Fiendish Guide to Punctuation V1.3
This guide is intended to provide a basic but complete, or at least I hope to make it complete over time, guide to punctuation in the English language. It will be primarily targeted at authors who write fictional stories using the standard story style. It will include subsections pointing out the differences in US, UK and Canadian standards; almost everybody uses one of the three.
I will keep adding items to this guide as I think of them, or I am asked about them.
SECTION 01
This Section covers: (Commas, Semi-colons; Question Marks or Interrogation Points? Exclamation Points! Apostrophesâ and Periods.) The core of the written language.
First is the trusty, ever-useful Period. In the UK and US it is most commonly referred to as a full stop. Periods are used to end sentences and indicate long pauses in speech. Periods are only used singularly, with one exception; When you need to indicate a long pause, it is acceptable to use three periods in a row, this is also know as marks of omission. However, this is only ever acceptable during speech, and not during narration or story telling. A single period represents a three beat stop. Three in a row indicate a stop of six to sixty beats. Anything longer should really be mentioned using an aside or a descriptive. You should never use a period after any other punctuation except a parenthesis or quotes, and those are special situations Iâll cover in a later section.
Here are a few examples:
This sentence is simple.
When you speak and need to take a long pause⌠this is what you use.
âWhat is happeningâŚâ is an example of a broken idea.
âHe was⌠green with envy! Yeah thatâs right.
Next come the Question Mark (It sometimes referred to as an Interrogation Point) and the Exclamation Point. Both follow the same basic rules, and are the only termination punctuation you can double. A question mark ends a question like the name implies, and an exclamation point ends an exclamation or, in other words a sentence that happened in surprise, or with great emotion.
Now, since we have all seen a question asked in exclamation, how do you punctuate that? Well you have two choices. First, just use a question mark, or second, use both a question mark and an exclamation point. Yes, you can use both. Now comes the question of intent, because you can both use â!?â and â?!â So whatâs the difference? The Exclamation first is used for lesser surprise in the US and UK, while the second reflects greater surprise, however in Canada it tends to be reversed, especially in bilingual communities. However I must point out that even though these are both correct, most books recommend avoiding them because they look bizarre on paper. I donât use them often, but I have used them myself.
Here are a few examples:
What is happening here?
Huh!
What the hell happened to you!?
Who the fuck are you?!
The apostrophe is both the easiest and the most difficult; I know - how can this be true? Well, the rule is easy; you use an apostrophe to replace letters removed from a word or series of words (called a contraction) and to indicate possession.
Examples of contractions are:
Can not becomes can't
Did not becomes didn't
Could have becomes could've
Examples of possession are:
Jack's coat. (Which means the coat belongs to Jack)
Canada's coastline. (Which means the coastline belongs to Canada)
As you can see, nouns always take an 's to show possession. However, pronouns never do. A pronoun (he, she, it, for example) followed by 's is NOT possessive, it is a contraction.
Examples of contracted pronouns are:
He's means He is or He has.
She's means She is or She has.
It's means It is or It has. (Note, this is the one most commonly written incorrectly)
When you want to show possession with a pronoun, you replace it with another word called, surprisingly enough, a possessive pronoun. (His, Hers, Its)
Examples of pronouns are:
His meaning belongs to Him.
Hers meaning belongs to Her.
Its meaning belongs to it. (Again, note this one because it is often written incorrectly as "it's")
I will write a more in-depth Guide about pronouns soon. It will cover them in much greater depth.
So, an apostrophe always goes between letters to show either a contraction or possession when owned by a singular possessor. However, sometimes you need to show possession by more than one possessor. How do you do that? Well, you put the apostrophe on the other side of the s. It should be notes that you may also use a âs after the s, but it is not as elegant.. The previous rule also applies to any noun ending in an s.
For example:
The girls' dresses. (meaning the dresses belongs to the girls)
The boys' school. (meaning the school to which these boys go, rather than a school just for boys)
The Jones' garden (meaning the garden belongs to Mr and Mrs Jones)
George Harrisâ house (meaning the house belongs to George Harris)
The anusâ muscular rings (meaning the rings that belong to the anus)
The last part of basic punctuation is mid sentence pauses, lists and inserts, for which we all use commas, but often we use them improperly and should actually be using a semi-colon. So how do you tell which is the correct one? I mean after all, they have similar purposes, so how do you pick the right one? Well, itâs actually simple; however, when not to use them is a little harder to detect. A semi-colon has only one intrinsic use, so letâs start there; a semi-colon is used to splice two complete sentences, which are related, together. I will write another guide on grammar, and you may want to use it to analyse any concept I use here. However, the definition of a sentence is very simple: (A sentence is a word or group of words that conveys a complete idea.) It is also acceptable to use a semi-colon when forming a list; however it is not as common a thing to see as a comma.
Here are a few examples:
It was the last thing he wanted to eat; he'd tried it once and hated it.
No one was hurt in the incident; the only real damage was to a few panes of glass.
The computer had a very fast processor; it was a top of the range model.
So now that we understand when to use a semi-colon, letâs see when a comma is appropriate. The function of a comma is to indicate a pause for the reader to take a breath, but must also be used correctly. The first use for a comma is to separate a dependant clause from a complete sentence, this can be done either by placing it at the beginning or end of the sentence.
A comma is also used to insert a complete sentence, or a clause, within a sentence. You can also use a semi-colon for this, but the effect is different. It is also used to separate two clauses joined by a conjunction. However, you have to pay attention to where you place it, and, what it will do to your sentenceâs structure. It has an enormous affect on how the sentence is read and, what you are saying. When you vary the placement of the comma you change how the sentence is read, and perceived.
Placed before the conjunction, it separates the first part from the rest, creating a greater emphasis on the end of the sentence. Placed after, it creates the opposite affect, subjugating the end of the sentence. However, if you use it both before and after, you are purposely breaking the flow of the sentence; generally this is used to highlight the affect of the importance of both parts independently.
Here are a few examples:
When you see a nice girl, and want to get her attention, try to find a reason to speak to her.