RULES TO KNOW
PUNCTUATION IN
ENGLISH
CAPITAL LETTERS AND FULL STOP (.)
• We went to France last summer. We were really surprised that it was so easy to travel on
the motorways.
• The Football World Cup takes place every four years. The next World Cup will be held in
South Africa. In 2006 it was held in Germany.
CAPITAL LETTERS
• We also use capital letters at the beginning of proper nouns.
• Proper nouns include:
• personal names (including titles before names),
• nationalities and languages,
• days of the week and months of the year,
• public holidays as well as geographical places
• Examples:
• Dr David James is the consultant at Leeds City Hospital.
• They are planning a long holiday in New Zealand.
• Can she speak Japanese?
• The next meeting of the group will take place on Thursday.
• What plans do you have for Chinese New Year?
Capital Letters for the Titles of Books, Magazines
and Newspapers, Plays and Music
• Oliver’ is a musical based on the novel ‘Oliver Twist’ by Charles Dickens.
• The Straits Times is a daily English language newspaper in Singapore.
• They are performing Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony.
FULL STOP (.)
• In addition to closing sentences, we also use full stops in initials for personal names:
• G. W. Dwyer
• David A. Johnston, Accountant
COMMAS (,)
• We use commas to separate a list of similar words or phrases:
• It’s important to write in clear, simple, accurate words.
• They were more friendly, more talkative, more open than last time we met them.
• We do not normally use a comma before and at the end of a list of single words:
• They travelled through Bulgaria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland.
• American English does use a comma in lists before and:
• We took bread, cheese, and fruit with us.
COMMAS (,)
• We use commas to separate words or phrases that mark where the voice would pause
slightly:
• I can’t tell you now. However, all will be revealed tomorrow at midday.
• We had, in fact, lost all of our money.
• James, our guide, will accompany you on the boat across to the island.
COMMAS (,) WITH SAME AND DIFFERENT
SUBJECTS
• When main clauses are separated by and, or, but, we don’t normally use a comma if the
clauses have the same subject. However, we sometimes use commas if the clauses have
different subjects:
• They were very friendly and invited us to their villa in Portugal. (same subject)
• Footballers these days earn more money but they are fitter and play many more
matches. (same subject)
• It was an expensive hotel in the centre of Stockholm, but we decided it was worth the
money. (different subjects)
COMMAS (,) AND RELATIVE CLAUSES
• We use commas to mark non-defining clauses. Such clauses normally add extra, non-
essential information about the noun or noun phrase:
• The ambulance, which arrived after just five minutes, took three people to the hospital
immediately.
• Hong Kong, where the first ASEAN meeting was held, is a very different city now.
WARNING
• Warning:
• We don’t use commas to mark defining clauses:
• Barcelona was the Spanish city that was selected for the Olympic Games.
Commas and speech forms
• We commonly separate tags and yes-no responses with commas:
• They are going to the party, aren’t they?
• No, thank you. I’ve already eaten too much.
• We also usually separate vocatives, discourse markers and interjections with commas:
• Open the door for them, Kayleigh, can you. Thanks. (vocative)
• Well, what do you think we should do about it? (discourse marker)
• Wow, that sounds really exciting. (interjection)
• We use commas to show that direct speech is following or has just occurred:
• He said in his opening speech, ‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’ (or He said in his opening speech:
‘Now is the time to plan for the future.’)
• When the direct speech is first, we use a comma before the closing of the quotation marks:
• ‘We don’t want to go on holiday to the same place every year,’ he said impatiently.
COLONS (:)
• We use colons to introduce lists:
• There are three main reasons for the success of the government: economic, social and political.
• We also use colons to indicate a subtitle or to indicate a subdivision of a topic:
• Life in Provence: A Personal View
• We often use colons to introduce direct speech:
• Then he said: ‘I really cannot help you in any way.’
• We commonly use a colon between sentences when the second sentence explains or justifies the first sentence:
• Try to keep your flat clean and tidy: it will sell more easily.
SEMI-COLONS (;)
• We use semi-colons instead of full stops to separate two main clauses. In such cases, the
clauses are related in meaning but are separated grammatically:
• Spanish is spoken throughout South America; in Brazil the main language is Portuguese.
QUOTATION MARKS ('….' ''….'')
•Quotation marks in English are ‘…’ or “…”. In direct speech, we enclose what is said within a pair of single or double quotation marks,
although single quotation marks are becoming more common. Direct speech begins with a capital letter and can be preceded by a comma or a
colon:
•She said, “Where can we find a nice Indian restaurant?” (or She said: ‘Where can we find a nice Indian restaurant?’)
•We can put the reporting clause in three different positions. Note the position of commas and full stops here:
•The fitness trainer said, ‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin.’ (quotation mark after comma introducing speech and after full stop)
•‘Don’t try to do too much when you begin,’ the fitness trainer said. (comma before closing quotation mark)
•‘Don’t try to do too much,’ the fitness trainer said, ‘when you begin.’ (commas separating the reporting clause)
•When we use direct speech inside direct speech, we use either single quotation marks inside double quotation marks, or double quotation
marks inside single quotation marks:
•“It was getting really cold,” he said, “and they were saying ‘When can we go back home?’”
•Jaya said, ‘They were getting really excited and were shouting “Come on!”’.
•We commonly use question marks inside the quotation marks unless the question is part of the reporting clause:
•‘Why don’t they know who is responsible?’ they asked.
•So did they really say ‘We will win every match for the next three weeks’?
Dashes —
• Dashes are more common in informal writing. They can be used in similar ways to commas
or semi-colons. Both single and multiple dashes may be used:
• Our teacher – who often gets cross when we’re late – wasn’t cross at all. No one could
believe it!
• Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening – we really enjoyed it.
Hypens (-) (use it with compound words)
• Moon disappeared behind a heavy-cloudedsky.
• The sky was heavy clouded.
• The technology is state-of-the-art.
• She married her husband when she was twenty-one.
