punctuation marks

Question 1

Full Stop (.)

Answer 1

.
ends a sentence.
used to indicate abbreviations * for example Eng.

Question 2

Comma (,)

Answer 2

~separates items in a list
~separates the main thought from the rest of the
sentence, for example, In no time at all, the exams
will be over.
~separates a name from the rest of the sentence
~used in direct speech to separate the spoken
words from the rest of the sentence
~used to enclose extra information in the sentence

Question 3

Exclamation mark (!)

Answer 3

!
emphasises the emotion felt by the speaker or writer

Question 4

Question mark (?)

Answer 4

?
used to indicate that the word, phrase or sentence is a question

Question 5

Inverted commas (“ “ or ‘ ‘)

Answer 5

” …” ‘…’
indicate spoken words
also called quotation marks, and are used when quoting words.

Question 6

Colon (:)

Answer 6

:
used to indicate that a further explanation will follow, for example, You will not get away with half-hearted studying: punctuation is going to be tested thoroughly.
used to introduce a list

Question 7

Semi-colon (;)

Answer 7

;
separates items in a long list
used to balance two closely related sentences

Question 8

Apostrophe (‘)

Answer 8

’
There are two types of apostrophes:
stands in the place of letters that have been left out, and contracts words

Apostrophe of possession
shows that one word owns another, for example, the learner’s exam (singular, so the apostrophe is before the s); the learners’ exams (plural, so the apostrophe is after the s).

Question 9

Ellipsis (…)

Answer 9

…
used in the middle of sentences is to show that words have been left out
It is used at the end of a sentence to show that something is implied or that the reader must use his/her imagination to fill in the rest of the sentence

Question 10

Hyphen and dash (- and -)

Answer 10

• and -
  A hyphen joins words to create a compound word, for example, end-of-year examinations.

A dash is used to separate parts of a sentence or to indicate that further explanation follows, for example, I have just received my example timetable - my English exam is on my birthday!

Question 11

Parenthesis (,…, or -…- or (…))

Answer 11

, … , or - … - or (…)
used when extra information is added to a sentence

Commas are the weakest form of parentheses

Dashes show more definite break in thought, for example, My teacher- you know the one who looks like Loyiso- has offered extra lessons.

Brackets are the strongest form of parentheses

Question 12

Extra things to remember

Answer 12

use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence
always write full sentences
do not start sentence with because