The word Punctuation, derived from the Latin word Punctun, a point, means the right use of putting in Points or Stops in writing.
Proper Punctuation is very important and can make all the difference between communicating your message and creating a communication gap. It serves the purpose of improving the clarity of a sentence (through the use of a full stop, comma, colon, semi-colon and brackets), indicating words that are not a statement (question mark, exclamation mark, quotation mark), showing how words relate to one another (apostrophe, hyphen) and indicating that a group of letters is an abbreviation (full stop) or that letters are missing (apostrophe).
History records that improper punctuation has even made the difference between life and death.
The following are the principle Punctuation marks:
1. Full Stop
5. Quesion Mark
6. Exclamation Mark
7. Quotation Mark
These are the most common Punctuation signs that new English readers would encounter on the highway to mastering English. Once you master the usage of these Punctuation marks, the written words would flow faster and more easily.
Go to the 'Advanced English Index' to continue
From Punctuation to HOME PAGE