You know the world of English is a fun and exciting place to be. We're so glad you could… I'm so glad you could join us… Yes alright! You know… You know the… Shall I spin round in the chair? You know the world of English is a fun and exciting place to be. I'm so glad you could join us for another lesson.
Hi everybody, this is Misterduncan in England. How are you today? Are you OK? I hope so! Are you happy? I hope so! In today's lesson we will look at the most important part of written English grammar, which is for many a very confusing place to be. The world of punctuation!
One of the most common complaints about learning English is the constant use of grammatical clauses in almost every sentence that we say. There is no better place for demonstrating this occurrence, than in the written word or sentence. There are hundreds of different clauses, which must be observed, although, as we well discover, some of them are used far less that they were in the past. So let's look at the basics of written grammar and punctuation. First of all, why do we need it?
There is a big problem when it comes to reading text that has been written down by someone and that is the fact that we cannot hear what the person is saying. During the process of typing or writing something, we normally have an inner voice, inside our head, talking as we do it. This is our way of transferring the thought into text. However, when another person reads that text, those words do not easily transfer back to the original voice. Grammar and punctuation help to give structure and meaning to the sentences that have been written down on the paper.
Grammar and punctuation exist in all languages, but the rules can be very different from one to the other. It is always better to simplify the rules of English, when beginning the teaching and learning process. This is a common mistake that many teachers of English as a second language make. Making the language complicated can scare students away from learning. Building the levels carefully and not rushing the students into taking on too much information will benefit everyone over time.
So today we are looking at punctuation. The most obvious part of this must be the punctuation marks. They are the symbols which are used in all written English. There are many different punctuation marks and some of them cause a great deal of confusion, even for those of us who speak English as our first language. So let's go through them; one by one.
So, our first punctuation mark… is the apostrophe. The main purpose of the apostrophe is to show a possessive clause. This means that you are saying that one thing is owned by or belongs to a particular person, or is directly connected with something else. For example.
Paul's new bike was stolen. The apostrophe tells us that the bike belongs to Paul.
Today's weather is very bad. In this sentence, the apostrophe connects the day to the weather.
The biggest confusion with this particular punctuation mark comes when we use 'it' in a sentence. For example… It's a long way to my home. In this sentence the apostrophe is used to show a contraction or a shortened form of a sentence. Instead of… 'it is' we say… 'it's'. This also applies to…
However when we use 'it' in the possessive way, the apostrophe is not used. The bird uses its feathers for flying.
When using a group noun, the apostrophe is used. For example… The girls' dresses were all red.
The children's playground was closed. As you can see the apostrophe is sometimes placed at the very end of the word. This is only done when the last letter of the word ends with an 's'.
It would be fair to say that the apostrophe is the most confusing of all the punctuation marks.
The closed parenthesis brackets are used to show extra or additional information which has been placed in a sentence, such as an alternative word or an explanation. A word can be placed within a sentence to add extra caution or doubt. It was a calm and dry (but cloudy) day. I went to China in (March) 2003. I always keep my promises (not).
Hello Mr Colon. The colon appears mostly in formal print, where it is used as a way of shortening a sentence, normally replacing a conjunction such as… so. The train was ready to depart: we waved goodbye.
Or it is used as an alternative to… for example. The rain often falls in the cold season: around November and December.
I see you, there you are. The comma is used often in most forms of writing and is probably the second most commonly used form of punctuation mark. The comma serves as a breath of air or a short pause in a sentence. For example… He is on time, as the usually is on a Monday, which is just the way I like it.
It is also used when listing more than two items together within a sentence. For example… I need to take a coat, hat, scarf, gloves, and some warm socks with me on my journey.
The dash is used as a way of introducing extra information into a sentence and adding continuity. It can be used in a singular form or double. A single dash leads to an explanation, normally after a short breath of air. He collected his books at he right time - although he had to rush there. While the double dash acts in a similar way to brackets. He was able to climb all the way up the mountain after a short rest — half an hour — to the amazement of the crowd below.
The exclamation mark is used at the end of a sentence to show emotional stress. It shows that a sentence is being said loudly or in an angry way, or with regret or excitement and joy! Hey come back here! Look out! Don't lie to me! Oh I wish I hadn't come there! Wow you remembered my birthday! You are amazing!
The full stop or period is used as a way of showing that a sentence has ended. This is the most commonly used form of punctuation. Don't forget that a full stop is not needed at the end of a sentence that has an exclamation or question mark.
A hyphen is used as a way of joining up two or more words. It binds them together, almost as one complete word. There are some rules, when it comes to using hyphens. A spelling hyphen is used to join two or more seperate words together. For example… free-for-all, multi-ethnic, right-handed. Words that have a grammatical connection: dive-bomb, punch-drunk, post-office.
These days hyphens are used less commonly in compound nouns, such as… credit card, focus group and garden party. And some have become one complete word, such as… database, earring, breaststroke and backup.
The hyphen is also used to show a double surname or designation or former position… Peter Stanley-Jones is in anti-smoker. Sarah Mills-Bond is my ex-wife.
When a compound verb becomes a noun, we also use the hyphen. Hold-up. Knock-back. Set-up. Fall-back.
It's also used to show the description of group words, such as… Hard-covered books. French-speaking children. Purpose-built offices.
Hyphens must be added at the end of adverbs that do not end in 'ly', such as… A well-known person.
Common prefixes have hyphens in them, such as… all-inclusive, self-centred, T-shirt, pre-industrial, president-elect, mid-1980's, post-modern.
The problem with hyphens is that they can be described differently between one dictionary and another. The biggest confusion comes from the use of hyphens in compound words.
A question mark is used to show an interrogative sentence. A sentence where a question is asked and an answer is generally expected. Can I see you tomorrow? Did you bring my book? Where are you going?
We also use the question mark in tag questions at the end of a sentence. We did well, didn't we? They paid you one hundred Pounds, for real? This new hat suits me, yes? No we don't like it! That's not very nice.
Quotation marks. Quotation marks are used where real speech is being written. If you are writing down the exact words of someone or a sentence that they said, you will need quotation marks. There are two types of quotation mark. Single and Double. The double ones are mainly use in American English, while the single ones are mainly used in (Standard) British English. A direct speech quote looks like this…
Misterduncan looked across the classroom and said, 'Good morning everyone.' The students then replied, 'Good morning sir,' all at the same time. You will notice that in the students reply, the comma appears within the quotation marks. This shows that the quote has ended and the describing text has come back in.
If you are writing a well-known quote or phrase within a sentence, then you should also use quotation marks. I should always follow the rule, 'Once bitten twice shy', just as my friends have told me. Here you can see that the end comma is placed outside the quotation marks.
The semicolon is an often overlooked punctuation mark. It is not as strong as a full stop and not as brief as a comma. The semicolon helps to give a sense of flow between two sentences which relate to each other. The walk tired my body; my legs ached all over. This was all he could say; just two words. So I began climbing to the summit; uphill all the way.
So as you can see, the world of punctuation does not have to be so confusing. The rules surrounding it are quite simple, so try to relax when writing and keep a list of all the punctuation marks in your text book, so if you get stuck, then you can have a quick look, which will help you to remember the rules and eventually you will not need to keep looking at the list as it will be all up here, in your head.
That is all from me for today. Good luck with your English studies and I will see you all again very soon. Thank you for watching me, teaching you. This is Misterduncan in England saying… Ta-ta for now.