Punctuation — The pauses in written communication

Let’s go and eat mom.

She is a great housewife who enjoys cooking her two little kids and the dog.

Were you shocked after reading this? I too was. How can one eat one’s mom?.. . or how can somebody enjoy cooking her kids? or dog for that matter?.

OK, Let’s go through another version of these two sentences: 

      

Let’s go and eat, mom.

She is a great housewife who enjoys cooking, her two little kids, and the dog.

Feeling relieved now. Putting one or two commas has made a great difference. So let’s get acquainted with what these marks are and how and when they are used in a statement.

In a written communication, punctuations play a very important role in conveying the meaning.  They represent pauses in the statement, making the statement easily understandable. If not placed at appropriate places, the punctuations can change the meaning of the statement to the extent that the information conveyed can turn out to be ridiculous/funny or just opposite of what was intended to be conveyed. There is no space between a punctuation mark and the letter/character it follows.

The basic punctuation marks are Period (.), Semicolon (;), Colon (:), Comma (,), Question Mark (?), Exclamation Mark (!).

The other punctuation marks are Inverted Commas (‘ ’), Quotation Marks (" "), Dashes (-), Parentheses ([{ }]), Elllipses (…).

Brief description of the basic puntuation marks is given next.

The Period[.]

The period is placed at the end of a sentence. It ends the sentence and thus is the biggest of the pauses in a write up.

Examples

• He was a man of integrity. 
• The book kept on the table is written for the advanced users of AutoCAD. 
• The novel War and Peace was written by Leo Tolstoy.

The Semicolon [;]

A semicolon is used when-

- the sentence comprises the closely related independent clauses.

- the independent clauses in the sentence have multiple commas.

Examples

• He was asked to submit his documents; he had no documents.
• I like Mathematics; he, Physics.
• There are two fruits, mango and banana; three mobile phones, Jon’s, Mary’s and Eddie’s; and two books, Applied Mathematics and Modern Physics.

The Colon [:]

A colon is used when the statement or description following it illustrates the statement that it follows. It is also used to connect independent clauses, like a semicolon, that are very closely related.

Examples

• There are three tenses in English grammar: present tense, past tense, and future tense.
• Another heinous incident involving a woman took place in the city: Has the time come to frame stringent law to stop it.
• Mahatma Gandhi: The lean man who dared to fight mighty Britishers with his non-violence.

The Comma [,]

Comma is the smallest pause that is used to separate items in a series.

Examples                                                                                           

• He likes reading novels, writing blogs, and watching action movies.
• This tool can be used to save, export, merge, and delete a file.
• The meeting was attended by the prime minister, home minister, and external affairs minister.

Question Mark [?]

A question mark is put at the end of an interrogative sentence.

Examples

• Do you have a computer? 
• Is it the institute where Revit, AutoCAD, STAAD Pro , SolidWorks are taught?
• Can a robot ever be able to express feelings like a human?

Exclamation Mark [!]

This mark is used to show surprise, shock, sudden expression, emotion or wish.

Examples

• Oh, what a scene!
• Voila! I have found it.
• Great! The job you have accomplished will be remembered for years.