Textual and Functional Orientation of Punctuation Marks in English

Sade Olagunju PhD English Unit, Department of General Studies Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, P.M.B. 4000, Ogbomoso Nigeria Introduction Punctuation marks serve some important grammatical purposes in English. Punctuation, according to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary “is the marks used in writing that divide sentences and phrases; the system of using these marks”. Punctuation marks in English include the full stop or period, colon, comma, hyphen, semi-colon, ellipsis, caret, quotation mark, obelisk, dashes, exclamation mark, question mark, asterisk, parenthesis and apostrophe. Punctuation skill is very important for both learners and users of English because it calls for effective understanding and interpretation of texts. That is, punctuation skill is required for the understanding and composition of written and spoken discourse. We shall be explaining the punctuation marks and their functions in the section below. The Full Stop or Period (.) It indicates the end of a complete sentence which is not a question or an exclamation. The full stop comes at the end of declarative statement, request, entreaties and some commands. It is also used after abbreviations. (1) I was born in 2007. (Declarative Statement) (2) Do not steal your neighbour’s goat. (Command) (3) I implore you not to quarrel will him. (Entreaty) (4) Please help her. (Request) The full stop is used for abbreviations of initials, titles, degrees and awards and some classical expressions. Initials E.A. Ojongbola A.B. Adegbite C.T. Olusola C.S. Olagunju F.L. Olalekan N.V. Fatokun M.O. Olateju A.A. Adeleke www.ijellh.com 38

J.J. Adeniji A,B. Afolabi M.B. Akindun A.O. Abegunrin Titles Prof. Dr. Rev. Mrs. Mr. Hon. Lt. Col. Esq. Gen. Degrees and Awards B.Tech. M.Tech. B.A. M.A. M.Sc B.Sc. Ph.D. M.ed. B.ed. M.B.B.S Classical Expressions Below are the examples of classical expressions i.e /d es/- i.b. Ibidem e.g. exempli-gratio et al. et alibi/alii opcit. Opera citato etc. et citera D.V. Deo volente N.B. nota bene Viz. videlicet q.v. quod vide non.seg. non sequitur The Comma ( , ) The comma has a much more technical use, general, it is used to separate words, phrases, or clauses, or clauses within a sentence. Let’s examine how this punctuation mark is used to. Separate words or word groups in a series.  The legendary musician played the piano, the drums and the guitar.  Walk down the street, pass the Y’ello billboard, and ask for the City Hall Salon.  Be sure to wash the car, clean the dishes, sweep the rooms, and read your books before I come back.  He has an aged mother, wives and half a dozen children to feed. In the use of comma: when the last two items in a series one joined by a coordinating conjunction (and, or, but), a comma precedes the conjunction, when all the items in a series are joined by a conjunction, do not use commas. www.ijellh.com 39

E.g.  She took a warm bath, dressed up, had a light meal, and sat down to watch story.  The family has lived in Ibadan and Lagos and in Ikot Ekpene. Using comma to separate series of adjective that precede a noun.  He once stayed in the old, dilapidated, rented apartment downtown.  It’s no use encouraging that unserious, spirit, little brat to study. Note: Do not use a comma between the last adjective and the noun that follows it.  … that unserious, spoilt, little brat Do not use comma between adjectives unless the word and make sense in its place.  The company has launched a new improved product (No commas)  He parked a brand new automatic car outside his apartment. (No commas)  Use a comma to separate independent clauses that are joined by coordination conjunction and, but, or, nor, for, so, or yet.  Regina loves to sing but she doesn’t know how to dance.  Mikel has played for Lyon, so he wanted Chelsea for a change.  She wants to read, and her friends are coming to visit her. Be sure the sentence has two independent clauses. And when placing commas, watch for compound subjects and predicates. - Use a comma to separate introductory adverb in clauses, introductory participial phrases, and long introductory prepositional phrases from the rest of the sentence. When the teachers went on strike, children filled the motor parks selling packaged water . (Adverbial clause followed by comma) Fighting s furiously, the boxer retained his title. (introductory participial phrase followed by a comma) During the first half of the game, Eagles had known their fat. (Long introductory prepositional phrase followed by a comma) - Use a comma to separate some sort introductory elements from the rest of the sentence. Mild interjections and words such as yes, no, well, why, still, and now need a comma after the especially when they introduce a sentence or an independent clause.  No, stop tickling me. www.ijellh.com 40

 Well, I guess I owe him apologies for my unruly behaviour  Yes, I know you love to sing. Note: When these words are used as adverbs, they should not be followed by commas. The Hyphen ( - ) The hyphen is used for many phrases in English, it is used to separate a prefix ending a vowel from a word beginning with the same vowel e.g. Pre-eminent co-operate co-ordinate co-opt The hyphen is also used to form a compound from two or more other words: Hard-hearted good-for-nothing mother-to-be bride-to-be black-bird The Colon ( : ) The colon is used to introduce a list of items. For example: Please send those items they are required for my interview tomorrow, namely: compy of my result, two passport photograph, birth certificate and my appointment letter. The colon is also used to introduce indented quotation. Halliday (1967) says: ‘Given’ means what you were talking about (or what I was talking about or what I was talking about before, )’Theme’ means ‘what I am talking about’ or what I am talking about now. The Apostrophe ( ’ ) The apostrophe is used to show possession e.g. Children’s hats are very scarce these days. Ladies’ wears might be available at Mr. James’s boutique. It is also used to indicate omission in letter(s) of a word or figures such as year e.g. His mother would rather call him ‘ Layemi’. People born in the ‘60s belong to the baby-boomer generation. Apostrophe is used to mark the colloquial contractions of the verb phrase such as I’m, he’s, we’re, can’t, didn’t, let’s, etc. The Question Mark (?) The question mark is used after a direct question e.g. Are you coming here tomorrow? What are you searching your drawer for? How is everybody at home? www.ijellh.com 41

When the question mark is put in parenthesis (?) it is used to express doubt. E.g. Obafemi Awolowo died in December 1988 (?) and was buried in January 1989. The Exclamation Mark (!) Exclamatory mark is used after an exclamatory sentence (that is sentence expressing feelings, anger, surprise, shock etc. For example.  What a big fool!  Oh, God of heaven!  Bravo! Bravo! It is a good job you have done.  Mama, it’s a boy!  How silly he is!  It’s a goal! The Semi-colon (;) The semi-colon is used to separate two main clauses, especially those not joined by a coordinating conjunction.  Tola has gone to the farm; he will soon be back.  Folasade has travelled to the US; she will be back next week Tuesday. It is used to separate part of a sentence that already contains commas.  The other day thieves entered my father’s “poultry” and took away a dozen of his fowls- hens as well as cocks; thy didn’t touch the ducks. Perhaps ducks make too much noise; or may be there is no ready market for them; I am not sure … (Sybil L, James et al, 1990 p.107) The Dash (-) The dash is used instead of a colon or semi-colon to indicate that what follows is a summary or conclusion of what has gone before. E.g.  So you have been lying to me all these days – how can I ever forget this issue in my life. It is used to bring together many subjects belonging to the same verb. E.g.  Folasade, Oladele, Sola and friends – were all present during their grandfather’s burial ceremony.  The dash is used to abbreviate a sequence of numbers e.g. pp. 154-156.  The study covered 1970-1975. www.ijellh.com 42

The Ellipsis (…) The ellipsis consists of three dots, ellipsis is used, to indicate omission especially from a quotation or at the end of a conversation. Different patterns of thematic progression correlate with different genre, i.e. patterns of thematic progression do no occur randomly but one sensitive to genres … The Italics The italics are used in handwritten or typed text. In the handwritten texts, they are indicated by underlining to show emphasis and also to indicate the titles of books and plays either in referencing or in written discourse generally. The Caret (^) Caret is majorly used in editorial work to indicate part or the piece of writing there some items have been omitted. The Obeliske (†) The obeliske has its root from obelisk (a tall pointed stone column with four sided, put up in memory of a person or an event). Obeliske as a punctuation mark is used as a suffix to a person’s name; it means the person is dead. The Asterisks (*) It is used to draw attention to a reference or an explanatory matter below the page or elsewhere in a book or paper e.g. Mass nouns (or non-count nouns) are common nouns referring to entities that regarded as uncountable, e.g. water, petrol we should not count: *one water/petrol, *two waters/petrols, ... we might however talk of little water/petrol, much water/petrol etc. (Aremo 1995, P.10) The Slash/Oblique (/) It is used to separate alternative words or phrases e.g.  Miss / Mr / Ms / Dr /Prof  Single / Married / Widowed Divorced It is also used in internet and e-mail addresses to separate the different elements or files (it is called forward slash) e.g.  http:// www.lautech-gns.edu.ng/IJACI/abstrats The Quotation Marks ( “ ” ) (‘ ’)

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The single quotation is used in BrE while the double is used in AmE. It is used to enclose words and punctuation in direct in direct speech e.g.  ‘How could you do this to me?’ She said BrE  “Help! I’m drowning!” AmE Quotation marks are also used around the titles of articles, books, peoms, plays and around short quotations or sayings. The Parentheses/Brackets ( () ) It separated additional information or a comment from the rest of a sentence. E.g.  In normal language use, the time of an action, etc, is commonly indicate not by tense alone, but by tense, alone, but tense in conjunction with some appropriate time adverbial (e.g.: now, always, regularly, yesterday). (Areno 195 P.62). The parenthesis is used to enclose close references.  A dome is a round roof with a circular base: (see picture on P.345 of Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary) It also separates numbers or letters in text. For example:  Quirk and Greenbaum claim that the expected or unmarked theme of a main clause is:  (i) ‘Subject’ in a statement; (ii) ‘Operator’ in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions; (iii) ‘Wh – element’ in a wh – questions; (iv) ‘Main verb’ in a command. Note: the writer may use ordinary number like I, II, III, IV … it depends on the writer’s choice. Textual Examples All the explanations made on each of the punctuation marks may not be adequate unless they are given a better illustration via textual examples. Examples will be given in the section below to show how punctuation marks work within the construction of written discourse in English. The examples below are taken from football texts in newspapers. Example1 AHEAD NIGERIA VS GREECE: Wenger Tracks Down Enyeama

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Super Eagles goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama could be moving closer to wearing the jersey of Barclays English Premier League aside Arsenal FC of London next season if he replicates the stunning show he exhibited against Argentina at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg last Saturday, tomorrow against Greece. Sporting Life gathered from a top dog of the Nigerian football Federation (NFF) at the Raddisson Hotel in Johannesburg on Tuesday night that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who resides there, made enquires about Enyeama’s true age, his conduct on and off the pitch and a detailed statistics of his playing career. Wenger confided in the Nigeria soccer buff that his agents who watched Enyeama against Argentina spoke highly of the Nigerian player’s talents, composure when put under pressure and his amazing reflexes. The king of the dugout in England consequently decided to sniff out information on Enyeama just he has decided to watch the Nigerian in the game against Greece to ascertain his level of consistency during matches. Sporting Life had exclusively broken the story that Enyeama market value had risen to 3 million Euros (about N591 million) on Monday and it appears that a stingy Wenger may cough out that sum for the Nigerian if he impresses against Greece. Interestingly, Enyeama has confirmed that he had to switch off his phone from the day he was listed in Nigeria’s 44-man squad to enable him to concentrate on the task of improving, his skilled and only talked with his family using public telephones. He revealed further that he bought tapes on some of the best stars in Europe whare in South Africa to study Africa to study their movement and how they beat goalkeepers to score goals and had closely taken down the notes that he hoped will guide him in the event that they played against Argentina. It remains to be seen if Wenger keeps his words of watching the Nigerian against Greece. But what appears to be fact is that Arsenal’s radar have Enyeama in their sights and it would quite remarkable if another Nigerian plays for the Gunners after Nwankwo Kanu’s remarkable stay at the Emirates stadium. Curiously, Arsenal will make Joe Cole their highest earner after the World Cup as they prepare to beat off competition from Manchester United and Tottenham Hotsur, according to reports in Johannesburg on Tuesday night. Also, Wenger looks set to step his interest in Everton midfielder Steven Pianear after the World Cup. www.ijellh.com 45

“Pianear has grown this year, he was usually a very busy player where the final ball was missing a little bit, but this year he has gained in personality and he has kept his work-rate, so he has been much more efficient” Wenger said of the South African. “What also played a big role in his growth was that Mikel Arteta was not there for a while and that he had to take the responsibility as the playmaker of the team”. (Sporting Life, Pg 11, June 16th, 2010). In example I above, the writer used some punctuation marks to achieve the structural and functional purposes of text. The use of punctuation marks is a grammatical concern for a good writer. These marks affect meaning of written discourse. For example, in paragraph 1, the writer uses the comma and a full stop. Comma is used to separate the two ideas that would have been lumped together without making a clear meaning. If the writer decides not to use comma in the structure, the whole sentence would have become meaningless. Example 2 FIFA to Axe Nigeria Today The future of Nigeria’s football will be decided today by the World football governing body FIFA, as the country’s President Goodluck Jonathan refused to back down on his decision to ban the national football teams from international competition for two years. With the sacking of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) President, Sani Lulu, Vice President Amanze Uchegbulam, as well as a member of the federation’s technical committee, Taiwo Ogunjobi, by the federation’s executive committee, many football fans has hoped that the government might rescind its decision. A letter dated July 2 and signed by FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke had warned that if this directive by the government is not withdrawn today before 5pm Nigerian time, their emergency committee will meet and suspend Nigeria from international football with immediate effect. “We would like to underline the dire effects a suspension could have on the future of Nigerian football. It would mean that no Nigerian team of any sort (including clubs) could have any international contracts,” the letter said. “It would also mean that neither NFF nor any of its members of official could benefit from any development programme, course or training from FIFA or CAF any longer “We consider that this governmental decision would only completely isolate Nigerian football and could thus stall reforms and further development and improvement of Nigerian football for a long time. www.ijellh.com 46

“It puts the whole future of Nigerian football in danger”. (Sporting Life, July 5, 2010).

In example two, we have quite a number of punctuation marks in the text. These marks serve some important grammatical purposes. It clearly indicates that punctuation marks go beyond structural concern to the level of affecting the semanticity of text.

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References: Aremo, B. (1995) An Introduction to English Sentences I. Ibadan: Geltop Publication Nig. Ltd. Babajide, A.O. (1996) Introduction to English Grammar and Writing Skills. Ibadan: Enicrownfit Publishers. Babalola, E.T. (2005) ‘The Grammar of Paragraphs and Te Mechanics of Good Written English’ In Olateju, M. and Oyeleye, L. (eds.) Perspective on Language and Literature. Ile- Ife: Obafemi Awolowo University Press,Nigeria Limited. Honby, A.S. (2000) Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of English,6th Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Olagunju, S. (2015) ‘Generic Structure Potential in Football Matches in Newspapers Reporting’ IOSR- Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol.20, Issue: 3, 3 8- 50. Sybil, L. J, Soola, O. and Oyerokun O. (1990) Language in Action for Higher Education. Ibadan: Afrika-Lak Communications Ltd. Web Reference: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/79115/fifa-warns-nigeria-isolation.html

About the Author Sade Olagunju, Ph.D. teaches English in the Department of General Studies, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. She holds the B.A, M.A, M.Phil. and Ph.D. ( English Language) degrees of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.