What is Punctuation, marks and rules in English grammar

What is Punctuation, marks and rules in English grammar: In this post you will be able to understand the basics of punctuation, marks and punctuation rules. As we know that how punctuation is important in English grammar. So you must have the knowledge of correct use of Punctuation.

What is Punctuation, marks and rules in English grammar

What is Punctuation

Punctuations are the marks used in between the sentences to specify their meaning correctly. Punctuations are important for both the format of English language i.e. Written and Spoken English. In written English, any punctuations marks can change the whole meaning of the sentence. For examples, let’s take a look on the following sentences.

Let’s drink Dad.

Let’s drink, Dad.

Now you can easily see that how a single comma can create a lot of difference in the sentence. In both these sentences, the meaning differs. Let’s see how??

First sentence means that we are going to drink dad ( which does not make any sense at all) but in second sentence we are saying dad to drink ( this make a sense).

So there are many symbols in Punctuations which are used to make sentences.

Punctuation Marks

Here we are giving you a list of few symbols used in English punctuation.

Full stop (.)– It is usually used at the end on any sentence.

Comma (,)– It is used to take a small pause in the sentence.

Questions mark (?)– It is used in interrogative sentence to denote a question.

Exclamation mark (!)– It is the symbol of surprise, anger and loud sound.

Colon (:)– It denotes that what we need to follow next.

Semi-Colon (;)– It joins two independent clauses and used to separate two sentences in place on comma.

Apostrophe (‘)–  it denotes omission and possession.

 Now let’s take a descriptive look on all the above symbols of Punctuations with example.

Full Stop (.)

 The full stop (.) is the powerful punctuation symbol in English grammar. It is used to denote the strong pause or at the end of the sentence. Lets take a look on the following example to clarify this.

I am Sumit Thakur.

Obey the rules.

You have to leave this place.

Let’s do it.

These are the most common examples of Full Stop (.) which you all know very well. But now let’s see the other situations where we use full stop (.)

1. After Abbreviations : A.M., P.M.,etc.
2.  After words : “Goodbye.” “Hello.”, “All right”.

For example

Goodbye. I am going.

Hello Sumit. What are you doing?

All right. Let’s do it now.

1. After titles: Mr., Mrs., Dr. 
2. In decimal points: 3.4, 5.9.

An ellipsis (…) –Used to show that the sentence is not completed yet, and sometimes for pause.

Example: last night, I went to London and from few months I am just visiting and visiting and visiting…

Question Mark (?)

Used for the questions. This important symbol of English punctuation was developed in 81th century. Just like full stop, it is used at the end of the sentence. Most of the people never use this and if they use then incorrectly.  So need to understand the importance of question mark symbol. Here some situations in which we use question mark symbol.

When someone put a direct question then at the end of the sentence we use question mark symbol. For example

1. Where are you coming from?
2. Am I right?
3. Have you gone mad?
4. Are you busy today?
5. Is this working properly?

When there is an uncertainty.

For example: I lived their till 1990(?) and I left that place after.

When we have a series of questions, For Example

1. Where? How?  When are you going?
2. This is your phone? Where you bought this from? How much is its cost?

Any kind of statement which senses like a question, For example

1. I am asking you to marry me?
2. My father asked me to buy this phone?

Comma (,)

It is used to indicate a pause in the sentence. It helps to understand the prime meaning of the sentence. We must have the knowledge of using comma because it matters a lot in specifying the meaning of sentence.

There are following common usages of comma which are given as.

1. In separating series of words (nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives).

For example:

John, Mathew, Ram And Shweta  are going for the meeting.

Sumit is honest, smart and intelligent.

1. In separating a series of phrases in sentence.

For example

I completed my work, switched off my laptop, started my car and came out from there.

He went to cinema, bought a ticket and watched the movie.

1. In separating parenthetical elements (those elements which can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence).

For Example

Ram, the monitor of the class, has left the school.

John, the captain of the team, hit a four to win the match.

1. In separating the quoted part from the rest of the sentence.

For example

He told me,” London is in UK”.

“All of you please go home”, said the soldier to the people.

Exclamation Marks (!)

When there is a feel of surprise, anger and raised voice then exclamation symbol should be placed. Today most of the people never use exclamation symbol but it is still as necessary as it was. Here is an example to understand this.

Bravo! We have done it.

Oh! It was too tough.

Hurray! We have won the match

Colon (:)

It denotes that what we need to follow next. Here is an example to describe it properly.

You need three things: Input, output and data.

Punctuation Rules

The knowledge of punctuation is good but if you don’t know its rules then it is not going to help you anymore. There are few rules of punctuation, one must understand these rules when they making the sentence. In both the aspects whether it is written or spoken, good writer or speaker always uses punctuation rules. So punctuation rules are necessary for the sentences. Here are few rules given as below.

1. Sentence must end with a Full Stop (.).

2. Names of people, places, brands etc should have first letter capital.

3. All the quotation marks should be ended properly.

4. Never use apostrophe in the plural nouns like, tables (Not table’s).

6. Place question marks at the end of the sentence if you are making a question.

So this was all about Punctuation, marks and rules in English grammar. I hope you enjoyed this post ||What is Punctuation, marks and rules in English grammar||.  If you feel any problem then don’t hesitate and just hit comment button to ask your questions.