Punctuate or perish

We only need punctuation because language was originally spoken. We didn’t get the

written form of English first. It’s the spoken format that we started with.

When we speak we have two physical features that can add colour and depth to what we

say. One is our voice, the other is the body. Think of all the ways someone can say your name. Just by varying their voice in that one word they can let you know that they're pleased, or cross, that you’re in danger, that something nice is about to happen, or that they wants to get your attention.

When speaking to each other we can pause and have a think. We can wait to see the

response we’re getting before we carry on. We have a whole body that can be used to show

something without saying it, by pointing or looking, shrugging, or using all sorts of other

gestures.

When our language is written down on a page, all that goes away. Vocal variation, body

language, and facial expression, are just not available to us in written form.

Punctuation tries to replace those things. Those squiggles and dots are code. They say

‘here’s what you would do with your voice here’, and in that way they give you the direction

you need to convert the written word into the spoken word (even though it’s only being

spoken inside your head).

Back in the very old days of ancient Greece dramatists would put marks on the text to help actors in a play know how to speak it aloud. What to stress, where to pause etc. In fact actors still do this. It’s called marking your script. In the Middle Ages when books were uncommon, and the Bible was read aloud or sung, there were also marks on the text to guide the singers or speakers to pause and use emphasis correctly. These old marks are the ancestors of our modern-day punctuation.

You already know that punctuation can completely change the meaning of a sentence. It’s

just a comma, but there’s a huge difference between saying ‘Let’s eat, Grandpa!’ and ‘Let’s

eat Grandpa’. Only one of them is going to make Grandpa happy.

Eleven things to learn

Buckle up. There are 11 common punctuation marks in English. You are going to look sloppy if you don’t use them correctly. You will definitely lose marks in exams. You have quite a bit of

freedom to use some punctuation as a matter of your personal style, but their correct use is

not negotiable.

Stop it! There are three punctuation marks just for that.

The full stop, is the heavyweight of punctuation. Do not fight with this guy. A full stop is definite. No discussion. This is finished.

Question marks. When you lift the pitch of your voice toward the end of a question, that’s

how we know it’s a question. If you don’t lift your voice at the end of the question it is a

statement. In the written version you need the little black hook shaped squiggle with dot so

readers know that you’re asking something.

Exclamation mark ! Is a way of expressing strong feeling. Perhaps its excitement, or outrage,

shock or Joy. Whatever …. This end mark has some ‘pow’ in it.

We are seeing a lot more of exclamation marks since email and smart phones made it easy

for us to ‘talk’ to each other in real -time rapid writing. These days an exclamation mark in

an informal communication can just show a positive feeling. “See you soon!” shows that

you’re looking forward to it. In more formal writing it’s best to save them for

sentences which really do show strong feeling.

Slow down. Commas are a sort of ‘half ending’. They slow you down but they don’t stop you. They ask you to make a break or a pause for breath. A comma doesn’t put an end to sentence. Its job is to separate parts of a sentence to allow a reader to pause, or take a second to digest the idea just past. 'I am so sorry for being late, I was helping pack up'. Two ideas, with a short pause between.

You use commas to separate words on a list. They often replace ‘and’ in this situation:

He was short, dark, grumpy, messy-haired teenage boy.

She can speak in first, second, or third position in the debating team.

If you’ve got and in the list, it cancels out the need for a comma.

'The Australian flag is red, white and blue' needs just one.

If you are using a LOT of commas, you might be overdoing it. Think about replacing some

with a full stop and stating a new sentence.

Semi-colons are the next weight up. You need a semicolon to put a break between two

substantial, equally important and related parts of a sentence. They’re often used between

two sentence parts that each contain lists.

We’ve got ham, cheese, bread, tomatoes and lettuce; tomato sauce, mayonnaise and

mustard. The first part of the sentence deals with the sandwiches, the second part with the sauces.

It’s quite tricky to use semi-colons properly. They are complex and we don’t use them very

often. They are rarely essential but impressive when used properly.

Colons. Although it partly has the same name, a colon is quite different from a semi-colon.

You use it before beginning a list. We needed four things to go camping: a tent, a sleeping bag, a groundsheet, and fine weather.

You also need it when you are giving an example or explaining a general statement you’ve

just made. I achieved my life’s ambition: winning an argument with my brother.

Wait a sec . Brackets put a ‘fence’ around something which is an interruption to the main idea in the sentence. Usually you need them additional information or explaining something. Quite

often, a comma will work just as well. Our dog (a Jack Russel) likes chasing birds.

Dashes can often do the same job as commas or brackets. They create a pause and allow

you to insert something. The examples of brackets above would be just as good with dashes

instead. It’s easy to overuse dashes. They can begin to sound breathless and hectic when a

lot of them are used at once.

A hyphen is a small dash that links two words together to make them function as if they

were one. You need them when if two words are joining together to work as adjectives

Ten-year-old girls is not the same thing as ten year old girls.

Ellipsis … Three little dots online at the base of your text indicate that something is missing.

You might have deliberately omitted some words from a quote to shorten it. The ellipsis

shows where you’ve done this. It is also used to imply words that don’t need to be stated.

If he doesn’t get it right this time…

Speech marks, also called inverted commas or quotation marks are for when you’re using

someone else’s words, not your own. The same marks can be used in lots of different ways

so of course they cause confusion. The most common way to use them is you put one at the

start and another at the end of something a person says. In Australia are we sometimes use single marks, and sometimes use double - it’s a matter of preference.

One point of confusion is where you should put the other punctuation marks you need, for

instance if the quote includes a question or an exclamation – or (worse) if the quote includes

another quote. The general rule is if the punctuation is for what the person is saying it goes

inside, the speech marks. If the punctuation relates to the sentence which is wrapped

around cases what the person says and it goes outside Insert examples

Apostrophe. Oh dear where do we start? The apostrophe is the most misused, misunderstood, unfairly treated member of the punctuation family. It has a terrible time, and it doesn’t deserve it. It looks like a comma but it sits upstairs with the speech marks. It can do only two things.

• 1. It stands in when a letter has been taken out of a word to shorten it and make it easier to say. Easy everyday examples are do not which becomes don’t; or will not, which we’ve shortened to won’t. You can see easily that you just remove some letters and replace with an apostrophe in instead. What could be simpler?

• 2. The second use for an apostrophe is to show possession. When we want to say that something owns something else, but without using pronouns, we need an apostrophe. The referee’s whistle. The cat’s bowl

Adding ‘s is all you need to do to show that something belongs to something else.

It beats me why it should cause so much trouble, yet the apostrophe is the most tortured piece of punctuation in the English language.

Troublespots lurk when you need an apostrophe but the word it’s working with already

ends in an s”. It’s easy enough when it’s Tom’s towel, but what if it belongs to Amos? You

can say Amos’s towel, and just double the s. The class’s behaviour was wonderful looks weird

but it’s correct.

If the noun is a plural, so it’s already ending in s, you just put the apostrophe after it.

A boys’ school, the players’ equipment.