Punctuation breaks up the flow of words and thoughts into meaningful units. Without punctuation, a string of words would often remain just that – a string of words. Punctuation shapes sentences, distinguishes between different types of utterance, and highlights and emphasizes different words or groups of words. In proficiency in a language, knowledge and skill in the use of punctuation is as important as a sound grasp of grammar and a wide vocabulary.
It is easy enough to illustrate the confusion that can arise when punctuation marks are incorrectly used:
The supervisor said John was not doing his job properly.
This is a perfectly good and understandable sentence. Inserting two commas, however, can completely reverse its meaning:
The supervisor, said John, was not doing his job properly.
Adding quotation marks reinforces this interpretation of the sentence:
‘The supervisor,’ said John, ‘was not doing his job properly.’
In dealing with punctuation, of course, we are concerned only with the written language. If sentences such as those used in the example above were spoken, it would be obvious which meaning was intended from the slight pauses that the speaker introduced, the way that their voice rose and fell, and the emphasis they put on different words. The human voice is a very flexible and expressive instrument. Body language and eye contact can also play their part. There are all sorts of ways in which meaning can be conveyed when speaking that are not available to someone who is using a pen or a keyboard and who cannot be heard or seen by the person that they are communicating with. Punctuation cannot be a substitute for all of these, but it can take the place of many of them. Good punctuation can almost put a shrug of the shoulders or a hesitant tone of voice down on paper without having to describe either explicitly. Imaginative and varied punctuation gives individual rhythm to a piece of prose.
Writers nowadays tend to punctuate their work much more lightly than they did in the past. Semicolons and colons were often used in places where nowadays many writers would put a comma, and commas were often used where most modern writers would put no punctuation at all. Dickens’ sentences, for instance, sometimes seem to bristle with punctuation. This is the opening of Nicholas Nickleby:
There once lived, in a sequestered part of the county of Devonshire, one Mr. Godfrey Nickleby: a worthy gentleman, who, taking it into his head rather late in life that he must get married, and not being young enough or rich enough to aspire to the hand of a lady of fortune, had wedded an old flame out of mere attachment, who in her turn had taken him for the same reason.
The bristly effect is even more pronounced in writers of earlier centuries. Here is the famous essayist Joseph Addison, one of the most admired stylists of his time, writing about Shakespeare in The Spectator in the early eighteenth century:
Among great Genius’s, those few draw the Admiration of mankind of all the World upon them, and stand up as the Prodigies of Mankind, who by the meer strength of natural Parts, and without any Assistance of Art or Learning, have produced Works that were the Delight of their own Times and the Wonder of Posterity.
Lighter punctuation goes with the plainer and rather more informal style adopted by most modern writers. It is perfectly possible to write quite long sentences which are structured so that they require no punctuation at all. The aim of this chapter is to give guidelines on correct and effective punctuation.
The comma is perhaps rivalled only by the apostrophe for the amount of confusion it can cause. In certain circumstances, including or excluding a comma is largely a matter of taste. There are many contexts, however, in which the correct use of a comma, as of any other punctuation mark, is essential if a sentence is to be properly understood.
Although the main function of punctuation is to separate – sentence from sentence, clause from clause, one meaningful unit of language from another – it can also be seen as a linking device. Commas illustrate this point well. They have several main functions – three that have mainly to do with separation and two that have more to do with linking. Commas separate the items in a list, separate small sections at the beginning and end of sentences, and bracket independent sections in the middle of sentences. But commas also link the clauses that make up a compound sentence and the beginning and end of clauses from which something has been missed out. These five functions will now be dealt with in more detail. Three other specific uses of commas will then complete this section.
In lists, commas are generally a substitute for the word and and sometimes for the word or. They are used when a list contains three or more items which are single words, phrases, or sentences:
I bought apples, bananas, carrots, and lettuces.
French is spoken in Canada, in North Africa, and in the Lebanon.
The President speaks French, the Vice-President speaks German,
and the Prime Minister speaks Greek.
To repeat the point, these commas could, at least theoretically, be replaced by and (I bought apples and bananas and carrots and lettuces). If a comma in a list cannot be replaced by and, then it is in the wrong place.
It is becoming more common in British English (and is usual in American English) to place a comma before the and that precedes the final item in a simple list (numbers one, two, three, and four). A comma used in that position is known as a serial comma. This book uses such serial commas.
The more complex a list becomes, the more useful it is to add a serial comma: The President speaks French, the Vice-President speaks German, and the Prime Minister speaks Greek. There are also occasions when it is vital to use an extra comma because otherwise the divisions between the various items in the list might not be clear: I’ve bought several recordings by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Simon and Garfunkel. If there were no comma after Paul Simon, the reader might be misled into thinking there was a pop group called Paul Simon and Simon and Garfunkel.
Commas are also used to divide up lists of adjectives preceding a noun: The suspect had long, dark, greasy hair. It would, however, be equally correct in this case to omit the commas from the list entirely and to write: The suspect had long dark greasy hair. The use of commas, therefore, is common, but optional, in lists of adjectives that are all of equal value and all refer to the same noun.
Sometimes it is positively wrong to put in a comma. Take, for example, the sentences: I bought two large, juicy, green apples and I bought two large, juicy green peppers. In the first instance, and could be reasonably inserted in the list: I bought two large and juicy and green apples, or, more elegantly, I bought two apples that were large and juicy and green. All the adjectives refer equally to apples. In the second instance, what we assume the speaker bought was two green peppers that were large and juicy rather than two peppers that were large and juicy and green. In this instance, instead of three equal adjectives, we have two adjectives, large and juicy, preceding a compound noun green pepper.
Further, commas should not be placed between an adverb and an adjective. It is easy to make that mistake with adverbs such as bright or hard that have the same form as adjectives: compare a bright, yellow moon with a bright yellow envelope. Neither, generally speaking, should a comma be put in front of a noun used adjectivally in front of another noun: a red, waxy substance but a red wax candle.
When a subordinate clause begins a sentence, a comma is often used to separate it from the rest of the sentence:
When you next go to Paris, come and see me.
Although he didn’t like her, he was prepared to tolerate her.
Since you re so clever, why don’t you sort the whole thing out yourself?
In these examples there is no great danger of the sense being misunderstood if the comma is omitted.
But where a subordinate clause ends with a verb, and the following clause begins with a noun, the danger of at least momentary confusion is greater. The insertion of a comma in such sentences is vital. Consider the following examples:
If they don’t return, the money will he given to charity.
After she had finished reading, the hook was replaced on the shelf.
As you see, the situation is desperate.
In each case, the comma indicates that the writer intends the verb to be understood as an intransitive one (with no direct object). Remove the comma and it seems for a moment that the verb has a direct object after all:
If they don’t return the money…
After she had finished reading the hook…
As you see the situation…
A comma is also often used when an adverb, adverbial phrase, or adverbial clause comes at the beginning of a sentence. Here, too, it is often vital to insert a comma so that the sense can be properly understood. Consider the following examples:
Below, the ocean waves were crashing against the rocks.
Normally, intelligent people can see through such subterfuge.
After eating, the staff went home.
After a period of calm, college students have begun to demonstrate again.
If commas were left out of these sentences, the sense is different:
Below the ocean waves…
After eating the staff…
After a period of calm college students…
Even where there is no real danger of confusion or absurdity, it is usually better to insert a comma than not. Most phrases that are based on the infinitive form of a verb or a participle require one:
To do them justice, they were very apologetic.
Reading between the lines, I think they’re getting very worried.
Having dealt with that problem successfully, she immediately turned her attention to the next.
Turning to the other end of the sentence, a comma is often used before a subordinate clause positioned after a main clause:
I’m very fond of him, although I’m well aware that he has his faults.
Barbara couldn’t come, because she had a prior engagement.
A comma is not always necessary, however, in such sentences.
Commas are not used before clauses beginning with that:
It is possible that the delivery of the goods might be late.
She told me that the rumours were untrue.
There is a good chance that he will be out of hospital next week.
The grammatical reason for this is that the that clauses in the above examples are functioning either as complements or, in the second example, as the object of the verb. It is, of course, proper to use commas to separate a series or ‘list’ of that clauses: He said that he was sorry, that he hadn’t meant to hurt anyone, that he’d paid for any damage, and that he hoped we would forgive him.
Finally, commas are always used after a group of words that makes a statement when a tag question such as didn’t he or aren’t they is tacked onto it:
It’s nice and warm today, isn’t it?
You are coming out tonight, aren’t you?
One of the most important functions of commas is their use in pairs to separate a piece of information that is obviously additional to the main meaning of a sentence. In fact, such pieces of information are not merely additional; they are, strictly speaking, superfluous to the sentence as a whole. They can be removed from it and the sentence will still make sense.
For example, take the sentence David Mander, the club’s new chairperson, made a speech. Here the phrase the club’s new chairperson describes David Mander, but is essentially incidental to the main statement, which is that David Mander made a speech. The sentence could be switched around – in this case making the name of the new chairperson the incidental factor – and the punctuation would remain the same: The club’s new chairperson, David Mander, made a speech. Here are some examples where the insert is much longer, but it is nonetheless incidental to the sentence as a whole and so is enclosed within commas:
It’s not the most beautiful car in the world, as anyone can see, but it is very economical.
The dictionary, first published in 1918 and re-edited at roughly ten-year intervals ever since, has never been out of print.
Gone are the days when, because everything Victorian was out of fashion, such buildings were considered to be a joke.
There are all sorts of little phrases that commonly occur within sentences – above all’, as I said; in fact, of course, what is more, etc. – that should, in most instances, appear only within commas:
He felt, of course, rather foolish.
I, in fact, had said much the same thing at a previous meeting.
The terms they were offering were, to be honest, less favourable than we had expected.
In a similar way there are a number of single words, often serving as backward links to what has been said in a previous sentence, to which the same thing applies. However is perhaps the most common:
The railway system, however, remains in a state of disrepair.
The board, consequently, has had to revise its previous decision.
We have, nevertheless, to consider the other possibilities.
A major source of trouble with commas lies in their use in what are known as non-restrictive clauses – that is, those that describe rather than identify (or define) a person or thing (see also pp. 21–2). Because such clauses describe rather than identify, they could be omitted, and so they go into commas. The problem is to decide what identifies and what merely describes.
Consider the example: My sister who lives in Australia is a sales executive. There are two ways of understanding and, consequently, of punctuating this sentence. The first assumes that the sentence refers specifically to my sister who lives in Australia. The implication is that the speaker has more than one sister. One lives in Australia, the others live elsewhere, consequently the phrase who lives in Australia identifies and defines which sister is being talked about. The phrase is, therefore, crucial to the sentence and cannot be put between commas. The second way of understanding the sentence, however, is that it refers simply to my sister – possibly the speaker’s only sister – who is a sales executive. In that case, the fact that she lives in Australia is a piece of incidental information and the phrase that expresses this should be enclosed in commas: My sister, who lives in Australia, is a sales executive.
When referring to things, non-restrictive (describing) clauses always begin with which and restrictive (identifying or defining) clauses may begin with either that or which. Note too that that clauses do not have commas; which clauses frequently do.
Here are some further examples:
Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, which was first published in 1861, has become an international bestseller.
The clause which was first published in 1861 gives incidental information and so is a non-restrictive which clause, with commas.
The cookery book that I had been given as a birthday present somehow got lost in the move.
This is a restrictive that clause – it identifies or defines which cookery book – and so there are no commas.
A further type of descriptive relative clause that is used with a comma is one in which the which clause relates to the main clause as a whole.
He failed the exam, which was not surprising.
They helped us move house, for which we were most grateful.
Commas are often used to link together the two parts of a compound sentence, a compound sentence being one that has two main clauses joined by and, or, hut, yet, or while (see pp. 15–16). However, it is as important to know when not to use a comma as when to use one.
When the two clauses have the same subject or initial phrase, whether or not it is repeated, a comma is not usually used:
They speak Italian fluently and (they) can get by in Spanish as well.
On the stroke of midnight Cinderella’s fine clothes turned back into rags and (also on the stroke of midnight) her silver coach vanished into thin air.
When the subjects of the two clauses joined by and are not the same, however, a comma is generally used:
They speak fluently, and their Italian friends are equally fluent in English.
Is that your final decision, or do you need more time to think things over?
A comma is particularly used when the two clauses form a contrast:
Jan wants to continue the relationship, but Tom wants to walk out and end it.
It seems like a good idea, yet I’m not at all convinced it will work.
The use of the comma has the effect of highlighting the contrast and also making a slight pause between the clauses. Nevertheless, if the clauses are fairly short, the comma is optional: The car overturned but the driver wasn’t hurt.
If there are two clauses in the sentence, and they are not joined by and, etc., then a comma is not usually the correct way to link them. If their meaning is quite closely connected, a semicolon (see also pp. 157–9) should be used instead of a comma: German-born Schmidt became a British citizen; he later married an Englishwoman.
Where the meaning is less closely connected, the better alternative is to have two sentences: The red car was cheaper. The blue car, on the other hand, looked much smarter.
Sometimes a group of words (usually a verb phrase) that is used in one clause needs to be repeated in a subsequent clause in order to complete its sense. But if repeating the phrase would make the sentence very cumbersome, it can be omitted, and a comma inserted in its place. Take, for example: They had already made a decision to go; we had already made a decision to stay. The phrase had already made a decision can be replaced in the second clause by a comma, producing a much crisper result: They had already made a decision to go; we, to stay. The comma also has the same function in the following sentences:
Chelsea had the greater share of possession in the first half; Villa, in the second.
The new building was generally considered to be an eyesore, the exhibition, a failure, and the whole enterprise, a waste of public money.
To err is human, to forgive, divine.
A comma is used between the words of direct speech – the words that are put in quotation marks – and the verb say or any other reporting expression:
‘Come and look at the room,’ he said, ‘u has a sea view.’
‘I’m back,’ she called out.
He ventured the question, ‘Do you really love me?’
For more on this, see pp. 161–3.
Remember, however, that a comma is not used before that, etc., in indirect speech:
She called out that she was back.
The committee agreed that they would fund half the cost of the extension.
Commas are used to divide large numbers into groups of three digits, to separate thousands, millions, etc.:
65,678
10,137,673
Note that commas are sometimes not used with four-digit numbers and they are never used in dates: 4,517 or 4517; in the year 2010.
Spaces are sometimes used in place of commas, particularly with metric units: A kilometre consists of 1 000 metres.
Commas must be used when a person is being addressed by name or when a group of people are being addressed:
Please, Fred, try again.
Sergeant Miller, take those men away.
Ladies and gentlemen, hoys and girls, welcome to the show.
I’ve told you before, Hoskins, this has got to stop.
The reason for this is simple and goes back to what has been said before. Without commas, the name appears as part of the sentence. Compare I’m fed up with ringing Jane and I’m fed up with ringing, Jane.
There are two functions of the full stop. Its main one is to mark the end of a sentence that does not have a question mark or an exclamation mark at the end. This function does not require specific illustration. Most of the sentences in this book end with full stops. It is worth noting, however, that a sentence should never have more than one full stop. This rule mainly comes into play in relation to quotations: see pp. 161–3.
A full stop is also used with certain types of abbreviation, though generally it must be said that full stops are used less with abbreviations these days than in the past. The abbreviation for the ‘British Broadcasting Corporation’ is now more commonly found as BBC than B.B.C. Full stops tend to be used more with abbreviations that consist of small letters, particularly when the abbreviated form without the full stops could be confused with an ordinary word: a.m. (ante meridiem, before noon), f.o.b. (free on board, relating to a shipment of goods); e.g. (exempli gratia, for example).
Abbreviations which contain the first and last letters of a word (Mr; St [Saint or Street]) are generally written without a full stop. For further details, see pp. 175–7.
The question mark has one main function: to appear at the end of a direct question and indicate that it is a question:
Which way is it to the station?
So Margot has invited you too, has she?
He did what?
When a sentence ends in a question mark, it does not require a full stop.
There are several different ways in which questions can be phrased in standard English. These are dealt with on pp. 12–13 and pp. 38–9. Any question that is addressed directly to another person needs a question mark. So does any rhetorical question, that is, one to which an answer is not really expected:
Where has the time gone?
How can people live like that?
So too does a question that is reported in direct speech: ‘Have you seen my book anywhere?’ he asked. Notice that in this instance the question mark is placed inside the inverted commas.
The only type of question that does not require a question mark is a question that is given in reported (or indirect) speech. (See also pp. 19–21.) It would be incorrect to end any of the following examples with a question mark:
She asked me why I had come.
People are very curious to know how you managed to do it.
We questioned him again as to what had motivated his decision.
The presence of question words (why, how, what) in these sentences does not alter the fact that they are essentially statements giving information rather than questions requesting it.
The question mark has one minor function, which is to indicate that something, often a date or figure, is doubtful or an estimate. When used in this way the question mark usually appears next to (usually in front of) whatever it refers to. Often the question mark is put inside brackets. For example, the year in which the poet Geoffrey Chaucer died is known precisely, but the year of his birth is not, so his dates are often shown in the following form: Geoffrey Chaucer (?1342–1400). Likewise the question mark in the following example shows that the speaker is not precisely sure what number is involved: According to the rules, 33 per cent of committee members constitute a quorum, that is (?)9 people (or ? 9 people).
The exclamation mark is another punctuation mark with one main function – to indicate that the words that precede it constitute an exclamation:
How splendid!
Stand still!
What a disaster!
As with the question mark, a sentence ending in an exclamation mark does not need a full stop. Likewise, an exclamation reported in direct speech ends with an exclamation mark inside the inverted commas: ‘What an extraordinary coincidence!’ he exclaimed.
The nature and form of exclamations is discussed on pp. 14–15. Exclamations are usually fairly short expressions of heightened emotion which are often given in a somewhat louder voice than ordinary speech. Since formal writing generally adopts a moderate tone, the use of exclamation marks in formal writing is comparatively rare. In fact, most writers on punctuation discourage the use of too many exclamation marks, suggesting that, if used too frequently, they give a piece of writing an overheated and hysterical or slightly bullying tone. They also frown on the use of more than one exclamation mark at a time (Goal!!!). This is good advice for formal writing, though in personal or comic writing this rule can be relaxed.
Exclamation marks are also occasionally used to draw attention to an interruption – often one enclosed in brackets or between dashes – in the general flow of a sentence, especially if the interruption is a slightly ironical one:
On those (thankfully rare!) occasions when we tried to have a serious conversation…
Our visitors arrived at noon – Jean wasn’t up yet! – having been invited for six o’clock in the evening.
The semicolon, like the colon, is probably underused as a punctuation mark because its correct use is felt to be complicated and difficult. This is not, in fact, the case: the basic rule for using the semicolon is quite simple. It links together clauses which could stand alone as sentences, but which have a close relationship with one another and are more effectively shown as components of a single sentence. Semicolons are not used in conjunction with linking words such as and or but; they are, however, frequently used in situations where an alternative method of constructing the sentence would be to use a joining word of that kind.
The basic point to remember is that semicolons join clauses that could function as complete sentences. If a clause cannot function as a complete sentence, it ought, generally speaking, not to begin or end with a semicolon. Let us look at a few examples:
John was wearing his best suit; Mary was in a T-shirt and a pair of torn jeans.
The troops are preparing to attack the city; all foreign journalists have been ordered to leave the area.
The prime minister sat down; the leader of the opposition stood up; a sudden hush fell over the chamber.
In all the above examples, clearly, the elements that make up the sentences could stand alone as sentences:
John was wearing his best suit.
Mary was in a T-shirt and a pair of torn jeans.
All foreign journalists have been ordered to leave the area.
The leader of the opposition stood up.
What may not be quite so clear is why it is desirable to use a semicolon in such sentences instead of full stops or a conjunction such as and. The answer lies in the second part of the rule given in the first paragraph of this section. A semicolon links clauses which could stand alone, but which have a close relationship with one another and are more effectively shown as components of a single sentence. To look at it from the opposite viewpoint, the use of a semicolon rather than a full stop implies a relationship between the two clauses which the semicolon joins.
Take the first of the examples shown above. If it reads as follows:
John was wearing his best suit.
Mary was in a T-shirt and a pair of torn jeans.
then these two sentences might simply be part of a string of similar sentences describing the clothes worn by all the people present on a particular occasion. Using a semicolon implies that the facts that John was dressing up and that Mary was dressing down are somehow related – perhaps that they are a couple with different attitudes to dress. An alternative way of constructing this same sentence would be to use and: John was wearing his best suit, and Mary was in a T-shirt and a pair of torn jeans. This is a perfectly good sentence. The only difference between it and the sentence with the semicolon is that it is slightly less crisp and the contrast is slightly less pointed. The semicolon is particularly well adapted to point up the contrast between two otherwise related statements: It was the shortest day of the year; it felt like the longest day of my life.
The situation is slightly different with regard to the third example:
The prime minister sat down; the leader of the opposition stood up; a sudden hush fell over the chamber.
This sentence would obviously be rather clumsy if two ands were inserted into it. The choice is really between dividing it with semicolons or with full stops. The difference is a slight one, but worth noting. To use full stops would tend to interrupt the narrative flow more, describing, as it were, three separate actions. To use semicolons and keep the description of the three actions within one sentence suggests that they were all part of the same process – one incident with three parts, rather than three separate incidents.
The semicolon is also used as a stronger dividing mark in lists, particularly lists whose component elements use commas for internal punctuation. In this particular case, it is not necessary for the elements divided by semicolons to be possible complete sentences: There are three courses I can particularly recommend: ‘Computing for Beginners’, run by Ms Jenkins, which is aimed at absolute novices; ‘How Your Computer Works’, a course that deals, basically, with the hardware side of things and is run by Mr Watt; ‘Intermediate-Level Computing’ also by Ms Jenkins, which requires a certain amount of previous knowledge, but should not be beyond your capabilities.
The use of the colon in modern English is, like that of the semicolon, rather simpler than it is often imagined to be. The main use of the colon is to separate a general statement from one or more statements or items that give more specific information and illustrate or explain it:
There are three reasons why I’m not coming with you: I haven’t the time, I haven’t the money, and I don’t like skiing.
The general statement (There are three reasons…) is followed by a simple explanation of what those reasons are.
Economists have a lot in common with weather-forecasters: they are often wrong (The Guardian).
There is no need for the item or items that follow the colon to be complete sentences:
They knew precisely what they were facing: almost certain death.
Two members of the committee have already been named: Mrs Atkinson and Mr Peters.
The effect of the explosion were all too visible: houses burning, glass littering the street, people wandering around in a state of shock.
The colon is also sometimes used to introduce a passage of direct speech: Mr Harris said, and I quote: ‘The whole thing has been a complete waste of time and money.’ This, however, is a convention mainly used in journalism. Most authorities recommend using a comma at the beginning of a passage of direct speech (see pp. 161–3).
Quotation marks (also known as inverted commas) are primarily used to indicate that the words written between the opening (‘ or “) and the closing (‘ or ”) marks are the words that the person in question has actually spoken:
He said, ‘I’m ready now.’
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.
‘Time,’ Groucho Marx is supposed to have said, ‘wounds all heels.’
Quotations from a piece of writing also need to be placed inside inverted commas:
We felt we were dealing with what St Paul referred to as ‘spiritual wickedness in high places’.
In your report you mention ‘an undercurrent of hostility towards management among the workforce’. What precisely did you mean by that?
Only the words that were actually spoken or written by the person in question belong inside quotation marks. All the other words should be left outside, even if they come in the middle of the remark being actually quoted and so necessitate the use of two sets of quotation marks:
‘Time,’ Groucho Marx is supposed to have said, ‘wounds all heels.’
‘My darling,’ he wrote in a letter hurriedly scribbled just before boarding the plane, ‘I wish you knew how much I love you.’
For further discussion of the use of quotations in essays, etc., see pp. 289–91.
There is no difference in meaning or use between single quotation marks (‘…’) and double ones (“…”). The most important thing is to choose a system and adhere to it consistently. Most British book publishers prefer the use of single quotes (quotation marks), reserving the use of double quotes for quotations within quotations: ‘What Shakespeare actually wrote,’ Harry interrupted, ‘was “We are such stuff as dreams are made on”, not “made of”, as you seem to think.’ If the quotation-within-a-quotation happens to fall at the end of a sentence then two sets of quotation marks will be needed: She noted, ‘I wish he wouldn’t call me “duck”.’ In the US double quotes are used as the primary level and single quotes are used for the secondary level of quotations within quotations.
While the rules governing what should go into quotation marks are fairly simple, the rules governing how other punctuation should be used in conjunction with them are more complicated.
A comma is used with the verb of reporting to separate the unspoken words and the spoken words:
‘I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,’ she replied.
She leapt up out of her chair and shouted, ‘I can smell something burning.’
When the reporting verb is placed in the middle of a quotation, commas perform their usual bracketing function:
‘Time,’ Groucho Marx is supposed to have said, ‘wounds all heels.’
‘That,’ she replied, ‘is a matter of opinion.’
It will be noted that in each of these examples the first comma has been placed inside the quotation marks.
If the words being quoted make a full sentence, then the passage within quotation marks should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop: He said, ‘You deliberately lied to me.’ The same applies if the words quoted form a question or an exclamation:
She merely smiled and enquired, ‘Where have you been hiding all this while?’
The man behind me roared out, ‘Stop that infernal noise!’
The full stop, question mark, and exclamation mark all come before the closing quotation mark. It is incorrect to place an additional full stop outside the closing quotation mark.
When the quoted words do not form a full sentence, then there should be no capital letter and the full stop should appear outside the inverted commas because it belongs to the sentence in which the quotation appears, not to the quotation itself:
They both wrote saying that they wanted to ‘try and sort things out between them’.
The expression ‘to out-herod Herod’ means ‘to exceed someone in a particular quality’, especially wickedness or cruelty.
American usage differs from British usage at this point. In American usage, full stops and commas come inside the quotation marks:
They both wrote saying that they wanted to “try and sort things out between them.”
The expression “to out-herod Herod” means “to exceed someone in a particular quality,” especially wickedness or cruelty.
In both British and American English, semicolons and colons come outside the quotation marks:
A critical phase is reached as the aircraft goes ‘transonic’; that is, as it accelerates through the speed hand from just below to just above the speed of sound. (New Scientist)
A common method of cheating is to rely on what magicians call a ‘stooge’: someone who is watching behind a screen and sending secret signals to the psychic by any one of scores of little-known techniques. (Scientific American)
The position of the question mark and exclamation mark depends on whether they belong to the quoted material or not:
Did he really say, ‘I wish I hadn’t married you’?
He asked, ‘Is it time for me to go yet?’
She had the cheek to say to me, ‘I never want to see you again’!
The man behind me roared out, ‘Stop that infernal noise!’
In a passage of dialogue, each act of speech normally starts a new paragraph:
‘You know,’ he said, in an important voice, ‘I’ve thought all along that that pig of ours was an extra good one. He’s a solid pig. That pig is as solid as they come. You notice how solid he is around the shoulders, Lurvy?’
‘Sure, sure I do,’ said Lurvy. ‘I’ve always noticed that pig. He’s quite a pig.’
He’s long, and he’s smooth,’ said Zuckerman.
‘That’s right,’ agreed Lurvy. ‘He’s as smooth as they come. He’s some pig.’
(from E. B. White, Charlotte’s Web)
See also ‘Paragraphs in dialogue’, p. 230.
If a quoted passage consists of more than one paragraph, opening quotation marks are placed at the beginning of each paragraph, but the closing quotation marks are placed only at the end of the complete quotation, i.e. at the end of the final paragraph:
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practised the latter without leaving the former undone.
“Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places.
“Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.”
(The Bible, Luke 11:42–4, New International Version, London, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd)
Quotation marks are also used for certain titles, for example, of essays, songs and of alternative names of musical works:
The Beatles’ song ‘She Loves You’
Mozart’s Symphony no. 38 in D, K504 (‘Prague’)
David Smith, ‘Recent Developments in German’, Journal of Modern Languages, 51 (1995), pp. 143–6
On the use of quotation marks in references to books, journals, etc., see pp. 291–2.
Quotation marks are also sometimes placed around words or phrases that were not actually spoken or written by a specific other person, but which represent the point of view of another person or other people rather than the writer’s own. The effect of using them is to create a distance from the word or phrase, often, in effect, saying, ‘He, she, or they may call it that, but I wouldn’t.’ For example: Apparently his ‘hobbies’ include bungee-jumping and fire-walking. The implication is that those two activities are most peculiar things to call hobbies. The use of quotation marks in this way often suggests disapproval of, or an ironic or sarcastic attitude towards, the thing or phrase in question: I’ve never been anyone’s ‘significant other’, to the best of my knowledge, and I don’t intend to start now.
Quotation marks are also used to highlight a particular phrase and, as it were, extract it from its immediate context:
‘People’ is a plural noun.
It is possible to use either a singular or a plural verb with the word ‘statistics’.
Are there two m’s in ‘accommodation’?
The function of the dash is similar to that of the bracketing comma, in that it is frequently used in pairs to separate an inserted item or interruption from the rest of the sentence. A dash is, however, a far stronger punctuation mark than a comma, and a more eye-catching one. It is best used for fairly dramatic and large-scale interruptions in the middle of sentences: The thieves – there were four of them, all masked and brandishing heavy iron bars -forced the terrified sales assistants to lie down on the floor. The size of the insert (there were four of them, all masked and brandishing heavy iron bars) and the fact that it constitutes a complete sentence on its own make it impossible to accommodate within commas. Consequently, dashes are needed. Here is a similar example: Mr Brown – Why is there someone like Mr Brown in every single class I ever teach? – was still having trouble finding the shift key. There is no other way, apart from using round brackets, of accommodating a complete question within another sentence.
The dash is not, however, limited to use with such lengthy inserts:
There was no reason – at least, none that I could see – why we had to go through the whole rigmarole again.
The point is – and this is the crux of the matter – that if we don’t get additional funding, we shall have to close.
A dash can also be used singly to separate the end of a sentence: again, usually in order to establish a fairly marked contrast, between it and what has gone before. It marks where there is a change of tone (or where there would be a change in the speaker’s tone of voice if the sentence were spoken):
It would be a complete and utter disaster if they did that to us – not that I think for a moment that they will.
It was a murder with an obvious motive and an obvious suspect – or so we thought.
In all these instances, the dash is used with a space at either end of it. It can also be used, without spaces, to indicate a range of numbers or values, for example, when indicating a person’s lifespan (Charles Dickens, 1812–70) or the duration of a period (the Jurassic period 208–146 million years ago). Note that when the dash is used in this way, there is no need to use a construction with from and to or between and and. Write either The compound contains 10–14 per cent potassium or The compound contains from 10 to 14 per cent potassium, not from 10–14 per cent.
A hyphen makes words by joining together two existing words either permanently or, as it were, temporarily.
As is mentioned elsewhere in this book (pp. 115–16), the number of words with a permanent hyphen in English is tending gradually to diminish. It was not so long ago that even a word such as today was often spelt to-day. That spelling is now considered old-fashioned, but until very recently it was usual for prefixes that ended in a vowel to be attached with words that began with a vowel by means of a hyphen. This is no longer the situation: modern dictionaries give antiaircraft not antiaircraft, cooperate before co-operate, rearm not re-arm, socioeconomic not socio-economic. The process is not complete, however. Apart from cooperate and coordinate, the tendency is still to hyphenate compound words where the prefix ends with the same vowel that the main word begins with (anti-inflationary, pre-exist, re-establish). Not that it is wrong to use a hyphen in words such as anti-aircraft, it is simply that the modern trend is against it and the tendency is either to make one solid compound word or to use two words. If in doubt, consult a modern dictionary.
The hyphen, however, is still widely used for ‘temporary’ word construction. By ‘temporary’ construction is meant for such words as word-making that has been used in the title of this section. It is a convenient and perfectly understandable term, made by joining two existing words together, but it would not appear in any dictionary. The particular word-making process involves taking material that might usually appear after the noun in question and placing it in front of it:
hyphens that make words – word-making hyphens
a child who is two years old – a two-year-old child
a region that produces grain – a grain-producing region
a company that is not in business for profit – a not-for-profit company
When they are used before a noun, such constructions should have hyphens. Probably the best-known and best-established words of this type in English are the well compounds. When they appear after a verb they have no hyphen; when they appear before a noun, they have one:
She is well known as a singer – She is a well-known singer.
The fact is well established – a well-established fact.
The insertion of hyphens when such combined words are used in front of nouns is a very helpful guide to the reader, who in this way knows what belongs together.
On the use of the hyphen with words beginning non-, see chapter 2, p. 94 and with words beginning re- (e.g. re-cover (‘cover again’) and recover (‘recuperate’), see chapter 2, p. 100, ‘-re’. See also pp. 120–24.
The word-breaking function of hyphens is usually more of an issue for a typesetter than for the ordinary writer. If a word will not fit onto a line, it is customary to break it with a hyphen, leaving part of the word and the hyphen on the first line and putting the remainder of the word on the next. This only applies to words of more than one syllable, and there are rather complicated rules determining at which points words may or may not be broken. Some ordinary dictionaries show the correct syllable breaks in words; all specialized spelling dictionaries do.
There are two other minor uses of the hyphen. If, for any reason, a writer only wishes to show part of a word, or a word component such as a prefix or a suffix that is not complete in itself, than a hyphen is attached to the beginning or the end of it:
The same applies to the prefix ‘pre-’.
Another common noun suffix is ‘-ment’.
A hyphen can also be used when two words that share a common second element are used close together, to shorten the first and avoid the necessity of writing them both out twice. For example, instead of writing both the pro-hunting and anti-hunting lobbies, the following shortened version is acceptable: both the pro- and anti-hunting lobbies. Likewise, instead of writing She tried to explain the distinction between metapsychology and parapsychology, the following shortened version is acceptable:… the distinction between meta- and parapsychology.
The function of round brackets (also known as parentheses) is much the same as that of dashes and bracketing commas. They always appear in pairs and put what is contained within them slightly apart from the rest of the sentence. They are particularly useful for marking asides from the writer to the reader:
It is said (though not by historians) that the tree was planted by King Charles I.
If in doubt, consult a (modern) dictionary.
They are also frequently used to enclose a small piece of explanatory or interpretative material:
Charles Dickens (1812–70)
He showed me the recipe for Sachertorte (a type of Austrian chocolate cake).
The World Health Organization (WHO) has its headquarters in Geneva.
The most frequent function of square brackets is to enclose a brief comment inside a quotation, to clarify or specify something that is left vague or unspecified in the piece quoted:
The two authors she most admired [Charles Dickens and Sir Walter Scott] dealt with subjects very different to the ones she chose.
Square brackets are also used to indicate that a mistake in the passage was made by the original author, not by the writer quoting the original text. The formula [sic] is used for this purpose:
He wrote, ‘We are planning a big celebration for the millenium [sic]:’
‘There is [sic] still a great many things to discuss.’
The apostrophe is never used to form the plurals of ordinary nouns. It seems to be becoming more and more common to see signs advertising, for example, lettuce’s or sausage’s or, perhaps slightly more forgivably, CD’s. Apostrophe plurals have been occasionally spotted in subtitles for the television news. They are all incorrect. Ordinary nouns, even personal names, even names or nouns ending in s, do not need an apostrophe to form their plurals:
There are three other Janes in Jane’s class.
The team contained three Joneses and two Evanses.
Abbreviations, when they have a plural, do not need an apostrophe either: CDs or C.D.s. Apostrophes are generally not now used, at least in British English, when referring to a particular decade of a century: the 1990s; the 1820s.
The only occasion on which an apostrophe should be used to make a plural is when one needs to refer in the plural to individual letters of the alphabet:
How many i’s are there in ‘Mississippi’?
Are there two m’s in ‘accommodation’?
There is obvious scope for confusion if the plurals of a, i, and u were to be written as as, is, and us respectively.
An apostrophe s (’s) is used to form the possessive of ordinary nouns in English: to show, in other words, that a particular thing or quality belongs to or is connected with someone or something. In the sentence There are three other Janes in Jane’s class, Janes is the plural form of Jane, while Jane’s is the possessive form.
The apostrophe s can be added to the end of almost all singular nouns (including those that end in s, add -es to form the plural, or consist of more than one word); Jess’ (or Jess’s) notebook; the bus’s numberplate; the church’s one foundation; his mistress’s voice; the vice captain’s role; the Bath Investment and Building Society’s head office. Abbreviations too can take an apostrophe s: an MP’s salary; the TV’s wiring system.
When a noun forms its plural in the normal way by adding an s or es, the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe only: my parents’ house; the parties’ election manifestos; the Petersons’ party. The same goes for the plurals of abbreviations: MPs’ salaries. If a noun has an irregular plural that ends in a letter other than s, then an apostrophe s is added as for the singular: women’s attitude to work; children’s toys; the bureaux’s permanent staffs; the media’s coverage of the event.
There are two exceptions to these general rules. The more important one relates to personal possessive pronouns. Hers, ours, yours and theirs have no apostrophe. They may sound as if they might have (hers = her + apostrophe s), but they do not. If in doubt, remember that his and mine are the other two members of this particular class of words and there is no way in which either of them can accommodate an apostrophe. Remember also that a word with an apostrophe usually comes before the noun, whereas hers, ours, etc., come after it:
The handwriting is definitely hers.
Those seats are ours.
This last point is not invalidated by the existence of a rather unusual construction with of involving the possessive form, which is the second exception to the general rule: a friend of mine; a photograph of Cecil Beaton’s (that is, taken by or belonging to Cecil Beaton, in contrast to a photograph of Cecil Beaton– that is, depicting him).
For many people, the most difficult possessive forms are its and whose. Because its is used before a noun, the temptation to give it an apostrophe is sometimes almost overwhelming. It does not have one:
The dog has lost its bone.
Half its bits are missing.
What have you done with its cover?
There is a word it’s, but it is a contraction of it is: see pp. 172–3. Similarly, there is a word who’s meaning who is or who has, but the possessive form is whose:
Whose book is this?
Whose are those gloves on the table?
The people whose names are on the list…
Usage varies with names ending in s. The style with only the apostrophe is possibly slightly more common than that with the apostrophe ‘s: Robert Burn’s poetry or Robert Burns’s poetry; Henry James’ novels or Henry James’s novels; Keats’ poems or Keats’s poems; Diana Ross’ recordings or Diana Ross’s recordings.
Finally, with the increasing use of nouns as modifiers before other nouns in modern English, it is difficult sometimes to decide whether there should be an apostrophe in a combination such as, for example, trousers pocket. Since you can say the pocket of my trousers it might be reasonable to suppose that trousers’ pocket was correct. You could equally well say the pocket of my jacket, but nobody would say it’s in my jacket’s pocket. On the basis of comparison and analogy, therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that if jacket pocket, coat pocket, and shirt pocket are correct, then trousers pocket is correct as well. On the other hand, the combination girls’ changing room is preferable to girls changing room on the basis that you would not speak of a women or men changing room but of a women’s changing room.
The other main use of the apostrophe, besides indicating the possessive form of nouns, is to show that a letter has been missed out of a word. There are two main types of contraction. First, words in which the word not is next to a verb and part of not has been left out: can’t = can not; isn’t = is not; don’t = do not, etc. Secondly, words in which a personal pronoun has been run together with a simple verb and part of the verb has been omitted: I’m = I am; you’ve = you have; they’ll = they will, etc. All these forms are characteristic of speech and less formal writing. The apostrophe is a vital component of all these words: they are incorrectly spelt without it. In several cases there are other words with the identical spelling apart from the apostrophe: were and we’re; cant and can’t, shell and she’ll; hell and he’ll, etc. Although the spelling is different, there is perhaps an even greater risk of confusion between you’re and your, and between they’re and their, because these words are pronounced in the same way.
There are a number of other words which need an apostrophe of this kind – the commonest being o’clock (reduced from ‘of the clock’). On the other hand, well-established cut-down forms of longer words do not need apostrophes: bra; cello; flu; hippo; phone. Other examples of words that need an apostrophe include cat-o’-nine-tails, ne’er-do-well, and will-o’-the-wisp. A number of archaic poetic forms require an apostrophe (‘tis (it is); ‘twere (it were); e’en (even); e’er (ever); ne’er (never). So, at the other end of the scale, do representations of very casual speech: ‘Fraid I can’t help you there ; S’pose so.