A slash , which is also known as a forward slash, a virgule, or even an oblique dash, has a number of uses. The slash can be used to separate lines in a song or poem when they are written in a continuous line.
The slash can also be used to show two contradictory notions. Though British and American English have lots of similarities, when it comes to punctuation styles, there are some differences. Thanks for this valuable summary, What about using the exclamation mark after appreciation such as; have a good day! Things to bring: pens; rulers; erasers Is the above correct?
Or would a comma be better than a semi-colon? Table of Contents. Comma , A comma , is used to show the difference between two separate ideas or elements within a sentence. The comma rules and examples:. Notify of. Oldest Newest Most Voted. Inline Feedbacks. Yousry Hammad. Reply to Yousry Hammad. A dash is used to separate words into statements.
There are two common types of dashes: en dash and em dash. A hyphen is used to join two or more words together into a compound term and is not separated by spaces.
For example, part-time, back-to-back, well-known. Brackets , braces, and parentheses are symbols used to contain words that are a further explanation or are considered a group.
Brackets are the squared off notations [] used for technical explanations or to clarify meaning. If you remove the information in the brackets, the sentence will still make sense. They are not commonplace in most writing but can be seen in computer programming to show what should be contained within the same lines. They can also be used in mathematical expressions. Parentheses are curved notations used to contain further thoughts or qualifying remarks.
However, parentheses can be replaced by commas without changing the meaning in most cases. The final three punctuation forms in English grammar are the apostrophe , quotation marks, and ellipsis. Unlike previously mentioned grammatical marks, they are not related to one another in any form. An apostrophe ' is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of lowercase letters. Examples of the apostrophe in use include:.
Quotations marks " " are a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word.
They are also used to indicate meanings and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of a word. The ellipsis is most commonly represented by three periods. The ellipsis is used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words.
Ellipses are frequently used within quotations to jump from one phrase to another, omitting unnecessary words that do not interfere with the meaning. Students writing research papers or newspapers quoting parts of speeches will often employ ellipsis to avoid copying lengthy text that is not needed. I n it was held in Germany.
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:. They are planning a long holiday in N ew Z ealand. The next meeting of the group will take place on T hursday. What plans do you have for C hinese N ew Y ear? We use capital letters for the titles of books, magazines and newspapers, plays and music:.
The S traits T imes is a daily English language newspaper in Singapore. In addition to closing sentences, we also use full stops in initials for personal names:. Full stops are also used after abbreviations, although this practice is becoming less common:. We use question marks to make clear that what is said is a question. When we use a question mark, we do not use a full stop:. We use exclamation marks to indicate an exclamative clause or expression in informal writing.
When we want to emphasise something in informal writing, we sometimes use more than one exclamation mark:.
Oh no!!! Exclamative clauses. We use commas to separate a list of similar words or phrases:. 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:. American English does use a comma in lists before and :. We use commas to separate words or phrases that mark where the voice would pause slightly:.
However, all will be revealed tomorrow at midday. James, our guide, will accompany you on the boat across to the island. However, we sometimes use commas if the clauses have different subjects:.
They were very friendly and invited us to their villa in Portugal. Footballers these days earn more money but they are fitter and play many more matches. It was an expensive hotel in the centre of Stockholm, but we decided it was worth the money. When a subordinate clause comes before the main clause, we commonly use a comma to separate the clauses. However, we do not always do this in short sentences:. When we use subordinate or non-finite comment clauses to give further details or more information, we commonly use commas to separate the 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.
The storm, lasting as it did for several days, caused serious damage to villages near the coast. Barcelona was the Spanish city that was selected for the Olympic Games. We also usually separate vocatives, discourse markers and interjections with commas:. Open the door for them, Kayleigh , can you.
Well , what do you think we should do about it? Wow , that sounds really exciting. When the direct speech is first, we use a comma before the closing of the quotation marks:.
Reported speech. There are three main reasons for the success of the government: economic, social and political. 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. 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. Semi-colons are not commonly used in contemporary English.
Full stops and commas are more common. 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:. We can put the reporting clause in three different positions. Note the position of commas and full stops here:.
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:. We commonly use question marks inside the quotation marks unless the question is part of the reporting clause:. We also use single quotation marks to draw attention to a word. We can use quotation marks in this way when we want to question the exact meaning of the word:. We sometimes use quotation marks to refer to the titles of books, newspapers, magazines, films, songs, poems, videos, CDs, etc:.
Articles or chapters within books, or titles of short stories, are normally punctuated by single quotation marks:. 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:. No one could believe it! Just wanted to thank you for a lovely evening — we really enjoyed it.
Brackets have a similar function to dashes. They often add extra, non-essential information:. Heaton gives a convincing explanation of how hurricanes are formed pages 27— You can find the figures you need on www.
We use full stops in dates. Forward slashes or dashes are also commonly used:. Brackets are the squared off notations [] used for technical explanations. For example, yourDictionary. At the bottom of each definition page, brackets surround a technical description of where the word originated. According to yourDictionary. Note: Generally, 'parentheses' refers to round brackets and 'brackets' to square brackets [ ]. However, we are more and more used to hearing these referred to simply as 'round brackets' or 'square brackets'.
We shall also learn about the difference between parentheses, brackets, and braces. We also see the use of slash as a period sometimes in written poetry. The shift of lines is conveyed by the use of slash, i.
It can also be used in a fraction, particularly involving large numbers, e. Capital Letters are also considered a part of Correct Punctuation. Capitals are used: 1 To begin a sentence. Punctuate the following. Initiatives EdTech My Podcasts. Tools Print Email. Remember, a Punctuation Mark can change the message of the whole sentence.
I am reminded of a poem by Ernest Hemingway that is written in blank verse and see what it has as its text: " "! The Full Stop.
The Exclamatory Mark!
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