Objective
The objective of this lesson is to make the students understand the use of
punctuation and capitalization.
7.1 Introduction
Punctuation is the correct use of the various stops or marks in writing so as to make
the meaning of a sentence or a passage clear. The marks of punctuation are a great
help to the reader, e.g, compare the following two sentences:-
The inspector says, “ The lady is beautiful.”
“The Inspector,” says the lady, “is beautiful.”
From the above example, it is quite clear that these marks of punctuation may alter
the sense of a sentence.
Punctuation has a single and practical purpose: to make writing clear and easy to
understand. Think of your writing as a set of information rather like a rail timetable
or a page on an internet website. All the information can be there but if it is badly
laid out it will be confusing and hard to understand. In writing, these marks do the
same job as the spaces, columns, and special signs on a timetable and the graphics
and other ways of organizing the information on a web page.
7.2 The principal marks of punctuation are:
1. Full stop (.)
2. Comma (,)
3. Semi-colon (;)
4. Colon (:)
5. Sign of Interrogation (?)
6. Sign of Exclamation (!)
7. Inverted Commas (“ ”)
8. Apostrophe (')
9. Dash (_)
10. Hyphen (-)
FULL STOP (.)
The Full Stop represents the greatest pause and separation.
11. The full stop indicates the end of a complete sentence. It is used at the end
of all sentences except interrogative and exclamatory sentences:
Don’t go there.
You should not lose your temper.
12. It is used after initials or abbreviations:
L L.B., M.A., R.K. Kapoor, etc.
Note: Mr, Mrs and Ms can be written without a full stop, as these have come to be
considered as the full spellings.
THE COMMA (,)
The comma represents the shortest pause. It is used:
• To separate three or more words of the same parts of speech when only the last
are connected by ‘and’:
He is wise, prudent, intelligent and tactful.
Wheat, rice, tea and grains are grown in India.
• When words of the same class go together in pairs, each pair is separated by a
comma:
Rich and poor, high and low, young and old, all will die.
By night or by day, at home or abroad, he is a constant source of anxiety
to his father.
• It is used to separate phrases in series. In this case, comma is also used before the
‘and’ preceding the last member of series.
She gave Mita a plant, Deepak a tie, and me a beautiful frock.
• It is used to separate clauses in series:
I do not know who he is, how he got in, or why he is here.
• It is used before and after a participle phrases when that phrase can be expanded
into a sentence:
Samudragupta, having defeated the neighbouring kings, led his armies into
Deccan.
• A comma is used to separate an infinitive phrases:
To prove my point, I produced my birth certificate.
• A comma is used to set off expressions that are in apposition:
Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj, was a great
Vedic scholar.
• A comma is used to separate words or word groups not necessary to the main idea
of a sentence:
The bridge, I think, will open only to light vehicles.
• It is used to separate sharply contrasting quotations:
I want food, not water.
• It is used to separate words that change a statement into a question:
You are going, aren’t you?
• It is used to set off a noun of address:
Lata, will you not listen to me?
• It is used to set off an absolute construction;
The sun having set, we all went home.
• It is used to separate introductory expressions like ‘yes’, ‘No’, ‘Oh’ and ‘well’
Oh, I don’t know about her.
Well, we will try to come.
Yes, you can go there.
• A comma is used to set off a direct quotations:
His mother said, “He will not go there.”
• A comma is used to set off each item in a date:
He was born on October 26, 1976.
• A comma is used to set off each item in an address:
Our house in Urban Estate, Kurukshetra, is a beautiful one.
• Separate short co-ordinate clauses:
Steam propels, elevates, lowers, pumps, drains, pulls, drives etc.
• If a word is repeated for emphasis, each time it is separated with a comma:
Cricket, cricket, cricket, you don’t have any other thing to talk about.
• A comma is used to mark the omission of a word, especially a verb:
Asha was wearing a blue dress; Lisa, a red one.
• It is used to separate the adjectives of equal rank:
He is kind, noble, honest and sincere.
• It is used before ‘but’ and ‘for’ when they connect clauses:
He is intelligent, but he is not diligent.
I went his home, for I wanted to meet him.
But it is not used before ‘but’ and ‘for’ when they are used as prepositions:
He is intelligent, but lazy.
I brought a book for my sister.
• A comma is used when subordinate clause comes before the principal clause:
If you do this by tomorrow, I shall be satisfied.
But, if the subordinate clause follows the principal clause, it will not be separated
by a comma:
I shall be satisfied if you do this by tomorrow.
• A comma is used to separate a non defining relative clause from the rest of the
clause:
I am looking for Sonu, who has taken away my book.
I am shifting to Hisar, when I have been posted.
A defining clause is not separated in this way:
I met a girl who has taken away my book.
I am shifting to the city where I have been posted.
PRACTICE SET
Insert full stops and commas, wherever necessary in the following sentences:
• A high bred man never forgets himself controls his temper does nothing in excess
and is courteous and dignified
• I hope my friend that you will come and spend a week with us
• Long long ago there lived in the land of Hindus a great king named Ashoka
• Akbar a great mughal emperor was a lover of music
• No I don’t want to go
• Tell me mother May I go out?
• The lay was bald red and wrinkled
• The sun having risen I left my bed.
• A liquid not a powder should be used
• The rent by the way must be paid in advance
• Wherever I go I face the same difficulties
• “I wish” he said “ I were in that job”
• As you sow so shall you reap
• As he was ill he did not attend the meeting
• If it rains today we shall not go out for a walk
The objective of this lesson is to make the students understand the use of
punctuation and capitalization.
7.1 Introduction
Punctuation is the correct use of the various stops or marks in writing so as to make
the meaning of a sentence or a passage clear. The marks of punctuation are a great
help to the reader, e.g, compare the following two sentences:-
The inspector says, “ The lady is beautiful.”
“The Inspector,” says the lady, “is beautiful.”
From the above example, it is quite clear that these marks of punctuation may alter
the sense of a sentence.
Punctuation has a single and practical purpose: to make writing clear and easy to
understand. Think of your writing as a set of information rather like a rail timetable
or a page on an internet website. All the information can be there but if it is badly
laid out it will be confusing and hard to understand. In writing, these marks do the
same job as the spaces, columns, and special signs on a timetable and the graphics
and other ways of organizing the information on a web page.
7.2 The principal marks of punctuation are:
1. Full stop (.)
2. Comma (,)
3. Semi-colon (;)
4. Colon (:)
5. Sign of Interrogation (?)
6. Sign of Exclamation (!)
7. Inverted Commas (“ ”)
8. Apostrophe (')
9. Dash (_)
10. Hyphen (-)
FULL STOP (.)
The Full Stop represents the greatest pause and separation.
11. The full stop indicates the end of a complete sentence. It is used at the end
of all sentences except interrogative and exclamatory sentences:
Don’t go there.
You should not lose your temper.
12. It is used after initials or abbreviations:
L L.B., M.A., R.K. Kapoor, etc.
Note: Mr, Mrs and Ms can be written without a full stop, as these have come to be
considered as the full spellings.
THE COMMA (,)
The comma represents the shortest pause. It is used:
• To separate three or more words of the same parts of speech when only the last
are connected by ‘and’:
He is wise, prudent, intelligent and tactful.
Wheat, rice, tea and grains are grown in India.
• When words of the same class go together in pairs, each pair is separated by a
comma:
Rich and poor, high and low, young and old, all will die.
By night or by day, at home or abroad, he is a constant source of anxiety
to his father.
• It is used to separate phrases in series. In this case, comma is also used before the
‘and’ preceding the last member of series.
She gave Mita a plant, Deepak a tie, and me a beautiful frock.
• It is used to separate clauses in series:
I do not know who he is, how he got in, or why he is here.
• It is used before and after a participle phrases when that phrase can be expanded
into a sentence:
Samudragupta, having defeated the neighbouring kings, led his armies into
Deccan.
• A comma is used to separate an infinitive phrases:
To prove my point, I produced my birth certificate.
• A comma is used to set off expressions that are in apposition:
Swami Dayanand Saraswati, the founder of the Arya Samaj, was a great
Vedic scholar.
• A comma is used to separate words or word groups not necessary to the main idea
of a sentence:
The bridge, I think, will open only to light vehicles.
• It is used to separate sharply contrasting quotations:
I want food, not water.
• It is used to separate words that change a statement into a question:
You are going, aren’t you?
• It is used to set off a noun of address:
Lata, will you not listen to me?
• It is used to set off an absolute construction;
The sun having set, we all went home.
• It is used to separate introductory expressions like ‘yes’, ‘No’, ‘Oh’ and ‘well’
Oh, I don’t know about her.
Well, we will try to come.
Yes, you can go there.
• A comma is used to set off a direct quotations:
His mother said, “He will not go there.”
• A comma is used to set off each item in a date:
He was born on October 26, 1976.
• A comma is used to set off each item in an address:
Our house in Urban Estate, Kurukshetra, is a beautiful one.
• Separate short co-ordinate clauses:
Steam propels, elevates, lowers, pumps, drains, pulls, drives etc.
• If a word is repeated for emphasis, each time it is separated with a comma:
Cricket, cricket, cricket, you don’t have any other thing to talk about.
• A comma is used to mark the omission of a word, especially a verb:
Asha was wearing a blue dress; Lisa, a red one.
• It is used to separate the adjectives of equal rank:
He is kind, noble, honest and sincere.
• It is used before ‘but’ and ‘for’ when they connect clauses:
He is intelligent, but he is not diligent.
I went his home, for I wanted to meet him.
But it is not used before ‘but’ and ‘for’ when they are used as prepositions:
He is intelligent, but lazy.
I brought a book for my sister.
• A comma is used when subordinate clause comes before the principal clause:
If you do this by tomorrow, I shall be satisfied.
But, if the subordinate clause follows the principal clause, it will not be separated
by a comma:
I shall be satisfied if you do this by tomorrow.
• A comma is used to separate a non defining relative clause from the rest of the
clause:
I am looking for Sonu, who has taken away my book.
I am shifting to Hisar, when I have been posted.
A defining clause is not separated in this way:
I met a girl who has taken away my book.
I am shifting to the city where I have been posted.
PRACTICE SET
Insert full stops and commas, wherever necessary in the following sentences:
• A high bred man never forgets himself controls his temper does nothing in excess
and is courteous and dignified
• I hope my friend that you will come and spend a week with us
• Long long ago there lived in the land of Hindus a great king named Ashoka
• Akbar a great mughal emperor was a lover of music
• No I don’t want to go
• Tell me mother May I go out?
• The lay was bald red and wrinkled
• The sun having risen I left my bed.
• A liquid not a powder should be used
• The rent by the way must be paid in advance
• Wherever I go I face the same difficulties
• “I wish” he said “ I were in that job”
• As you sow so shall you reap
• As he was ill he did not attend the meeting
• If it rains today we shall not go out for a walk
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