Punctuation Rules

1 Capital letters: at the beginning of a sentence and for names of people and places

2 Fuli stops: at the end of a sentence

3 Commas

3.1 after introductory elements:

Introductory elements may be

• adverbial phrases:

Finally, I managed to pass the exam.

As a result, we lost the match.

• adverbial clauses:

When we got there, they had already left.

If you know the answer, please tell me.

Notę: Adverbial phrases and clauses don’t reąuire commas when in finał position.

• participle clauses:

Being a kind man, he agreed to help.

' Too frightened to move, they clung to the ledge.

Notę: This type of clause must be separated off by a comma in finał position.

3.2 around inserted elements:

Inserted elements may be:

• adverbial:

I decided, newertheless, to continua with the tour.

My friends, although they had never visited Spain before, had no problems getting around.

• adjectivai:

The boy, tired after his long joumey, fell into a deep sleep.

3.3 in a series:

Items in a list of three or morę are separated by commas. There is no comma before the finał and.

I like golf, tennis, swimming and basketball.

4 Commas and quotation marks in direct speech . . ~

Quotation marks are used around direct speech. A comma is used to separate ąuotations from the reporting verb.

‘Please hurry up,’ he said.

They shouted to us, ‘Why don’t you join us?’.

5 Apostrophes

Apostrophes are used:

• to indicate possession Mary’s bag

• to indicate omission It’s minę. (= It is minę.)

Notę: An apostrophe is not used for the possessive pronoun its.

The animal was close by. Its breathing could be heard clearly.

Not * It’s breathing ...

6 Dashes

A dash is often used to set off a phrase or clause for dramatic effect in less formal writing.

Mr Bradley was no help at dli - he never even got out of his car!

A tńp around the world is a wonderful opportunity - I really envy you!

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