comma, Apostrophe, Dash, Hyphen, Brackets, Asterisk, Capitalisation

Full Stop	.	Inverted Comma	“ ”
Comma	,	Apostrophe	’
Semicolon	;	Dash	─
Colon	:	Hyphen	-
Interrogation Mark	?	Brackets	(  ), { }, [ ]
Exclamation Mark	!	Asterisk	*
Slash	/

Full Stop ( . )

Rule: 1 In the end of a declarative or an imperative sentence

            Monica is going to Dhaka University now. Do not run in the sun.

Rule: 2 In an abbreviation

            My father is an M.A. My brother works in the B.B.C.

            What is the elaboration of S.A.A.R.C? (Note: In modern English, such a use is not seen.)

Rule: 3 To shorten a word

            Mr. Paul Morel is a delicate character in ‘Sons and Lovers’.

            Mrs. Kanta privately teaches me French. Dr. Ali Ashraf is a child specialist.

            Dr. Mofizar Rahman is my favourite teacher.  (A Doctor of Philosophy)

Rule: 4 To mark the end of an abbreviation

            St. Martin Island (Saint)

            Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd. (Limited)

            Rahman and Co. (Company)

Rule: 5 To show words left out of quotations

“  .  .  .  Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of the forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the world, and all our woe

With loss of Eden  .  .  .  .”  (Paradise Lost by John Milton)

            Note: Use of three periods .  .  . shows words or sentences left out of the middle of a quotation whereas use of four periods .  .  .  . shows words left out at the end of a quotation.

Comma ( , )

Rule: 1 To separate the words of the same part of speech:

            He lost lands, money, reputation and friends.

            It was a long, dull, tiresome and risky journey.

            I visited the Maldives, the Philippines, the West Indies and many other places.

            Note: A comma is generally not placed before the word preceded by and.

Rule: 2 To separate two opposite words, we use it

            High and low, rich and poor, wise and foolish, must die.

Rule: 3 To mark off a noun or phrase case in apposition

            John Milton, the great English poet, was blind.

            Miss Kanta, a lecturer of English, lives in England.

Rule: 4 In the middle of repeated words, we use it.

            I will never, never help you. Twinkle, twinkle little star.

Rule: 5 If a sentence starts with a vocative case, we must use a comma (,) after it. If in the middle, we should use comma before and after the vocative case. If in the end, we put a comma just before it.

            May I come in, sir? Sonia, come here.

            Come here, Sonia. Tell me, my brothers, what I can do for you.  

Rule: 6 After a nominative absolute

            The sun having set, we reached home. The book being interesting, they started reading it.

Rule: 7 With the introductory ‘yes’ or ‘no’  

            Yes, you can take it. No, you should not leave the job.

Rule: 8 To omit a verb in a sentence

            He will succeed; you, never. Kona gave me a book and Konica, a flower.

Rule: 9 We use it to separate short co-ordinating clauses that are not liked by any conjunction

            I came, I saw, I conquered.

Rule: 10 If words or expressions are put in unusual places or interrupt the normal progression of a sentence, we usually separate them off by commas.

     I, therefore, pray and hope that you would grant my application.

            He, however, did not go.  He is, I think, an honest man.

Rule: 11 If a subordinate clause comes before the principal clause in a sentence, we use a comma after the subordinate clause.

            As he is ill, he won’t go to university. Although / though he was poor, he was honest.

Rule: 12 To separate two or more noun or adjective clauses in a sentence

            I know who he is, where he has come from and what he wants.

Rule: 13 With a relative clause

            Kona, who is idle, will suffer. I have a pen, which is new.

Rule: 14 In direct speech after the reporting verb

            Shorna says to me, “I want an ice-cream, mother.”

            “I have read the book,” said the boy.

            “I shall come back,” said he, and see you.”

            "Go then," said the ant, "and dance winter away."

Rule: 15 In tag questions

            Birds fly, don’t they? You cannot swim, can you? I am a boy, ain’t I?

Rule: 16 To separate the word ‘please’ from other words in a sentence, we use it but no comma is used if the word comes in the beginning or in the middle of a sentence.

            Will you help me, please? Will you please go there?  

Rule: 17 To mark off two or more adverbs or adverbial phrases coming together as:

            Then, at length, he succeeded.  

Rule: 18 To separate from the verb a long Subject opening a sentence; as,

            All that we admired and adored before as great and magnificent, is vanished.

Rule: 19 To separate a Noun clause-whether subject or object preceding the verb; as,

            Whatever he did for you, is right. How we are ever to get there, is the question,

Rule 20 In an application or a latter soon after the salutation

            Dear Sir,

            My dear Mita,

Rule: 21 While closing a letter or an application with a compliment

            Your loving son / daughter / sister / brother,

            Yours truly, Yours faithfully, Your obedient pupil,

Rule: 22 Clauses connected with and, but or or are usually separated by commas unless they are very short. Compare:

            Monica was poor but she was honest.

            She had very little to live on, but she would never have dreamed of taking what was not hers.

Rule: 23 Commas are used to divide large numbers into groups of three figures, by separating off the thousands and millions.

            6,453 or 5,832,549

Rule: 24 To write a date, an address and a title

            October 31, 2008

            Roqibul Hasan, M.D.

            House No. 51, Road No. 15, Pallabi, Mirpur - 12, Dhaka -1216.

Semicolon ( ; )

Rule: 1 To separate a series of loosely related clauses; as,

            Today we love what tomorrow we hate;

            today we seek what tomorrow we shun; today we desire what tomorrow we fear.

Rule: 2 In a compound sentence when clauses are not linked by any conjunction

            I went to college; I sat on the first bench; I listened to my teacher’s lecture.

Rule: 3 To express contrast before conjunctions as yet, still, otherwise, then, however, so, therefore

            Tanha didn’t study hard; so, he failed in the exam.

            You should speak the truth; otherwise, you will be punished.

Colon ( : )

Rule: 1 After such as, as follows, the following, thus to introduce a list

            The following are his virtues: Honesty, morality and sincerity

Rule: 2 Before quotation

            William Shakespeare says: “Love is complete madness.”

            Bacon says: “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man and writing an exact man.”

Rule: 3 In a dialogue or a drama, when characters are speaking

            Shakil: How are you, Suman?

            Suman: I’m fine. And you?

            King Lear: Nothing will come of nothing; speak again.

            Cordelia: Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave

            My heart into my mouth: I love your Majesty

            According to my bond – no more nor less. (‘King Lear’ By William Shakespeare)

Rule: 4 To introduce an explanation or further details

            We decide not to go on holiday: we had too little money.

            Travellers must be careful: they must boil all drinking water.

            I cannot heave

            My heart into my mouth: I love your Majesty

            According to my bond – no more nor less.

Rule: 5 Americans usually put a colon instead of comma after opening salutation

            Dear Mr. Michael:

            I am writing to  .  .  .

Rule: 6 To introduce a subdivision of a subject in a title or heading

            Punctuation: colon 

            Adjective: The Adjective of Manner

Rule: 7 To mean a contrast between two clauses

            Man proposes: God disposes.

            You may be sorry: I am delighted. To err is human: to forgive is divine.

Rule: 8 In writing time

            The time is exactly 8:30 am.

Interrogation Mark ( ? )

Rule 1 After an interrogative sentence,

            What is you name? Who invented the radio? You like it?

Rule 2 With tag questions

            He is not talented, is he? Shema is beautiful, isn’t she?

Rule 3 Used in brackets to express doubt

            His father died in 1990 ( ? )

            He earns 25,000 (?) per month. We visited Dhaka on 23 July (?)

Rule 4 After a word or a few words that indicate direct question

            Dinner? Happy? Got it?

Exclamation Mark ( ! )

Rule 1 After an exclamatory sentence

            What a nice flower it is! How foolish you are! Alas! I am undone. How wonderful!

Rule 2 After an interjection

            Fie! Fie! You are so mean.

            Hurrah! Bangladesh beat England in the 2011 World Cup.

Rule 3 To emphasise a vocative case in a sentence

            Oh my God! What have you done?

Rule 4 After a trivial thing

            Charlie Chaplain was the name of the cat!

Quotation Marks ( ‘ ’ or “ ” )

Rule: 1 With a reported speech

            He said to me, “Help me, please.”

Rule: 2 To quote from a book

            ‘To be or not to be is the question’: (Hamlet)

Rule: 3 A quotation within a quotation takes a single quotation

            Father said to me, “Never say, ‘I am helpless’.”

Rule: 4 Any title of a book in a single quotation

            ‘Ulysses’ is written by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

            ‘They’ is a pronoun. (to draw special attention). His next book is ‘Heart of Darkness’.

Apostrophe ( ’ )

Rule: 1 To omit a letter in a word

            Don’t go there. I won’t go home tomorrow.

            Ephraim Cabot says: “.  .  .  I’d set it afire an’ watch it burn – this house an’ every ear o’ corn an’ every tree down t’ the last blade o’ hay!” (Part: 2, Scene: 1, P: 67, Desire     under the Elms by Eugene O’Neill)

            This 7.00 O’clock now. (of the clock)

Rule: 2 To mean possession

            This is a Girls’ High School. This is a children’s garden.

            This is Sabina’s book. ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ is Keats’ famous poem. (name with s)

Rule: 3 To make a letter or any figure plural

            Cut your t’s and dot your i’s.

            There are 10 ten’s in a hundred. There are many MA’s in our village.

Rule: 4 To write the name of a shop

            This is a butcher’s shop. It is a grocer’s shop.

Rule: 5 To write a date,

            31 / 10 / ’08 ( 2008 )

            23 / 10 / ’95 (instead of 1995 or 1895)

           

Hyphen ( - )

Rule: 1 To make a compound word

            Up-to-date

            Mrs. Pervin is my mother-in-law.

            Self-reliance is the noun form of self-reliant.

            2004-2013, take-off, e-mail, rock-climbing, anti-aircraft guns, ice-cream

Rule: 2 To mean a fraction in a word

            With due reverence, I would like to state that I, a student of English Department of you-

            r college, was absent in the class for few days on account of illness.

Rule: 3 With a full number or a fraction number

            I have thirty-five take with me. This is the three-quarter pants.

Rule: 4 To mean stammering

            Boss: M-m-m-odon, c-c-c-ome h-h-here!

            Modon: S-s-s-sir!!!

Rule: 5 A word starting with a single letter

            This is an x-ray report. I need to send him an e-mail now.  

Rule: 6 When any number added with an adjective

            Twenty-odd cattle are grazing there in the field.

            This is a thirty-year contract. It was a seven-day visit.

Capitalisation

Rule: 1 To begin a sentence

            Once upon a time there lived a famous grammarian in England.

Rule: 2 To begin each line of a poem

            He prayeth best who loveth best

            All things both great and small. (The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner by S. T. Coleridge)

            The woods are lovely, dark and deep

            But I have promises to keep

            And miles to go before I sleep

            And miles to go before I sleep. (Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost)

Rule: 3 The first word within quotation marks

            Father said to me, “Do not waste time.”

Rule: 4 To begin a proper noun and an adjective derived from it

            Napoleon is a scholar. This is an Aristotelian theory.

            The Guardian is a famous daily in England. The poem deals with Platonic love.

Rule: 5 For Allah / God / the Almighty / the Creator and the pronoun relating to it. In addition, the names of deity

            The Creator is kind to us all. Pray to Allah / God for His blessings.

            Apollo is the god of war.

            Poseidon is the god of sea. Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty and love.    

Rule: 6 Each initial in an abbreviation  

            The B.B.C, the C.N.N, U.N.E.S.C.O, the U.K, the U.A.E, the U.S.A  

Rule: 7 The pronoun ‘I’ or the interjection ‘O’ capitalised everywhere

            I do not know what I need to do now.

Rule: 8 Name of a subject, a movie, a book, a company, a newspaper

             The United Airlines, The Bangladesh Observer, The Daily Independent

            ‘The Devil’s Advocate’ is an interesting movie. I finished reading ‘As You Like It’.

            I like English very much. I find much interest in Economics. He did well in Physics.

Rule: 9 Names of day, month, historical event,

            I do not go to university on Mondays.

            My wedding anniversary is in October.

            The Language Movement took place in 1952.

            The Independence Day is observed thorough the country.

Rule: 10 At the beginning of personification:

            “O Solitude”. How cruel is Life!

Rule: 11 Some proper nouns

            The Sundarbans is the World Heritage Site.

            The Xinxian is an expensive restaurant.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1. Get on with Practical English by S. M. Amanullah

2. Practical English Usage by Michael Swan

3. Applied English Grammar and Composition by P. C. Das

4. Language: Grammar Reading Writing and Composition by Md. Razibul Islam and Binoy Barman

5. High School English Grammar and Composition by P. C. Wren and H. Martin

6. Oxford Practice Grammar by John Eastwood

Md. Saiful Alam

B.A Honours and M.A in English

E-mail: suman64924@yahoo.com

Mobile: +8801715-712984

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