How to Use Punctuation Marks and Capital Letters?

How to Use Punctuation and Capital Letters?

The most common punctuation in English are: capital letters and whole stops, question marks, commas, colon and semi-colon, exclamation marks and quotation marks.

When speaking, we use the pitch of pause and voice to clear up what we have said. Punctuation marks and capital letters play a similar role in writing, making it easier to read.

Punctuation consists of both rules, and conventions. There are punctuation and keyword rules that must be followed; However, there are some punctuation marks that give writers more choice.

What is Punctuation?

Punctuation is the arrangement of signs or symbols given to the reader to show how the sentence is made and how to read it. ... Each sentence should include at least one original letter at the beginning and a complete stop, forgotten sign or question mark at the end.

Thus, punctuation is the arrangement of symbols that we use to separate written sentences and parts of sentences and to clarify their meaning. Each symbol is called a "punctuation mark".

The importance and rules of punctuation usually vary from language to language. In English, punctuation is essential for readers to understand the meaning of the author.

Which of these do you think was the real purpose of the author?

• She/ He said, "Shall we eat, Mummy?"
• She/ He said, "Shall we eat Mummy?"
• My interests include cooking dogs and swimming.
• My interests include cooking, dogs and swimming.

Punctuation Marks Rules

In English, there are fourteen (14) main punctuation marks and here is a list of them. Some punctuation marks, such as full stop and quotation marks, are known by multiple names among English speakers.

• Full Stop/ Period (.)
• Comma (,)
• Question Mark (?)
• Exclamation Mark (!)
• Quotation Marks (‘...’/“... ... ..”)
• Apostrophe (‘)
• Hyphen (-)
• Dash (– or —)
• Colon (:)
• Semicolon (;)
• Parentheses ()
• Brackets []
• Ellipsis (…)
• Slash (/)

Here's a brief overview of how punctuation is used:

Full Stop/ Period- (.)

The period is also called the full stop of the World. A period announces the end of the sentence. It also refers to the division of sentences so that readers cannot mix different sentences. A period is used at the end of a sentence that is complete and not a question or stimulus sentence.

Example:

• Saint = St.
• Exempli gratia = e.g.
• Nota bene = N.B.

Comma- (,)

A comma tells the reader to pause, and consolidate the information. These are also used to separate items in the series.

Example:

• Hey, Joe, what are you doing?
• Listen, Alex, you have to bowl well today.
• Lee know, kid, when I was your age, I used to go out a lot.
• I told him, “Don’t go there!”

Question Mark- (?)

A quotation marks indicate direct speech. All punctuation marks are enclosed in quotation marks except for half-colon, colon and question marks when they are not part of the quote.

Example:

• How do you like your fruits?
• Why didn’t you like the movie at night?
• How are you?
• Where are you from?

Exclamation Mark- (!)

Stimulus notes indicate excitement, either positive or negative. It can also be used for extra emphasis on sentences, phrases or single words and especially in commands and interconnections.

Example:

• Would that I were unhappy! 
• Would that I had wasted my dollar!
• Why don’t you listen to my words!
• Oh, I was going to be there now!
• No more, give up!

Apostrophe- (‘)

An apostrophe indicates that the letters are missing from contraction, or shows possession (E.g., one thing belongs to another). The word spell (it) without an apostrophe is entitled; Spell with apostrophe (it) compress it.

Example:

• They’re going to Canada.
• I’m not going.
• Robert’s watch
• Someone's glasses
• Trees’ leaves
• Teams’ scores
• Jones’ pen

Hyphen- (-)

Hyphen combines words to form compound nouns/ adjectives. Hyphens are used to create new adjectives, including some suffixes and prefixes, such as -like, -wise, anti- and post- to make new adjectives.

Example:

• Anti-violent
• Dog-like
• Ability-wise
• Decision-making
• City-owned  

Dash- (– or —)

A dash indicates a sudden change in thought or a break in the sentence. Dresses can be used in place of brackets to emphasize information.

Example:

• The man was running around near the building—I couldn’t see his face—and disappeared down the alley.
• This home—and every home on the street—will be connected by this wire.
• Russel Dove—you know him, I think—is coming to our locality.

Colon- (:)

A colon introduces a list or a set. It can also be used to add an idea introduced in an independent stream.

Example:

• Dear Sir:
• To whom it may concern:
• To all members:
• 1:30 AM (Not o'clock)
• 7:35 PM
• 6:30 in the morning

Semicolon- (;)

A semi-colon links individual clauses that are closely related in meaning when they are not linked by a conjunction.

Example:

• We used to like hunting; however, it is not legal
• She does not like me; likewise, I do not like him.
• It’s too cold out here; indeed, it’s winter.

Parentheses- ()

Parentheses turn off content that interrupt the text from adding information.

Example:

• The parks (in Boston) are always crowded.
• We have been providing a lot of services. (See our website)
• We have been providing a lot of services (see our website).

Brackets- [--]

Brackets bind extra items of quoted material. These additions are used to clarify the word or phrase of the quoted substance.

Example:

• “It [the pond] taught me all I ever knew about life.”
• “Yeats used to choose her [Maude Gonne], and he wrote many poems about her.”
• “Every man[sic] must die one day.”
• “I told [Spielberg] I wouldn’t do the movie.”

Quotation Marks- (‘...’/“... ... ..”)

Quotation marks are used to enclose direct quotes from other people's written or spoken words, or conversations spoken by fictional characters.

Example:

• Have you seen the video for the song "Deshpachito"?
• “Play with aggression” shouted the coach.
• You had the right words “get out of my room.”

Ellipsis- (…)

An ellipsis is three (3) periods used together to represent the omission of words or letters. These are often used to jump from one sentence or phrase to another, eliminating unnecessary or explicit words. It is also used when quoting someone and eliminating unnecessary words.

Examples:

• At night, she began to count down: “ten, nine, eight…” and then the ball dropped.
• When Martin Luther King said “I have a dream…” he was talking about civil rights and an end to racism.

Slash- (/)

A slash, also known as a forward slash, a vertical or even a slash dash, has several uses. Slash can be used to use separate lines in a song or poem when written in a continuous line. Slash (/) is used in place of the word is. Slash can also be used to denote two opposite concepts.

Examples:

• w/o = without
• N/A = not applicable or not available
• R/C = radio control
• 1/3 = one-third
• 80 miles/hour = 80 miles per hour

Why is Punctuation Important?

Punctuation is important because it manages the flow of your writing. If your writing is on the road, punctuation is a sign of traffic. They show the reader where to stop, where the full stop should come, and explain how they come across sentences.
Different punctuation marks can radically change your text message. Take a look at this example, which you've seen before:

• Let’s eat Grandma.
• Let’s eat, Grandma.
• See how much difference the comma shows?

What is Capital Letters?

Capital Letters: Everything you start writing starts with the capital letter. As children, we learned our names always start with the capital letter. But like everything in grammar, there are certain rules and arguments that go beyond the use of capital letters. In this chapter, we will learn all about capital.

Teach students the following common Capital letters features:

Usage of Capital Letters

1. Beginning of a sentence: A sentence always starts with capital. As you can see in this article every sentence. The sentence begins with a word that begins with the capital letter.

For example:

• My brother enjoys playing cricket.
• Nilesha has beautiful long hair.
• She/He sells sea shells on the sea-shore.

2. Names and titles of people: The first letter of the name of a person, person or place is always capitalized. The first letter of a title.

For example:

• The President of the United States
• Frank Sinatra
• The Headmaster of Yale University
• Doctor Linklater

3. Months of the year: The first letter is the capital of all the months of the year.

For example:

• Come home in April
• She goes to town in May

4. Days of the week: Like the month, even the first letters of the days of the week are capitalized.

Let’s see some examples:

• Come to study on Monday
• We go to the church every Sunday
• She leaves town this Thursday

5. The first person pronoun – I: Well it always gets bigger. You never see this pronoun as capital.

For example:

• I am an Indian.
• Can I cook Japanese food today?
• I want to go to America in the summers.

6. Titles of books, movies and works:

For Example:

• A Thousand Splendid Suns
• Anne Frank
• The Three Musketeers
• Lord of the Rings
• Game of Thrones

7. Capitalise when talking about holidays:

For Example:

•  We are going to birthday celebrate Easter today
• Diwali is a festival of lights
• This Christmas is the happiest time of the year
• Holi is a festival of colors

8. Name of seasons are capitalized:

For Example:

• Spring brings many flowers
• One can ski in Winters in Manali
• We will see many leaves fall in the fall

9. The names of continents and countries always start with capital letters:

For Example:

• Asia has many scuba diving sites
• My father bought the finest olive oil from Italy
• Australia is a land of many animals

10. Names of cities, towns, villages:

For Example:

• I hail from Delhi
• My sister lives in Vijayawada

11. Names of regions, districts and states:

For Example:

• The city of Nasik comes in the district of Maharashtra
• California
• Baghdad

12. Names of things like mountains, lakes, oceans:

For Example:

• the Atlantic
• ocean Bhrigu lake
• the Alps.

13. Names of languages like:

For Example:

• Hindi
• English
• Spanish

14. Nationalities also start with a capital letter:

For Example:

• The French
• Indian, Spanish
• Vietnamese

15. Names of streets, buildings, and parks:

For Example:

• Central Park
• the Empire State Building
• the White House.

Short A Video Summary
Watch this video to understand better, how to use punctuation and capital letters? And how to use it correctly? You can easily understand this by watching the video.