Punctuation marks

A few days ago, I read a very interesting article about punctuation marks. It was written by an English professor and writing consultant, Janis Bell. Below, you can find bits and pieces of the article which I have found the most illustrative:

Dashes

First of all, a dash is not a hyphen. It is twice as long (you need to hit the hyphen key twice to create one dash) and it performs very different functions.

Dashes do three jobs, each of which can be accomplished by another punctuation mark. Why, then, use dashes? Because they carry two messages—one related to the job they are doing and the other related to emphasis, clarity, or formality. Here are the roles of dashes:

1. They surround an interruption

My daughter—Rebecca—has an imaginary playmate. – more emphasis

My neighbor’s children—Sima, Sarah, and Sam—interact with the real kids on our block. – more clarity

2. They lead to an afterthought

Rebecca speaks to her friend in a private language—one that I don’t understand.

Her friend replies with abundant good humor—at least, that’s the way it appears.

3. They introduce a specific explanation.

Rebecca has a name for her playmate—Stefan Stefanopolis.

Stefan has one great quality—he makes Rebecca laugh.

Hyphens

Hyphens connect multiple adjectives that appear to the left of a noun. What is a multiple adjective? Two or more descriptive words that need each other to create the meaning you want—for example, blue-eyed boy: he is not a blue boy or an eyed boy; blue and eyed must be linked, to make proper sense.

Furthermore, blue-eyed is hyphenated because it appears to the left of boy. If it appeared to the right, it would not be hyphenated—for example, the boy is blue eyed.

nine-hole golf course

300-page book

no-nonsense approach

life-affirming goals

labor-intensive work

Note: Don’t hyphenate when the first descriptive word is an adverb ending in ly—for example, poorly written script or highly regarded institution.

Parentheses

Parentheses are for surrounding background information, aside comments, material of secondary importance. They de-emphasize the text they contain; they prompt the reader to lower her voice until she exits the parenthetical remark.

Parentheses can occur within a sentence, referring to a given word or phrase; at the end of a clause, referring to the entire statement; or around an upcoming new sentence. (In other words, they can surround an interruption, an afterthought, or a sentence, like the one you’re reading now.)

Apparently, Stefan Stefanopolis (my daughter’s imaginary playmate) is quite amusing.

He keeps Rebecca laughing throughout the day (and sometimes into the night).

I’m a little worried that Rebecca doesn’t know what’s real and what’s not. (This morning she asked me why I hadn’t served Stefan any pancakes.)

Note: The second and third examples show that a period can go either outside or inside the closing parenthesis, depending on what just ended—a sentence containing a parenthetical remark or a separate sentence within parentheses.

Double Quotation Marks

Double quotation marks do four jobs:

1. they surround words spoken or written by someone else

Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death.”

When he mentioned “liberty,” was he, by any chance, married?

2. they surround words used as terms (this purpose can also be served by italics)

What do you suppose “liberty” meant to Mr. Henry? (meaning “the term liberty”)

3. they surround words used sarcastically

People in many countries enjoy the “liberty” of voting for the only candidate on the ballot.

4. they surround titles of chapters or articles (in contrast, titles of books and periodicals are underlined or italicized).

Did you read “Bush on Fire” in Time Magazine?

No, but I read “My Dungeon Shook” in The Fire Next Time.

Single Quotation Marks

A single quotation mark (the same symbol used to create an apostrophe) serves only one purpose: to surround a quotation that occurs inside another quotation. Since double quotation marks encompass the overall quote, you need another way to distinguish the quote within.

The instructor said, “Whenever I explain punctuation, someone asks, ‘What’s the purpose of single quotes?’”

Note: The example ends with both a single and a double quote because both quotations finish at the same time. 

If you want to read more about: apostrophes, ellipses, brackets, slashes, question marks and exclamation points, go to the original text here, or if you want to improve your general writing skills you can visit this website: http://www.janisbell.com/

Stay tuned:)


source: google images, https://medium.com/book-excerpts/a5e0d4a5e990