Learning Resource Centre Guides: Punctuation

Punctuation

 

 

• start a sentence
• the pronoun ‘I’
• begin a name

For example:      I am going to visit Jocelyn in Tauranga.

                       I, Jocelyn, Tauranga

 

• show abbreviations
• end a sentence

For example:      Dr. Spock visited hospitals in the U.S.A. during summer.

• separate items in a list
• indicate a pause in a sentence

For example:      Some say the earth will end in ice, wind, flood and fire.

Note:                 No comma before ‘and’ in a list.

                        Even though my grandmother is ninety, she still enjoys a daily gin and tonic.

 

• indicate a question is being asked
• take the place of a full stop

For example:      Why do you keep texting me the same message?

                             Could we please drop in at Jacob’s house?

 

• indicate a loud voice (anger, surprise, warning)
• take the place of a full stop

For example:      “Get out of my sight!”

                        “Fire!  Run!”

 

• sit either side of whatever is spoken
• sit either side of quoted material

For example:      My mother always said, “Don’t wash your hair and then go outside.  You’ll catch a cold”.

                       What do you think of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code”?

 

Note:       In New Zealand, the full stops, question marks and exclamation marks sit outside the speech (quotation) marks.

 

• indicate a long pause separating two related clauses

For example:      My mother stays up late every night; she is afraid that she will miss out on something.

 

• show a list is coming next

For example:      Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy now itemizes:

                                  Creating

                                  Evaluating

                                  Analysing

                                  Applying

                                  Understanding

                                  Remembering

 

• indicate ownership – the fireman’s hat

                                  the student’s backpack

                                  the men’s room

                                  six weeks’ time

 

• indicate missing letter(s) –  We mustn’t laugh

                                           I’d like to see Elton John

 

 

Further Learning Centre Handouts related to this topic:

• Apostrophes

 

Punctuation Instructions last updated 4/07/11