PUNCTUATION American norms: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/607/1/ Accompanying exercises: http://owl.english.purdue.

edu/exercises/3/
Consult The Economist Style Guide at http://www.economist.com/research/styleguide/ for British guidance on punctuation (the differences are less important than the similarities but there are two main ones: semi-colons are used less in the UK and commas are used more in the US.

A classic book on punctuation is the now famous book written by Lynn Truss called Eats Shoots and Leaves

A panda walks into a caf. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons. 'Why?' asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. 'Well, I'm a panda,' he says, at the door. 'Look it up.' The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. 'Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.'

The following is a very brief outline of the main punctuation marks, but look further if necessary. The colon It introduces. It can introduce just about anything: a word, a phrase, a sentence, a quotation, a list or direct speech Joe has only one thing on his mind: profit. Joe has only one thing on his mind: his stock portfolio. Joe has only one thing on his mind: he wants to get rich. Joe has three things on his mind: stocks, bonds, and certificates of deposit. The following people will be sent to the moon: Goldie, Sarah and Jasper. N.B. The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitors especially in the key area of reliability. The Jacobsen lawn mower beats its competitors especially in one key area: reliability. But N.B. Do not use a colon in the following sentence (a common error):

My three favorite friends are: Evelyn, Marlyne, and Ronni. Why not? Because you cant put a colon just after a verb and before a list (or between a verb and a list). The semicolon a) To maintain the links between two separate sentences you can use the semi-colon as a divider. Jim is a good typist; he makes few mistakes. The AFC Corporation is an excellent company to invest in; its investments have risen sharply and steadily over each of the last ten years. My eldest brother was kindness itself; my youngest sister was a brat. b) The semi-colon as supercomma Suncom Corporation has subsidiaries in four cities: New York, New York; Wilmington, Ohio; Houston, Texas; and San Francisco, California.

Commas 1. Between Items in a Series Mr. Sanchez used the money to buy a house, a car, and a small yacht. We will purchase the stock if the price is lowered to 30 per share, if we are allowed to buy a block of over 10,000 shares, and if we receive a guarantee that no new shares will be created in the next fiscal year. 2. Between Two Sentences (when there is a connector like but, and, or.) I knew that the price of IBM stock would increase after it entered the home computer market, but I had no idea that the price would skyrocket. 3. To Attach Words to the Front or Back of Your Sentence Although she failed chemistry and barely passed maths, Joan is a good student. 4. On Both Sides of a Nonessential Component Ms. Johnson, who is the company president, will present the award at our annual dinner. The next day, which was Sunday, they drove down to visit.. The main problem, however, continues to be the awful gap that exists.. N.B. when the component is essential there is no comma.

The boy who found the football was the one who had lost it in the first place.

A Common Error The famous comma splice. This is a common error or misuse of the comma. Here are a few examples. Jo was very upset about her Dads inability to understand her, she felt that he simply didnt listen to her. The dog ran down to the shore, the children ran after it. In both cases, you need to do one of three things: a) Put a full stop between the two sentences b) Use a semi-colon as a way of linking the two sentences c) Put a connector between the two sentences. a) Jo was very upset about her Dads inability to understand her. She felt that he simply didnt listen to her. The dog ran down to the shore. The children ran after it. b) Jo was very upset about her Dads inability to understand her; she felt that he simply didnt listen to her. The dog ran down to the shore; the children ran after it. c) Jo was very upset about her Dads inability to understand her because she felt that he simply didnt listen to her. The dog ran down to the shore and the children ran after it. N.B. A comma is NEVER a connector. It helps to separate items on a list or one clause from another.