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