ENGLISH:                               GRAMMAR.

Summary of Punctuation Marks
Name ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Example

. Full stop / Period ------------------------------------------ I like English.

, Comma ------------------------------------------------------- I speak English, French and Thai.

; Semi-colon -------------------------------------------------- I don't often go swimming; I prefer to    play tennis.

: Colon --------------------------------------------------------- You have two choices: finish the work    today or lose the contract.

- Hyphen ----------------------------------------------------- This is a rather out-of-date book.

_ Dash ------------------------------------------------------ In each town - London, Paris and Rome -    we stayed in youth hostels.

? Question Mark --------------------------------------------- Where is Shangrila?

! Exclamation Mark ------------------------------------------ "Help!" she cried. "I'm drowning!"

/ Oblique/Slash -------------------------------------------- Please press your browser's Refresh/Reload    button.

" Quotation Marks ------------------------------------------ "I love you," she said.

' Apostrophe ----------------------------------------------- This is John's car.

() Round Brackets ------------------------------------------ I went to Bangkok (my favourite city) and     stayed there for two weeks.

[] Square Brackets ----------------------------------------- The newspaper reported that the hostages     [most of them French] had been released.

... Ellipsis ----------------------------------------------- One happy customer wrote: "This is the best     program ... that I have ever seen."

Rules of Punctuation
The Period (Full Stop)
(a) Marks the end of a sentence (except for questions and exclamations.) A sentence is complete unit of       sense, which can stand on its own. (It may consist of only one word as in greetings like "Hello."       commands like "Stop." [Where the subject you is understood], and replies like "No."
       To test whether a group of words is a sentence, you should read it out to yourself. It conveys a        complete meaning, then you can probably put a period at the end.
(b)   Indicates an abbreviation.
        For Example Co. etc i.e. a.m.

Capital Letters
(a) At the beginning of every sentence.
(b) At the beginning of a passage of direct quotation (sec subsection 6 below)
(c) For proper nouns (i.e. names of particular persons, places, things) and for months of the year and days       of the week:
      For example Jane, Africa, Sydney, July, Tuesday
(d) For adjectives derived from proper nouns (especially places and people) e.g. English, French and       Victorian (except for common compounds like Venetian blinds and Brussels sprouts, where the       adjective has lost its original emphasis).
(e) For the first and all main words in any kind of title: books, plays, poems, (e.g. from Maddening       Crowd), films, newspapers, magazines(e.g. Time), names of ships, houses, a person's title (e.g. Prime       Minister of Australia) the titles of institutions and businesses. Abbreviations of titles (e.g. Gov.)
(f)  At the beginning of each line of verse (except in some modern poetry).
(g) For the pronoun I.
(h) For He, His, when referring to God.

Commas
Note: Don't put a comma between the subject and its verb.
Wrong: What he wrote, was illegible.
Right: What he wrote was illegible.

The Semicolon
(a) To separate clauses which could stand as sentences but which are "closely related" especially:
(i) When the second clause expands or explains the first:
e.g. Neither of us spoke; we merely waited in silence to see what would happen.

(ii) When the clauses describe a sequence of actions or different aspects of the same topic.
e.g. There was a sharp, bracing air; the ground was dry; the sea was crisp and clear.

(iii) Before independent clauses beginning with even so, so, therefore, for instance, nevertheless, then etc:
e.g. He took great rare; even so, he made a few errors.

(iv) To suggest a contrast:
e.g. I like swimming; my sister hates it.

(In all the above examples periods could have been used but would have been two abrupt.)
(b) To mark off a series of Phrases (or clauses) which themselves contain commas.
e.g. You will need the following: some scrap paper; a pen, preferable blue or black; some envelopes; and some good, white, unlined writing-paper.

The Colon
(a) To introduce a list  
e.g. Speaking at Caesar's funeral, Anthony addresses the crowd; "Friends, Romans, countrymen ...."
(b) Before a clause which explains the previous statement. The colon has the force of the word "namely" or "that is":

(c) To express a strong contrast:
e.g. God creates: man destroys.

(d) To introduce a climax or concluding clause: 
e.g. After pondering the choices before him, he came to decision: he joined the army.

(e) To make a pointed connection:
e.g. Jeremy became a director in just three months: his father was the chief shareholder.

The Hyphen
(a) When attaching a prefix (e.g. self-explanatory, anti-hero) and especially when confusion might result as with "re-sign" and "re-form"
(b) When forming a compound word from two or more other words:
e.g. son-in-law, a half-eaten biscuit, and a couldn't-care-less attitude, red-hot-smoking-jacket.
Distinguish "fifty-odd people" from fifty odd people.

Dashes
Two dashes are used when breaking off a sentence to insert an after thought or an explanatory comment or short list:
e.g. In August last year- I was with my family at the time- I had a serious accident. Nothing-food, plates, cutlery, pan's-could be left unattended.

A single dash may be used.

(a) When breaking off a sentence for an abrupt change of thought or when "tagging on" another construction:
e.g. The following day we had better luck - but that is another story.

(b) To emphasize a repeated word:
e.g. The new regime imposed rigid laws-laws which the police found difficult to enforce.

(c) When bringing together a number of items:
e.g. Tooth brush, can-opener, matches, soap pads-these are often forgotten by inexperienced campers.

The Question Marks
This is used for all direct questions:
e.g. What are you doing: You will come, won't you? but not for reported questions: e.g. I wonder what he is doing. Ask him who did it.
(Don't forget the question mark at the end of a long question.)

Exclamation Mark
(a) Use an exclamation point at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command.
e.g. "No!" he yelled. "Do it now!"

(b) An exclamation mark may be used to close questions that are meant to convey extreme emotion, as in
e.g. What on earth are you doing! Stop!

(c) An exclamation mark can be inserted within in parentheses to emphasize a word with in a sentence.
e.g. We have some really (!) low-priced rugs on sale this week.

(d) An exclamation mark will often accompany mimetically produced sounds, as in
e.g. "All might long, the dogs woof! in my neighbor's yard" and the "The bear went Ger! And I went left."

(e) If an exclamation mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make sure that the exclamation mark is also italicized or underlined:
e.g. My favorite book is Oh, the Places You'll Go!

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title's exclamation mark. The exclamation mark will also suffice to end the sentence.) If the exclamation mark is not part of a sentence-ending title, don't italicize the exclamation mark:
e.g. I've asked you not to sing la Marseillaise!
In academic prose, an exclamation point is used rarely, if at all, and in newspaper wiring the exclamation point is virtually nonexistent.

Quotation Marks
(a) When the subject and verb start the sentence, they are followed by a comma, and the first word spoken has a capital letter:
e.g. They said, "We are going away."

(b) When quoting someone's words or from a book:
e.g. "To be, or not to be" begins a famous speech from Hamlet.
Take care, when quoting from a book/play/poem, that your own sentence leads naturally into the quotation.

(c) Further, punctuation around quoted speech or phrases depends on how it fits into the rest of your text. If a quoted word or phrase fits into the flow of your sentence without a break or pause, then a comma may not be necessary:
e.g. The phrase "lovely, dark and deep" begins to suggest ominous overtones.

(d) If the quoted speech follows an independent clause yet could be part of the same sentence, use a colon to set off the quoted language:
e.g. My mother's favorite quote was from Shakespeare: "This above all, to thin own self be true."

(e) Around titles of short stories
e.g. I read the story "White Knight at the Battle field" to him already.

(f) Around titles of poems
e.g. Your poem "The Wave" was certainly very touching.

(g) Around titles of songs
e.g. My favorite song is "The Yellow Submarine.

(h) Around titles of articles
e.g. That article "Why You Should Bring Your Own Lunch" was about unhealthy lunches.

(i) Around titles of chapters
e.g. The chapter "The Encounter with the Teacher" was quite funny.

(j) Use single quotation marks (only one quotation mark) around a quote that is in another quote.
"Ms. Redwood, the article you gave us, "Save the Environment, I was very interesting to ready," I said.

The Apostrophe
(a) To denote possession with nouns. The singular noun takes an apostrophe followed by an s. Plurals ending in s add an apostrophe after the final s.
e.g. a lady's hat, the ladies' hats (i.e., the hats of the ladies), a weeks holiday, six weeks' holiday. An ass's burden Jones's cap, the Joneses' house (i.e., the house of the Joneses)

Be careful with unusual plurals (like men, children, mice) which are treated as if they are singular:
e.g. men's coats, women's rights, children's toys (never write mens' or childrens')

For proper nouns ending in a sounded e and and an s or in s vowel s (e.g, Euripides, Moses) add the apostrophe after the s:
e.g. Ulysses' adventures, Archimedes' principle, Jesus' mother (Note-also-for goodness' sake.)

In units involving two or more nouns or in a compound noun or phrase, put the apostrophe on the last word only:
e.g. William and Mary's reign, my father-in-law's house.

This does not apply if there is no joint possession:
e.g. My brother's and my sister's birthday.

Note: The apostrophe is not used in these words: yours, hers, ours, theirs or its (when it means belonging to it). (Would you write hi's for his?) It is, however, used in one's (belonging to one).

(b) To indicate a contraction. The apostrophe is placed where the letter (s) have been omitted:
e.g. didn't, can't, they're, you're, I'd (But note: shan't, won't).

(c) For the plural form of certain letters and figures, although this apostrophe is now often omitted:
e.g. The three R's, P's and Q's, in the '60's, if's and but's.

Ellipsis
(a) When you're quoting material and you want to omit some words. The ellipsis consists of three evenly spaced dots (periods) with spaces between the ellipsis and surrounding letters or other marks. Let's take the sentence, "The ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes from the Caribbean who were visiting the U.S." and leave out " from the Caribbean who were":
e.g. the ceremony honored twelve brilliant athletes ... visiting the U.S.
If the omission comes after the end of a sentence, the ellipsis will be placed after the period, making a total of four dots. ... See how that works? Notice that there is no space between the period and the last character of the sentence.

(b) The ellipsis can also be used to indicate a pause in the flow of a sentence and is especially useful in quoted speech:
e.g. Juan thought and thought ... and then thought some more. "I'm wondering ... "Juan sid, bemused.

Square Brackets

(a) You can use them to include explanatory words or phrases within quoted language:
e.g. Lew Perkins, the Director of Athletic Programs, said that Pumita Espinoza, the new soccer coach [at Notre Dame Academy] is going to be a real winner.

(b) If you are quoting material nd you've had to change the capitalization of a word or change a pronoun to make the material fit into your sentence, enclose that changed letter or word (s) within brackets:
e.g. Espinoza charged her former employer with "falsification of [her] coaching record."