Punctuation and Its Effect on the Reader

8/11/2019 Punctuation and Its Effect on the Reader

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Punctuation and itseffect on the reader


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Why punctuate?A panda walks into a caf. He orders a sandwich,eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it

at the other patrons.Why? asks the confused, surviving waiter amidstthe carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit.The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife

manual and tosses it over his shoulder.Well, Im a panda, he says at the door. Look itup.

The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the

manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation.Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal,native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.


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Know your puncs!

The Keytosuccess


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The CommaCommas are used for:

Lists - To avoid confusion, use commas toseparate words and word groups with a series ofthree or more.

Separating adjectives - Use a comma to separatetwo adjectives when the word and can be inserted

between them. Separating a main clause from a subordinateclause - Use a comma to separate two strongclauses joined by a coordinating conjunction-and,or, but, for, nor. You can omit the comma if the

clauses are both short In direct speech - Use commas to introduce orinterrupt direct quotations shorter than threelines.


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Text analysisLook at the text below. Discuss in pairs where the commas have

been used and why:

So far, so good. Seems to be safe.Have to be quiet in our nests of sacks up the back here. Were prettysure no one will find us, though. The owners have built a brand newgarage for their gardening and farm equipment, and their house isaway at the end of the garden. This old shed never gets a look-in.

Anyway, its jammed with stuff. You can hardly squeeze through the

door. To get to our cubby, you have to push past a whole lot ofbroken-down machinery, old chairs, suitcases, a chest of drawers, amouldy leather bag of golf clubs, boxes of glass jars, a roll of carpetand some wooden tea chests. There are massive cobwebs floating ofthe ceiling. Dad calls it a circus trapeze because there are deadinsects trapped in it, swinging back and forth in the breeze. Coils ofrope and wire, lanterns and bits of rusty tools hang like bats from

the rafters. The walls and even the fireplace are built out ofkerosene tins. Dad says this means its old. He calls it heritage. Dadreckons its one of the last original buildings in the area from thetime before a lot of this land was cut up into five- and ten-acreblocks. So Ive called our shed Heritage hotel.


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The semi-colon and colonA semi-colon is used: to link two separate sentences that are closely

related

The children came home today; they had beenaway for a week. in a list that already contains commas Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry; Babylon

5, by JMS; Buffy, by Joss Whedon; and Farscape,from the Henson Company.


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The ColonUse a colon Before a list.

I could only find three of the ingredients: sugar, flour andcoconut.

Before a summary.To summarise: we found the camp, set up our tent and then thebears attacked.

Before a quote.As Jane Austen wrote: it is a truth universally acknowledged, thata single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of awife.

Where the colon is used in place of the followingor thus.There are only three kinds of people: the good, the bad and theugly.

Instead of a semicolon between two strong clauseswhen thesecond clause explains or illustrates the first clause and nocoordinating conjunction is being used to connect the clauses.

e.g I enjoy reading: novels by Stephen King areamong my favourites.


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The DashUse a dash for emphasisThe book was great a really good read.

for explanation or addition In place of bracketsor commas.The Colour Of Magic the first of the

series was written in 1989.
http://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/punctuation-brackets.htmhttp://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/punctuation-comma.htmhttp://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/punctuation-comma.htmhttp://www.correctpunctuation.co.uk/punctuation-brackets.htm


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EllipsisUse an ellipsis to indicate missing words in a

quotation"the sight was awesome...truly amazing"


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ParenthesisUse round brackets (aka parenthesis) foradditional information or explanation1. To clarify or inform.

Jamie's bike was red (bright red) with a yellowstripe.2)

2. For asides and commentsThe bear was pink (I kid you not).Use square brackets for editorial information, etc1. To amend or supplement the given details

His first book [The Colour Of Magic] was

written in 1989.2. To replace phrases for clarity or brevity

[The treaty] decreed that no bear should bepainted pink.


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The HyphenUse a hyphen with some prefixes and suffixes1) To avoid multiple letters.

re-evaluate [re-evaluate]2) If the root word is capitalised.

pre-Christmas, anti-European

3) With specific prefixes and suffixes.self-sacrificing, all-seeing, ex-wife, vice-chairman, president-elect

4) To avoid ambiguity or awkward pronunciation.un-ionised [unionised], re-read

5) Where a list of words each have the sameprefix or suffix. pre- and post-recession, over-and under-weight


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The HyphenUse a hyphen to form compound words1) For clarity.

sit-in, stand-out, Mother-In-Law2) In compound adjectives that modify what they

precede.blue-chip company, devil-may-care attitude, up-to-the-

minute newsUse a hyphen with fractions, numbers and initialletters

1) With fractions and numbers between 21 and 99.one-half, sixty-four, twenty-eight and three-quarters

2) Words that start with a capital letterX-ray, T-shirt, U-TurnUse a hyphen to divide words at the right hand

margin.


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The Question mark End a sentence with a Question Mark

End direct questions, requiring aresponse, with a question mark.May I borrow your copy of the book?

What did you think of the play?


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Text analysisDiscuss the use of question marks in this extract:Manfred's ears were still ringing from the explosion as hetrudged past Christmas trees in shop doorways, andbakeries breathing out the aroma of cinnamon, honey andnuts. Snow had fallen on the fake palms of a nativity scene,giving it a wintry, fairytale air. Around him, people crowdedinto the narrow cobblestone streets, hurrying to buypresents. Saint Nicholas slid past on a horse-drawn sleigh, asmall angel sitting beside him. Sleighbells jingled, theangel's trumpet blared. It was that fir, tinsel and brasstime of year.Manfred paused at the statue in the town square. It was aman, running, pointing to a thing unseen. The horror in the

man's face always made Manfred wonder - why? Why wasthat face familiar? Whose was it? And what had happenedin 1405? That was the date at the base of the statue -1405.


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The Exclamation mark This is used to add emphasis to thestatement .

e.g. I loved the play!It may also suggest someone is

shouting

e.g.' Don't! he cried


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The Inverted Comma

Use quotation marks1. for direct speechJanet asked, "Why can't we go today?"

2. For quotes inside quotes, use single quotation marks.Billy said, "So then John told her 'I don't want to go today'and Janet cried."

3. for words that are defined, that follow certain phrasesor that have special meaning

1) Stating a definition.'Buch' is German for book.

2) Following phrases such as entitled, markedand the term.The book was signed 'Terry Pratchett'.

3) Special meanings, noting inaccuracies or misnomers, etc.The 'free gift' actually cost us forty pounds.

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Punctuation and Its Effect on the Reader