subject: Punctuation Tips For Copyediting [print this page] Punctuation is important to determine the meaning of a sentence or sentences. Specific punctuation marks are used to indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.
If proper punctuation is not used, a sentence tends to give different meaning.
1. Woman: without her, man is nothing.
2. Woman, without her man, is nothing.
In the above example, the woman tends to become nothing when not punctuated properly!
Comma and Its Relatives
It is important to minimize the use of commas, dashes, hyphens and brackets. They act as helpful signposts as well as tend to clutter up the page. Modern style of writing uses them sparingly, but scientific and technical writing often demands them.
To Comma Or No Comma
The use of commas cannot be learned by rules. However, there are some rules:
You should generally use a comma when you change the subject of a sentence
E.g.:
Osmania is an old university, and many students do research there.
Not between two independent sentences unlinked by a conjunction unless there are more than two sentences, with the last pair linked by a conjunction
E.g.:
Genetic engineers say their subject is boring, ecologists are fascinated with theirs, and physicists disdain all others but their own.
Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas:
E.g.:
The cat, you will be glad to hear, is alive and well.
Use them optionally to stress adverbs
E.g.: He was, rightly, considered to be.
But always around however. Except as in: However hard you try, you will find math dull.
Do not use them in defining expressions
Use them in descriptive or commenting expressions
Spot the incorrect implication
E.g.:
My son, Tom, plays cricket.
My son Tom plays cricket.
Finish what you have started
E.g.:
The MIT professor, Noam Chomsky, spoke at the conference.
The MIT professor, Noam Chomsky spoke at the conference.
And if you omit the definite article, no Comma:
E.g.:
MIT professor Noam Chomsky spoke at the conference.
Stops
All complete sentences should end with a stop
A stop should be placed inside double quotation marks
But outside single inverted commas
Colon
According to Fowler, the function of the colon is delivering the goods that have been invoiced in the preceding words.
E.g.:
Four countries dominate the European Union: Britain, France, Germany and Luxembourg.
You may use colons to introduce direct quotations as in Man proposes: God disposes.
Semicolons
These are used in complex lists (normally preceded by a colon).
E.g.:
There are four reasons: good taste; common sense, which can be rare; an appreciation of what the reader wants to see; and limitations of space.
Semicolons are also used to mark a pause longer than a comma and shorter than a stop (Economist).
According to Strunk and White, these are used where there are two or more grammatically complete clauses not linked by a conjunction. But its often better to make two sentences and use the full stop.
E.g.:
Karthik locked himself in the room; India lost to Bangladesh.
Apostrophes
Apostrophes are not to be used with plurals.
E.g.:
TVs and DVDs
Potatoes
But in your ps and qs
Yes in:
Two months notice
Not in:
Achilles heel (unless you are talking about the demigod: Achilles heel).
In general, in possessive of names, be guided by pronunciation, e.g.:
Dr. Joness lab
Dr. Robbins lab
Hyphens
Numbers with a y at the end as in Sixty-five
In fractions: Three-quarters, two-thirds; but a quarter, a third
When a compound phrase qualifies another noun: test-tube baby, three-old-year boy
To avoid difficulty or doubt for the reader: re-analyze, newspaper style-book
There is a Non words with proper nouns
If two prefixes come together, the first one has to be hyphenated as in equi-biaxial
When prefixes come before proper noun derivatives
Dashes and Brackets
Single dashes signal a dramatic change
E.g.:
They opened the box and saw nothing!
Double dashes should not be used more than two times in a sentence
Double dashes perform the same function as brackets and commas
