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 co- ordinating 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.