TASK: Read through the columns below and match the punctuation mark up to the correct function/effect.
PUNCTUATION
MARK
1. Apostrophe ‘
2. Brackets ( )
EXAMPLE
Don’t = do not/the parent’s phone call (one
parent)/parents’ evening (several parents)
MATCH UP
1.=
The pupil (who is in the P.E. department) has forgotten
their kit.
The equipment needed is: pencil, ruler, rubber and
sharpener.
She said, ‘Hello.’/The girl, the one who wore the red
shoes, said she fancied me/At the shop I bought some
crisps, juice, chocolate and a magazine
2.=
5. Dash -
I want – to go to - the toilet
5.=
6. Ellipsis …
Who knows what happened after that…/
"I was wondering …" Jason said, bemused.
O.M.G! I got a one in my English exam!
6.=
8. Full Stop .
I went to the shop and bought sweets./‘T.O.W.I.E.’*
8.=
9. Hyphen -
Ice-cream, co-operation (old*) = cooperation (new)/
the nine-year-old child
At the shop I bought a packet of crisps; a bottle of juice;
a yummy Mars Bar/ crocodiles are small; alligators are
bigger/I went to the cinema the other night; however, I
wanted to stay in as it was too cold
See example 4 above/ isn’t Scotland ‘sunny’!/a
’Metaphor’ is a figure of speech/the sign said, ‘Two
miles ahead’.
I didn’t know what to do, was I doing the right
thing?/Do celebrities like Beyoncé empower women or
degrade them?
9.=
3. Colon :
4. Comma ,
7. Exclamation
Mark !
10. Semi-colon ;
11. Speech
marks/Inverted
commas “ ”
12. Question Marks
?
3.=
4.=
7.=
10.=
11.=
12.=
FUNCTION/EFFECT
1. These always=come in pairs. They always show extra
information. The rhythm of the sentence is now slowed down
when the text is read aloud.
2. Shows a strong emotion e.g. amusement/despair
3. Shows a pause. Two either side of something can show extra
information (parenthesis).
4. Shows exact words of a speaker e.g. expert/can show a sarcastic
tone (meaning the opposite of what is said)/can show specialised
vocabulary – jargon/can show exactly what the writer saw and is
reporting e.g. road sign
5. Creates a feeling of anticipation (expectation)/shows an
incomplete sentence or information that has been missed out
deliberately (a long quotation may be cut down)/shows a pause in
the flow of a sentence.
6. Used to introduce more information that is needed to complete
the sentence (e.g. a list).
7. Shows the writer or speaker’s uncertainty/makes the reader
think/can be used a link to a new paragraph/indicates an
explanation.
8. Indicates a fully complete sentence/used between abbreviated
letters
9. Shows that a word has been contracted (shortened) or to show
possession (except with ‘its’).
10. Joins two words or a phrase together
11. Used to separate items in a list (usually detailed
items)/balances out related clauses (a clause is a group of words,
one of which is a verb).
12. Used to introduce direct speech/used before and after extra
information (small pause is taken when the text is read aloud)/
*Using punctuation marks (for the examples marked with this *) are becoming less common