Continuing with my aim to helping you write clearly, concisely, effectively and pertinently, today we will see exactly about what are punctuations and their importance. In a later session, I will also give you a detailed definition of each of those punctuations and where they are expected to be used.

The Main Punctuation Marks

Purpose Of Punctuation In Writing

=> To give written words the intended meaning and expression of the spoken words.

Converting spoken words into a written form is a critical process. If you fail to convey the exact intended meaning of what Mr X said, you are essentially conveying the message in a different form which may entail consequences. Let’s take an example.
Consider the following 3 phrases:
1) Jonas beats James in the running competition.
2) Jonas beats James to run in the competition.
3) James beats Jonas while running.

Do these three sentences have the same meaning? Of course not!

Spoken Words Can Be Conveyed Appropriately In Written Words

Just as the meaning of spoken words are varied by pauses or by changing the tone of the voice (voice inflexion), the meaning of written words may also be varied by the use of punctuation.
Therefore, a sound knowledge of the principles of punctuation is essential to convey clear expression.

Definition Of Punctuation Marks

In speaking, it is customary to make pauses or change the inflexion of the voice where the sense requires it. In writing, to indicate the reader the effect or feeling of those pauses and inflexion, we make use of certain signs or marks. Those signs or marks are named as ‘punctuation marks‘.

Important Points To Be Noted With Punctuation

1) In the same way as a change in the order of words in a sentence may bring about a change in the meaning, an alteration in the punctuation may involve an alteration in the meaning too.

Example:
A1) “Your hand, Samantha, ”
B2) “Your hand, Samantha?”

These two phrases have different meaning which are indicated by the punctuation marks.
In spoken language, phrase A1 would indicate a statement while phrase B2 is an enquiry. Now in written language, if you don’t convey meaning correctly by using the appropriate punctuations and at the right positions in the sentence, you will undoubtedly convey a different idea.

2) Good punctuation shows that a student or a writer has a good knowledge of grammatical structure. And to understand the latter, you should obviously grasp what is a simple sentence, a complex sentence and the meaning of each punctuation marks and where to use them. Hopefully, I will discuss all these in future sessions as we go gradually and grow our “Good Writing Skills By Learning The Basics Of The English Language”

Updated:
=> The next Session is here: ‘General Principles Of Punctuation - What Are Punctuations And How To Use Them‘

Previously in the English Language Basics series, I explained about:

• The Eight Classes Grouping All Words In The English Language
• How To Classify Words Into Parts Of Speech
• Anatomy Of A Simple Sentence In English Language

A Quick Recap

1) Parts of speech are classes or groups into which words are divided or classified according to their use in speech of writing. There are eight classes or parts of speech: noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, proposition, conjunction, interjection.

2) We have also seen that a word can be used as various parts of speech, that is, it is polymorphic.
Example:

• This is a light room
• Sarah will light the gas
• The light is dim right now

As you can observe, the word ‘light‘ is being used under the same form, but conveying different meaning in each sentence. With simple sentences, such as above, it might be easy to guess their form, but what about when sentences get complex? This is why I have brought forward the ‘Test For Parts Of Speech‘.

How To Find Out The Parts Of Speech Of Words?

The following questions should be asked:
1) Find out which words in the sentence is saying something about an object?
=> Those words are verbs

2) Which words are names?
=> These are nouns

3) Which words stand in the place of nouns?
=> These are pronouns

4) Which words describe or qualify a noun or pronoun?
=> These are adjectives

5) Which words modify other groups of words (aka parts of speech)?
=> These are adverbs

6) Which parts of speech show the relation of an object to something else?
=> These are prepositions

7) Which are merely exclamatory?
=> These are interjections

The Test At Work - The Example

Consider the sentence:
‘The CEO of the firm immediately asked problogger whether he would accept this small gift’.

The analysis:

1) Words like ‘asked‘, ‘would accept‘, make statements; they show an action - hence these are verbs.

2) ‘CEO‘, ‘firm‘, ‘problogger‘, ‘gift‘ are names. They are thus nouns.

3) ‘he‘ stands for ‘problogger‘, so it is a pronoun.

4) ‘the‘, ‘motivated‘, ‘this‘, ‘small‘ describe ‘CEO‘, ‘problogger‘, ‘gift‘ respectively - they are adjectives.

5) ‘immediately‘ tells us something about the ‘asking‘, it tells us when that action took place - It’s an adverb.

6) ‘whether‘ joins the two sentences: ‘The CEO.. problogger‘ and ‘he… gift.‘
Therefore, it is a conjunction.

7) The word ‘of‘ connects the nouns ‘firm‘ and ‘CEO‘, it is obviously a preposition.

Daily Short Exercise For You - The Reader!

=> Break the sentence of the example above into: subjects, predicates, verbs and objects..etc.
Hint: Read Anatomy Of A Simple Sentence

Previous Edition:
=> Explaining Meaning Of 5 Words And Writing Sentences - Enrich Your English Language Vocabulary - Edition 01

1) Disseminate ==> spread widely

In our present era, it is seemingly difficult to disseminate a culture of non-violence.

2) Eradicate ==> destroy completely

Forests are being eradicated at an alarming rate for industrialisation and development purposes.

3) testimony ==> demonstration

The global warming is a conspicuous testimony of the impact of industrialisation.

4) Misconceptions ==> wrong ideas

In Mauritius, many misconception have emerged due to the advent of the Cyber-City.

5) Accumulate ==> form an increasing quantity

Doing regular physical exercises, is surely one of the best ways to stop fats accumulating in the human body.

Read More Related Vocabularies:
=> Good Writing Skills –> Enrich English Language

Daily Short Exercise For You - The Reader!

1) Use the above words to make your own sentences, can you?
2) Explain the meaning of the following words, as I have used them in the above examples, and make sentences with them:
- alarming
- seemingly
- conspicuous
- advent

Use the comment form below to show your answers..

Just now I was reading my email and I have someone asking me how to write a good english article. She is Nadia from France (Salut Nadia, Je suis très heureux de vous aider). And this is the third email I’m receiving this month concerning that topic. This time instead of replying to the email, I decided to make a post about it.

Making An Analogy

Before I give some steps, I want to make an analogy to help you better understand the idea first.
Let’s say that Sadiya from Mauritius is going to stay forever abroad since her mum says she needs to wed a foreigner. What should be her responses? One of the first reactions, as a future wife, would be how would she dress up. Then she is worried about what she should be cooking, how she should talk..etc, etc. (Urm, I’m a male so obviously I might not get those female points right, but this is for the sake of Nadia)

Conclusions:
1) Before actually getting worried, she should decide where, in which country, she would be going - Decide about the ‘type‘ or ‘nature‘ of the place
2) Once selected, go and observe the lifestyle - ‘Observe the present styles‘

Ok, I just wanted to stress on 2 main points: ‘type‘ and ‘present styles‘

Steps To Write Good English Articles

1) Before actually writing good articles, you should first understand what type of article you are planning to write; is it a journalism article, a professional article, a review article or an article for a blog?
Because each of these types of articles have their own required writing styles, just as different countries have different lifestyles. That is, you cannot write blog articles the same way as you would write an article for a journal and vice versa..etc.

2) Once you know what kind of article you will be writing, search for related articles (google is your friend) and see how they are being written. Try to come up with a general style and try adapting your own. Make sure you respect any requirements/guidelines, if there are any.

3) Now, you need to confirm on what ‘title’ or ‘topic’ you will write

4) Brainstorm your own ideas + research on the net or any other sources

5) Finalise all main points on paper

6) Sit down and write your article in good english.

Here there’s another step of great concern. Do you actually know how to write good english? Do you possess good writing skills? It’s up to you to judge yourself. If you are confident enough, it’s great since you just need to sit down and write.

In case you are not really fluent in writing good english. You need to read some good english articles/tutorials and practice a bit. Then after your level of condidence rises, go back to writing your english article.

I have a series of articles which you can serve as referrence to write good english and writing in general:

• How To Write Good English
• Effective Writing Is A Key Ingredient To Success
• Method For Presentation Of Topics
• Writing the GP Essay - Write to convince!
• Writing A Pillar Article - Know What Is A Pillar Article And What It Takes!
• Good Writing Skills - The English Language basics

One Important thing: => You absolutely need to keep a good english dictionary handy and/or a translation dictionary.

7) Make sure you respect the number of words generally desirable for writing the article, proofread your work several times + make sure what you have written is indeed convincing and on track.

Voila! It appears simple, but the work and effort behind writing good articles, is enormous to be honest. Since writing good is not a simple task; it needs patience, passion, practice, practice and practice.

What are your approach to write a good english article? Do you share the same point of view as mine? Use the comment form below to add your part, I’ll be eager to hear from you..

What Constitute A Simple Sentence?

A simple sentence can be described or defined as:
1) a group of words which expresses a complete idea or thought
2) one that contains only one finite verb (we will talk about finite verbs in later sessions)
3) one that convey any of the following expressions:

• Making an assertion or a statement
• Asking a question
• Giving a command or making a request
• Making an exclamation

Any group of words which has those 3 characteristics can be considered as a simple sentence. (Do not confuse with a complex sentence, which will be discussed in a later session)

Examples:
a) Mr Daniel teaches french class. - {Statement}
b) Do you understand me? - {Question}
c) Shut that door. - {Command}
d) Please subscribe to my blog. - {request}
e) Keep quiet you fool! - {Exclamation}

Further Glance At A Simple Sentence

A sentence comprises of 2 parts:
1) A subject - what we are speaking about
2) A predicate - what we say about the subject

Consider the following sentences:
- Wakish loves blogging.
- Blogging is a platform.
- Darren makes his own video.
- The video pleases most bloggers.

Now, separating the above sentences into subjects and predicates

Subjects & Predicates

As you can see:
=> In part S, there is a person or things that we are talking about - This is the Subject
=> In part P, we convey the idea of ‘what we say about that person or thing‘ - These group of words form the Predicate

Order Of Subject And Predicate In A Sentence

1) In statements - The subject generally precedes the predicate, but however this order may also be reversed under certain context, like in poetry for instance
2) In commands - The subject is grenerally omitted
3) In questions - The subject usually comes after the predicate or part of the predicate
4) In exclamations - The subject is occasionally placed after the predicate (e.g: So beautiful is this girl!)

The Complete Anatomy Of A Simple Sentence

In the above sentence, we see that the verb (’makes’) expresses an action that is passed over from the subject (’Darren’) to something else (’the videos’). The receiver of that action is called the object.

So, we can now further break down a simple sentence as:

Subject + Verb + Object

Simple Sentence == Subject + Verb + Object