Common Mistakes in Written English 8 - Punctuation

Ouiz

Notes & Exercises

1. Capital Letter

a. for the first letter of a sentence
   Watching TV is popular in Hong Kong.

b. for days, months and festivals
   Monday September Easter

c. for names of people, organizations, places and events
   John Harvard University    Beijing    the Second World War

d. for people's titles
   Uncle David    Mrs. Chan    Dr. Wong    President Obama

e. for titles of books, films, newspapers and magazines
   A Midsummer Night's Dream    Titanic
   South China Morning Post    Reader's Digest

f. for nationalities, languages and religions
   American English    Christian

g. for abbreviations
   AIDS    ICAC

* In a title, the first word and every word, except articles and prepositions, are capitalized.
    I don¡¦t like the course 'Introduction to Business English'.

** Names of school subjects need not be capitalized.
    Ms. Chan teaches economics, liberal studies and Chinese history.


2. Quotation Marks

Single quotation marks ('¡K') are more usual in UK English, and double quotation marks ("¡K") are more usual in US English.

a. Direct speech

- Direct speech is inside quotation marks or inverted commas.
    He said, 'You shouldn¡¦t have done that.'
(The full stop after the word ¡¥that¡¦ is inside the quotation marks.)

- If you put something like he said after the direct speech, you put a comma in front of the second quotation mark (not a full stop) because the sentence is not yet complete. If the direct speech is a question or an exclamation, you put a question mark or an exclamation mark instead.
    'You shouldn¡¦t have done that,' he said.
    'What are you doing?' she asked.
    'It's awful!' shouted Tony.

- If you then give another sentence said by the same person, you start it with a capital letter and put quotation marks round it.
    'You shouldn't have done that,' he said. 'You should have asked my permission first.'

- If you put something like he said within a sentence in direct speech, you put a comma after the first piece of direct speech and after he said, and you start the continuation of the direct speech with quotation marks. Note that you do not give the first word of the continuation a capital letter.
    'Open the door,' he said, 'or I'll kick it in.'

- For a quotation within a quotation, we use double quotation marks inside single (or single inside double).
    'His last words,' said Lau' were¡§Close that window"'
    = "His last words," said Laura, "were 'Close that window'."

- When a sentence is in reported speech, a full stop should be used at the end of the sentence.
    Sarah asked me, 'What are you doing?'
    Sarah asked me what I was doing.

b. Special use of words
We often put quotation marks round words which are used in special ways, for example, when we use them as titles or when we give them special meanings.
   His next book is 'Heart of Darkness'.
    Ashley is confident that she will win the title of 'Miss Hong Kong'.
   A textbook can be a 'wall' between the teacher and her students.


3. Comma

a. A comma ( , ) can be used after an adverb clause when it comes first in a sentence.
   After he left school, he went to America.
   If it rains tomorrow, we won¡¦t go.
    When the adverb clause follows the main clause, no comma is needed.
   He went to America after he left school.
    We won¡¦t go if it rains tomorrow.

b. No comma is used before a noun clause.
    We all know that the earth goes round the sun. (x ¡Kknow, that¡K)
    Matthew did not understand what Jessica had just said. (x ¡Kunderstand, what¡K)
    Belinda can¡¦t remember when the exam will begin. (x ¡Kremember, when¡K)
    Britney could not recall where she had met the strange man. (x ¡Krecall, where¡K)

c. No comma is used before a defining relative clause.
    People who write plays sometimes act in them too.
    But a non-defining relative clause has comma(s).
   Shakespeare, who wrote many famous plays, also acted on the stage.

d. When nouns are followed by identifying expressions which show exactly who or what is being talked about, commas are not used.
    The driver in the Ferrari was cornering well.
   (The phrase ¡¥in the Ferrari¡¦ identifies the driver.)
   Otherwise, commas are used.
    Daniel, in the Ferrari, was cornering well.
   (The phrase ¡¥in the Ferrari¡¦ does not identify the driver; he is already identified by his name, Daniel.)

e. A comma should be used after a participle phrase.
   Feeling very angry, Ryan did not speak a word.
   Taken daily, vitamin pills can improve your health.

f. If words or expressions are put in unusual places or interrupt the normal progression of a sentence, we usually separate them off by commas.
   My mother, however, did not agree.
   Emily has, surprisingly, paid for everything.
   They were, believe it or not, in love with each other.
   Julia Hanks, the deputy personnel manager, was sick.

g. We use commas to separate items in a series or list. However, a comma is not usually used with ¡¥and¡¦ between the last two items.
   I went to Spain, Italy, Austria and Germany.
   The cowboy was tall, dark and handsome.

h. A single adjective modifying a noun is sometimes so necessary that it may be considered a part of the identification: drinking glass, red dress, pine tree. Another adjective preceding such an adjective-noun phrase functions as if it modified the entire phrase and is not separated from the phrase by a comma: large drinking glass, beautiful red dress, tall pine tree.
I saw a dirty old man.

i. A comma is placed before the word 'namely'.
   Jason speaks three languages, namely English, French and German.

j. The shortened form of 'et cetera' is 'etc.', which means 'and other similar things'. No ellipsis (¡K) should be used after it.
   We saw lots of flamingoes, seals, sharks, etc. in Ocean Park.
   (x We saw lots of flamingoes, seals, sharks, etc¡K in Ocean Park.)

k. Sentences should be separated by a full stop (not a comma) or connected by a conjunction.
    He had chicken. She had fish.
   He had chicken and she had fish.
   (x He had chicken, she had fish.)


4. Apostrophe

a. Apostrophes ( ' ) replace letters in contracted forms.
   can't (= cannot) I'd (= I would / I had) it's (= it is / it has)

b. An apostrophe is used to indicate the possessive form.
    Tommy's bike    the women's coats    my parents' wedding anniversary
    in ten years' time    James' wife = James's wife

c. Possessive adjectives and pronouns do not have apostrophes.
    The cat has not had its food yet. (x it's)
    This money is theirs. (x theirs')

d. Apostrophes are used in the plurals of letters, and sometimes of numbers.
    He writes b's instead of d's.
    There were huge advances in information technology during the 1990's.


5. Colon

a. A colon ( : ) usually introduces an explanation or further details.
   There was a problem with the car: it was losing oil.

b. A colon can introduce a list.
   We need three kinds of support: economic, political and social.

c. Colons are sometimes used to introduce conversations.
   Mr. Lee: Who's on duty today?
   Thomas: Jane.


6. Semi-colon

Semi-colons ( ;) are sometimes used instead of full stops, in cases where sentences are grammatically independent but the meaning is closely connected.
   The sun was already low in the sky; it would soon be dark.


7. Hyphen

a. compound nouns
   T-shirt    sister-in-law

b. compound adjectives
   a good-looking man    a black-and-white cow

c. compound verbs beginning with a noun
   baby-sit    house-hunt

d. prefixes
   mid-term    ex-husband    re-enter

e. numbers 21-99 and fractions
   thirty-one    three-quarters

Ouiz

Notes & Exercises