COLLEGE OF NURSING JAHI

USE OF ENGLISH

TWO HOURS LECTURE

What are punctuation marks?

Punctuation marks are a set of symbols used in writing to separate sentences and phrases in order to
indicate pauses, stops, emphasis, and tone. Without punctuation, writing will consist of blocks of text
that can’t reflect major aspects of language.

Different languages use different types and numbers of punctuation marks, for various purposes.
French, for example, has 17 of them while Arabic only has 6. English has 14 punctuation marks, used to
separate or connect elements of grammar, indicate a pause, denote ownership, and more.

Why are punctuation marks important?

Punctuation marks are important in writing to capture the meaning and flow of spoken language. They
help you communicate your thoughts and ideas clearly and create an easy reading experience for your
reader.

Here are five ways punctuation improves your writing:

Reduces ambiguity and makes your writing clear.

Communicates your tone and emphasis effectively.

Breaks the sentence into smaller chunks, making it easier to read.

Makes it easier for the reader to trust your authority.

Prevents misunderstandings and confusion.

What are the 14 punctuation marks?

Here are the 14 punctuation marks in English: the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma,
semicolon, colon, dashes, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, apostrophe, quotation marks, ellipsis, and
slash.

Some consider the two dashes, en dash and em dash, as separate punctuation symbols. The use of these
punctuation marks is quite different, so this characterization isn’t strictly wrong. Some guides also
consider braces as more deserving of a place in the punctuation marks list than slash. However, we’ve
considered the 14 punctuation marks most commonly taught in English educational courses around the
world.

1. Period (.)
This is called a period in American eng or a full stop in British. It is most commonly used to end a
sentence. examples of shorts sentences.

The roses are red.

Please close the door.

John asked me if she could come to the event. (an indirect question, but written as a statement.)

The second most common use of the period is to denote abbreviations, initialisms, and decimals.

We also use full stop in Abbreviation: Dr. Mr. Mrs. but some abbreviation are written without a full stop
e. g. BBC CIA UN but abbreviations like e.g. i.e. and etc. are written with full stop

But Mr Mrs Dr are generally written without a full stop in British English and with one in American
English eg Mr. Mrs. Dr.

In British English we use the abbreviations a. m. p. m. in small letters with full stop but in American we
use them in capital letters with no period.

2. Comma (,)

We use a comma to separate items in a list e.g

When we went to the market,we bought milk, sugar, onion and beans

We also use a comma with certain conjunction e.g. AND, BUT, SO, AND OR e. g.

you can ask her, but don't think she will agree

I will not be there till ten, so don't wait for me

We also use a comma to add nonessential information to a sentence e. g.

Apparently, he has been suffering from depression for several years.

Rabat, which is in northern Morocco, has the coldest winters among the cities

3. Colon (:) Colon has main one job, it introduce example, explanation, or details e. g

Rapid urbanization has led to multiple problems: congestion, air pollution and a shortage of affordable
housing for families........ Here the sentence mention before the Colon mention a general idea which is
(Multiple problems) and the sentence after the colon explain what these ideas are.

I can promise you one thing: you will not regret your decision

He left all of his money to his friend in the whole world: his cat
There is one creature larger than any other animal on the planet: the blue whale.

4. Apostrophe (') It is used in contraction to replace a missing letter. e. g

We bought her an apple, but she doesn't eat it

He said that you are ugly, and you're right about that

We also use apostrophe to show that something belong to a person (possession).e. g

Where have you gotten john's jacket

Her mother's cousin's son won the election

5. Semicolon (;) Semicolon is mostly similar to the full stop. It is used at the end of a full sentence
(Independent clauses) . Using the Semicolon shows that your idea before and after the Semicolon are
connected, and when we use a semicolon, no need to use any conjunction or linking words. e. g.

He is so stubborn; it's impossible to convince him to change his idea even a little.

I have a big test tomorrow; I need to study all night

NOTE! There are some linking words which can be used with a semicolon e.g. (However)

e. g. I don't regret it; however, I will do things differently if I have another chance

6. Hyphen (-) is used to make compound words especially compound adjectives. Compound words
are words made made up two or more other words

e. g. It's a six-hours flight to Morocco

Her bed-room is always clean

my note-book is full

Compound words with numbers need hyphen e. g

They have a three-year-old daughter

We also use hypen when using prefix e. g.

His ex-wife was promoted and is now his direct manager

Non-smokers generally need to pay much less for health insurance

We also use hypen with proper nouns or numbers e. g

anti-European. Post-1950 politics

EN dashe has a space on neither side of the dashe while the EM dashe no. e. g

He had escaped—or so he thought

John–always the optimistic —believes we can still win the game

The cake–which was chocolate —looked delicious

8. Quotation (") There are two kind of quotations marks single and double and it doesn't matter which
you use. We use it to quote someone's statement. e.g.

He stood up and said "I would not do it if you paid me a million dollars"

" Being lucky is more important than being talented" were the firsts words of her speech

We also use quotations marks to refer to words as words e.g

"Millennium" is a difficult word to spell

Why did you use "verbs" here

9. Question mark (?)

This is called a question mark. It is most commonly used to ask questions.

Are the roses red?

Can you close the door?

How is this possible?

10. Question tags:

why can't you say the truth

You went clubbing last night, didn’t you?

11. Exclamation point (!)

Here are the ways in which you can use an exclamation point:

Excitement or enthusiasm:
How lucky I am to win the lottery!

Surprise or shock:

I can’t believe that just happened!!

Strong emotion: I’m so happy for you!

12. Slash (/)

The / is called a slash. It is used to represent a number of different things, including division, fractions,
and options.

Fraction: ⅔ of Earth is covered in water.

Division: It’s simple math, 24/3 equals