PUNCTUATIONYou use punctuation marks to structure and organize your writing. The most common of these are the period (or full stop in British English), the comma, the exclamation mark, the question mark, the colon and semi-colon, the quote, the apostrophe, the hyphen and dash, and parentheses and brackets. Capital letters are also used to help us organize meaning and to structure the sense of our writing. COMMAThere are some general rules which you can apply when using the comma.However, you will find that in English there are many other ways to use the comma to add to the meaning of a sentence or to emphasize an item, point or meaning.Although we are often taught that commas are used to help us add 'breathing spaces' to sentences they are, in fact, more accurately used to organize blocks of thought or logical groupings. Most people will now use commas to ensure that meaning is clear and, despite grammatical rules, will drop the comma if their meaning is retained in the sentence.A. Using the comma to separate phrases, words, or clauses in lists1. a series of phrasesOn my birthday I went to the cinema, ate dinner in a restaurant, and went dancing.2. a series of nounsThe meal consisted of soup, fish, chicken, dessert and coffee.3. a series of adjectivesShe was young, beautiful, kind, and intelligent.Note: if an adjective is modifying another adjective you do not separate them with a comma - e.g. She wore a bright red shirt.4. a series of verbsTony ran towards me, fell, yelled, and fainted.5. a series of clausesThe car smashed into the wall, flipped onto its roof, slid along the road, and finally stopped against a tree. B. Using the comma to enclose insertions or comments. The comma is placed on either side of the insertion.China, one of the most powerful nations on Earth, has a huge population.C. Use the comma to mark off a participial phraseHearing that her father was in hospital, Jane left work immediately.D. Use the comma in 'tag questions'She lives in Paris, doesn't she?We haven't met, have we?E. Use to mark off interjections like 'please', 'thank you', 'yes', and 'no'Yes, I will stay a little longer, thank you.FULL STOPThe period (known as a full stop in British English) is probably the simplest of the punctuation marks to use.You use it like a knife to cut the sentences to the required length. Generally, you can break up the sentences using the full stop at the end of a logical and complete thought that looks and sounds right to you. Use the full stop1. to mark the end of a sentence which is not a question or an exclamation.Rome is the capital of Italy.I was born in Australia and now live in Indonesia.The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. 2. to indicate an abbreviationI will be in between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.3. fullstop after a single wordSometimes a single word can form the sentence. In this case you place a fullstop after the word as you would in any other sentence."Goodbye.""Hello."QUESTION MARK1. At the end of all direct questionsWhat is your name?Do you speak Italian?You're Spanish, aren't you? EXCLAMATION MARKThe exclamation mark is used to express exasperation, astonishment or surprise or to emphasize a comment or short, sharp phrase.For example:Help! Help!That's unbelievable!Get out!Look out!BRACKETS AND PARANTHESESGenerally, 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'.Usually we use square brackets - [ ] - for special purposes such as in technical manuals. Round brackets - ( ) -, or 'parentheses' are used in a similar way to commas when we want to add further explanation, an afterthought, or comment that is to do with our main line of thought but distinct from it.The government's education report (April 2005) shows that the level of literacy is rising in nearly all areas.I visited Kathmandu (which was full of tourists) on my way to the Himalayas for a trekking expedition.SEMICOLONThe semicolon is somewhere between a weak full stop and a strong comma and used to join phrases and sentences without having to use a conjunction (and, but etc.) where the phrases or sentences are thematically linked but independent.There are many reasons for poor written communication: lack of planning, poor grammar, misuse of punctuation marks and insufficient vocabulary.He collected a strange assortment of items: bird's eggs, stamps, bottle tops, string and buttons.Peter had an eclectic taste in music: latin, jazz, country and western, pop, blues and classical. APOSTROPHEto show possession and ownership - e.g. Jack's car. Mary's father. to indicate a contraction - he's (he is), we're (we are), they're (they are) HYPHENA hyphen joins two or more words together (e.g. x-ray, door-to-door) while a dash separates words into parenthetical statements (e.g. She was trapped - no escape was possible. Generally, hyphens are used to avoid confusion or ambiguity but today most words that have been hyphenated quite quickly drop the hyphen and become a single word (e.g. e-mail and email, now-a-days and nowadays). In many cases though a hyphen does make the sense clear:I am thinking of re-covering my sofa (to put a new cover on it)Use a hyphen with compound numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.fifty-oneeighty-ninethirty-twosixty-fiveeighty-one In written fractions place a hyphen between the numerator and denominator.two-fifthsone-thirdthree-tenthnine-hundredthUse a hyphen when the number forms part of an adjectival compund:France has a 35-hour working week.He won the 100-metre sprint.Charles Dickens was a great nineteenth-century novelist.DASHESDashes can be used to add parenthetical statements in much the same way as you would use brackets. In formal writing you should use the bracket rather than the dash as a dash is considered less formal in most cases. However, they should not be overused nor used to replace commas although they can be used to create emphasis in a sentence.For example:You may think she is a liar - she isn't.1. at the start of a sentenceBali is an Indonesian Island.It is a lovely day.2. with proper nouns (particular persons, places and things):Her name is Mary.She lives in Spain.She was born on Tuesday the sixth of June, 1998. She lives at 10 Greenstoke Avenue, Newbay, Bristol. 3. with adjectives that come from proper nounsThey live in a Georgian house.He loved Japanese films. 4. for the first and all of the main words in titlesThe Great GatsbyThe Queen of EnglandThe Heart of DarknessThe University of DelawareThe Second World War5. For the pronoun 'I'In the future I hope that I will be able to visit Turkey. 'I haven't spoken to Peter for months,' Dianne said.'The last time I spoke to him he said, "I'm going to Bahrain and won't be back for about three years", I've heard nothing since then'.