Using Punctuation in English
We’ve had a few questions about punctuation, so I thought I would provide a list below of some of the most common ones used in standard writing. It would take a long time to talk about the uses of each one. Instead, I’ve provided an example of how they can be used in context (in an actual situation) in the paragraphs below.
Period [ . ]
Question mark [ ? ]
Exclamation point [ ! ]
Comma [ , ]
Quotation mark [ " " ]
Colon [ : ]
Semi-colon [ ; ]
Parentheses [ ( ) ]
Ellipsis [ ... ]
…
Using punctuation helps readers better understand what we write. It would be very difficult to read this paragraph without any punctuation at all, don’t you think? There are several American writers who don’t like to use punctuation when they write, and when I see some of their writings, I say to myself, “Wow, this is hard to understand!” Their writings include: books, essays, short stories, and poetry.
Style is important; comprehension is important, too. My brother likes to write emails without punctuation and I think they are difficult to understand. (Of course I would never tell him that to his face! The last time I gave him advice, well…)
…
You’ll notice that although I used one kind of punctuation in a sentence, another type may have worked just as well. Punctuation, like our choice of words, is often arbitrary (made for no definite reason).
Traditionally, people put two spaces after punctuation at the end of a sentence. In the days of the typewriter, it was easier to see where a sentence ended and another began with two spaces separating each one. Today, that’s changing. With fonts that show more clearly the end of sentences, people are beginning to use just one space at the end of sentences. For this reason, you will see it both ways.
~ Lucy
August 31st, 2010 at 10:44 am
Thank you Lucy, it is always a difficult matter to know how to use punctuation, at least for me.
Nice, I like the idea of putting two spaces after punctuation at the end of a sentece. It is absolutely new for me
and I don´t think that in Spanish we use to do that, but it could be possible. In fact I don´t know, I have to ask a wise
person like Cuca about it.
No, I don´t like to read something that hasn´t any punctuation, it should be hard and difficult for me to read
a book or a text without the help of a good punctuation.
Regards.
August 31st, 2010 at 12:26 pm
well, punctuation has a paramount importance to give meaning of what one is writing. In reality they jazz the sentence up and facilitate the reading process besides to steer clear confusion when reading…
I don’t know if u have an idea about my country Algeria being colonized by the French and while signing the treaty of truce and but for a martyr named “Mohamed Khaydar” who could notice the comma as it has changed the whole meaning of what is already dealt about as France must leave Algeria…….it’s a long story though, as i just want to demonstrate how important punctuations are…
best regards podcast team and above all our sleeping beauty Lucy as well as our knight-man Jeff
August 31st, 2010 at 7:56 pm
i don’t like using punctuation. I don’t use it when I texting. This is new information for me. I don’t know it is called Ellipsis. i never use semicolon, not be sure how to use.
September 1st, 2010 at 12:02 am
Luci, thank you very much! You are doing good job!
I have one question about your example text above.
You’ve wrote “Their writings include: books, essays, short stories, and poetry.”
Is it correct to use “include” not “includes” here?
September 1st, 2010 at 2:18 am
Very interesting and useful, Lucy, as we normally use the same punctuation of our own language making mistakes. I’d like to ask you another thing . When you arrive at the bottom of a line without having written the entire word, how it is the division into syllables? There is some particular rule? Some people said to me that when you start a new paragraph you can interrupt the word in any point: is it right?
Thank for your reply
Clara
September 1st, 2010 at 2:38 am
Dear teachers and friends all over the world
This subject has really a lot of importance. I myself have been finding some difficulty in use punctuation in my writings. My hint for all those who want to make their ideas clearer is to use the breath when writing. As you go writing, go reading at the same time. If there is a short pause in the sentence, put down a comma; if the pause is longer, put a semi-colon; if you have to change the subject, put a period. If the change is drastic, change the line. Dr. Jeff and Dr. Lucy were very lucky in touching this point, for it is very common to find texts with gaps in it and texts with nonsense, just because of lack of punctuation. It is worth the efforts for giving more rhythm to your essays just using punctuation. For example, to quote other’s words, put down the quotations marks, and to explain better one word, use parenthesis. I am not an English teacher, but I have my own methods for learning better and write better, all in all I owe respect for those who read my essays. As Brazilian people say: I hit the thing!
Aecio from Brazil
September 1st, 2010 at 3:31 am
Yes, Fayssal, I don´t know such an episode of Algeria’s history, but I believe it because, as you all are telling us, the importance of punctuation in a writting is so important that the general meaning of a text might shift hugely.
For instance, in a determined Law a not very well made job of punctuation can be a way for a good lawyer to find out a legal loophole so that its client can be able to not obey the obligations included in it. Furthermore, in a contract’s small print an unlucky buyer can surprisingly find out how the general idea that he had got about the guarantee, previously explained to him by the seller in very favourable terms, becomes a total failure.
On the other hand, I agree with the idea on the inexistence of clear border to use a type of punctuation or another, because in many cases the choice depends on the writer’s preferences.
By the way, in my low level of English, I use punctuation like I would use it in Spanish. I know that they both aren’t the same. I apologize for it, but I feel unable to learn about the differences.
Best regards from Spain,
Julio.-
September 1st, 2010 at 10:18 am
Hy Lucy,
To put two spaces after punctuation at the end of a sentence is completely new information to me. If you look at the writings of the other bloggers here, you’ll mention that nobody does it. So I was curiously investigating older texts of yours and – you guess it – I realized, you really stick to it.
September 1st, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Hi again,
Converting spoken words into a written form is a critical process. If you fail to convey the exact intended meaning of what Mr X said, you are essentially conveying the message in a different form which may entail consequences.
In speaking, it is customary to make pauses or change the inflexion of the voice where the sense requires it. In writing, to indicate the reader the effect or feeling of those pauses and inflexion, we make use of certain signs or marks.
In 2003, Lynne Truss, a British writer, wrote Eats, Shoots and Leaves on the subject. The title originates from a joke. A panda goes to a bar and orders a ham sandwich. After eating, he takes his pistol, shoots in the air. On being asked why he did so, he shows a badly punctuated wildlife manual. The entry for Panda in it read: “PANDA. Large, black-and-white, bear-like mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.” Obviously, the unnecessary comma after “eats” has distorted the meaning.
Look at the following sentences:
Don’t stop.
Don’t, stop.
The first is a request to continue with the action; the second is the exact opposite — it’s saying that the action should cease. (Cast your mind back to a couple of real-life situations you’ve experienced and just think of the ramifications of leaving out that little punctuation mark!)
thx
September 2nd, 2010 at 12:48 am
Hi Lucy,
Thank you for your explanation about how to use punctuation in sentences. I know very import subject in writing English. But punctuation is very new for me. I’m listening your podcast every day and try to understand what you say. Thank you for your aford. Your podcasts are very usefull for me.
September 2nd, 2010 at 2:39 am
I am one of who think that punctuation signs are not just a good idea, but they are essential at all sort of writing.
No long time ago, I started to read some novels in English and I realized that the “way” of writing in English is different that in Spanish does, mainly when the different characters in the novel are speaking. I don’t still know very well how I must understand it.
The sentences that the characters are saying, are writing between quotation marks, however, in the middle of this sentence, might have some hyphen (-). I have to confess that this is very confused to me. I think that I’ll understand it as time goes by, and after I read a little more.
I’ll take my time.
September 3rd, 2010 at 10:04 am
Hy fayssal,
your examples are really convincing evidence for the need of punctuation.
September 3rd, 2010 at 9:25 pm
Thank you very very much Lucy. That is very useful for me.
November 7th, 2010 at 3:01 pm
The power of punctuation
AN ENGLISH PROFESSOR WROTE THE WORDS :
” A WOMAN WITHOUT HER MAN IS NOTHING ”
…
ON THE CHALKBOARD AND ASKED HIS STUDENTS TO PUNCTUATE IT CORRECTLY.
ALL OF THE MALES IN THE CLASS WROTE :
” A WOMAN, WITHOUT HER MAN, IS NOTHING “.
ALL THE FEMALES IN THE CLASS WROTE :
” A WOMAN : WITHOUT HER, MAN IS NOTHING “.
November 10th, 2010 at 5:00 am
thx Karl for the boost, u are welcome