You think you know punctuation?

22 Feb, 2019 - 00:02 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Morris Mtisi Education Correspondent
YOU reckon you use punctuation knowledgeably and appropriately? May be you do. If you do, please ignore this instalment on your Education Page. But I know many will be surprised to learn something new and fascinating about what they do not know about punctuation.

Many of us only know about the capital letter, the full stop, the comma, question mark. When it comes to the use of colons and semi-colons, exclamation marks, quotation marks (inverted commas), parenthesis (brackets), the hyphen, the dash, bullets, ellipsis and in typewriting, italics, the numbers get smaller and smaller.

Good teachers of Languages teach all types of punctuation. If you read newspapers and magazines carefully today, you will agree with me that correct punctuation of sentences is not reporters’ or journalists’ most outstanding literary skill, let alone correct paragraphing.

One sometimes fails to understand whether it is schools that do not thoroughly teach correct punctuation and paragraphing or it is the media training school that creates its own license to adulterate acknowledged rules of writing texts or stories. A good example of what is openly breached are the rules of the topic sentence first whether visible and obvious (explicit) or implied (implicit) followed by several developers and finally a terminator, when paragraphing. Newspaper paragraphs are literally decorative, designed more with space in mind than conformity to rules and regulations of proper textual organisation.

Punctuation marks make literary work (written work) easier to read and more importantly easier to understand. Without punctuation, writing would not make sense; it would be like a vehicle driver driving along a road without road signs. Imagine how many accidents would happen!

We are all often too lazy or ignorant to use punctuation correctly and effectively. It is important for every writer, at work, privately or at school to observe all punctuation marks accordingly in order to ease reading and comprehension. Effective use of punctuation is a crucial element of literacy and communicative intelligence.

Every small detail about punctuation is important. Let us begin with CAPITAL LETTERS:

Sentences always start with capital letters.

We bought chocolate during break.

We visited Victoria Falls.

We participated in the regional High Schools debate. Notice that Proper Nouns and Proper Adjectives need capital letters.

The main words in titles of books, films or plays are written in capital letters. Examples: She no Longer Weeps / Dancing in the Dust / Lord of the Flies.

The first word in direct speech is capitalised: The driver asked, “Is anyone hurt? / Pirai answered, “My leg is badly bruised.”

FULL STOPS (.)

A full stop indicates the end of a sentence. E.g. Do not forget to read The Manica Post. Full stops are found after certain abbreviations. Prof. Abbr. e.g. P.O. Capt. Div. Gen. Col. Hon. Apr.  Jan. Feb. a.m. p.m. ref.

If the abbreviation ends in the last letter of the word, then the full stop is omitted. Dr Mr Mrs ANC ICU COD SPCA USA UN CID CIA CIO DVD CNN. You will have also noted that in modern usage if the initial letters of words are used, the full stop is omitted.

Please carefully note that if initials of a group of words are used to form a word, we call this an acronym. The word is pronounced as it is spelt. No full stops are used here. AIDS NASA UNICEF NASH NAPH ZIMRA NAMA EMA

COMMAS (,)

We use commas to separate words or phrases in a list. E.g. They ate sadza, rice, potatoes and roasted meat at the party. You will note that there is no comma before ‘‘and’’ or ‘‘or’’. Commas indicate where one phrase or clause ends and another begins. E.g. Lionel Messi dribbled his way through, to the delight of the spectators. Additional information that could have been inserted in brackets or between dashes may be separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma or commas.

Malvern Mukogo obtained an excellent examination result, a whopping seventeen distinctions!

Mr Chimbetu, the school head, addressed the learners and their parents.

We place commas before and after words such as ‘‘however’’ and ‘‘nevertheless.’’ E.g. Abigail was, however, late for the interview and this caused her to lose the job.

Introductory words or phrases are separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma. E.g. Once again, the speaker was ignored by the magistrate.

Avoid using a comma between two main clauses. This is referred to as the comma splice error.

Rather use a full stop, semi-colon or a conjunction. E.g. An interview was conducted, the corporation needed the best candidate for the job. (Incorrect) An interview was conducted. The corporation needed the best candidate for the job. (Correct)

SEMI-COLONS (;)

The semi-colon is a long pause that balances two equally important, related or parallel ideas. E.g.

Phillip went by bus; he would rather have cycled.

She went to the party; she would rather have gone to church.

The semi-colon also indicates opposite ideas (antithesis). E.g.

At home he behaves; at school he is mad.

In winter he feels the pain; in summer he is fine.

The semi-colon also joins two main clauses where there is no conjunction. E.g.

She went straight into the headmaster’s office; she had nothing to fear.

We packed our bags and left; there was nothing more to discuss.

A semi-colon may often be replaced by a full stop or by a conjunction and, but, so, for and although. E.g. Malvern Mukogo worked hard towards examinations so he had nothing to fear. Next week I will bring you facts about colons, question marks, exclamation marks, quotation marks and parenthesis (brackets). Meanwhile, enjoy your education column. Life is about continuous learning. Learning does not end.

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