Punctuation Notes
The purpose of punctuation is to make the meaning as clear as possible. Two wrong punctuation mark can sometimes cause misunderstanding or confusion.
Full Stop
- Comes at the end of complete sentences: a comma is not strong enough
- cannot come at the end of a dependent clause standing by itself:
In general, punctuation with abbreviations is omitted nowadays.
Question mark
Fairly obvious - but remember that a reported question is no longer a question, has statement subject-verb word-order, and therefore takes no question mark:
"Are you going to London next week?" -> The Chairman asked if I was going to London the following week.
Semi-colon
This is the least understood punctuation mark. It is much closer to a full-stop than to a comma, and can never be substituted for a comma. Sometimes there is a choice between full-stop and semi-colon. A semi-colon is used:
- between two closely-related sentences:
I wrote the letter; John posted it.
Here a comma would be wrong by itself; however, other possibilities would be: full-stop, comma + and; comma + but - between items on a horizontal list which are groups of words rather individual words (as in the previous point)
Colon
Two useful rules:
- A colon is used when one sentence leads into, or points directly towards, another:
He looked out of the window: the sky was cloudy and overcast. - A colon is used to introduce a list or an example: after for example: or as follows:
Dash
A useful but hard-to-define mark. It can be used to:
- indicate an afterthought:
We shall arrive on Monday - at least, I hope so. - indicate a discontinuity in the thought, or an interruption:
Viktor Vasilev - whom I briefly met when I was a child - had a career in banking which spanned 65 years.
Quotation marks (inverted commas)
- Single quotation marks are often used when we talk about a word, or use it in an unusual way
- Either single (' ') or double (" ") quotation marks can be used for quoting speech. For a quotation inside a quotation, use the form not used for the main quotation.
- Names of books, newspapers and magazines should be italicized, not in quotation marks. Quotation marks are used for names of articles or chapters, e.g.,
'I read Margaret Clarke's article on "Where to find the best dental clinic" in the Balkan News last week.'
Hyphen
There are no good rules for hyphenating nouns. Use a dictionary - but even dictionaries sometimes disagree!
Hyphenate adjectives when the individual components alone do not make sense:
A four-foot-tall man must have two hyphens, since, four, foot and tall in this context are nonsensical. (Note: foot, not feet, because English adjectives have no plural forms.)
Apostrophe
An apostrophe is used to indicate possession:
- 's: the company's annual report for one company
- s': the companies' annual report for several companies
he's for he is or he has;
she'd for she had or she would.
(К'во ста'а 'е? вместо Какво става бе?)
Comma
- A comma by itself can never be used between two independent clauses or sentences (see semi-colon)
- A comma is usually used when a dependent clause precedes an independent clause, but not when the independent clause comes first: compare
Although it was raining, he went for a walk. with He went for a walk although it was raining. - This is because we naturally pause when saying the first sentence, but not the second.
- While two commas can be used as brackets between subject and verb, one comma can never go between a subject and its verb:
Mr Balev, the President of our company, is 63 years old.
But: Mr Balev, the President of our company is 63 years old. (The second example has a different meaning. It means that you are telling Mr Balev the age of the President.). See also Defining and Non-defining Relative Clauses - Commas are used in horizontal lists:
He speaks French, German, Russion and English. Commas are unnecessary in vertical lists. - Commas are used with sentence-adverbs or phrases at the beginning and end of sentences: Finally, after many attempts, the managed to pass his driving test. He lost his licence a few months later, however.
- Commas are necessary with who/which clauses which give unnecessary or extra information. Compare
The man who is sitting over there is my uncle. with Viktor Vasilev, who lived to be 90, was the director for over 60 years. - Commas used to be used after the salutation and close in letters:
Dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
Note that in modern English the commas are not used in that cases - When two clauses are joined by a conjunction:
I hoped to catch up with Mary at the station, but she was too quick for me. - To show that an idea is in parenthesis:
The whole expedition was, I am sorry to say, a complete waste of time.
Non-defining Relative Clauses
e.g. The CEO, who is 65, is retiring next year.
- Provide extra information about the subject/object of a sentence.
- The sentence still makes sense without this information
- The extra information is contained between commas.
- Use who for people and which for things.
- You cannot leave out the relative pronoun (who, which).
e.g. Managers who trust their staff often become good leaders.
- Provide essential information about the subject/object of a sentence
- Without this information the sentence has a different meaning or makes no sense.
- There are no commas
- Use who or that for people and which or that for things.
- You can leave out the relative pronoun if the relative clause defines the object of the relative clause.
E.g. The developer (who/that) I spoke to was great.
