LEC052009. Annette Sebastian, “Mechanics of Writing”

 

Mechanics of writing is a set of rules and conventions used in writing for effective communication. When an effective speech uses voice modulations like stress, intonation and tempo for emphasizing and directing the audience to the point, writing relies on punctuations, spacing, capitalization, etc, for this effect.  Punctuations are symbols or conventional signs that separate phrases, sentences, that help readers to anticipate the direction of ideas in the sentences to follow. In addition to these, punctuation plays a key role in rendering the meaning of a sentence and thereby aiding in interpretation of a text for effective communication. Hence the absence or misplacement of punctuation in English language can make the sentences ambiguous and sometimes incomplete. Commas, semicolons, colons, end punctuations, apostrophes, quotation marks, hyphens, dashes, parentheses, brackets, ellipsis points are the commonly used punctuation marks in English language.

Commas are mainly used to separate items in series, set off introductory material, between complete thoughts connected by coordinating conjunction, before and after non restrictive words,  for everyday materials(date, address, person spoken to,etc.) and to set off a direct quotation from the rest of the sentence. For example,

The children played Ludo, cricket, hide and seek and carroms in the school.

When the result became positive, the patient was advised to admit in the hospital.

The interview was scheduled for Friday, but had to postpone it to Monday due to the strike.

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, visited the flood affected area.

Catherine was born on 30 June, 1999, in Kollam, Kerala.

The principal announced, “ Tomorrow is a holiday.”

A semicolon is a punctuation mark used to separate two complete thoughts or independent clauses that are closely related and are not linked by the coordinating conjunction(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). They are also used to separate items in a series when the items are already contained in commas. For instance,

The road was bumpy; it caused many blowouts and accidents.

She had lived in Kochi, Kerala; Calcutta, West Bengal and Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Colons: a punctuation mark used at the end of a complete statement to introduce a list, long quotation, or an explanation. For example,

She called out the following names: Aleena, Leena, Teena, Cathy and Diya.

In the owner’s manual, the section on maintenance clearly warns the consumer with these words: “The chemicals in this packet may be harmful if inhaled.”

Here is a temporary solution to a dripping faucet: Tie a string to it, and let the drops slide down the string to the sink.

End punctuations include period, question mark and exclamation point.

Period: used to end a statement, requests and indirect questions. For example, Will you please keep quiet. Another example is, Tom asked if the pot was for sale.

Question mark: used after direct questions. For example, Is this book overdue?

Exclamation points are used after sentences or words that express excitement or strong feeling. For example, Watch out for that car!

An apostrophe is a punctuation mark generally used to show the omission of one or more letters in a contraction­—words in which letters are left out. Another usage of an apostrophe is to show ownership or possession. Examples for the apostrophe in contractions are, I’m, where, an apostrophe is used to indicate that letter “a” is omitted. Similar examples are: It’s, contraction for It is; don’t, contraction for do not; I’d contraction word for I would.

Alice’s book, children’s toys, teachers’ day, are some examples of using an apostrophe to show ownership or possession.

Quotation marks are punctuation marks that indicates exact words or the title of short works. They are also used to indicate quotation from another writer or a source. For example,

He said, ‘’please pass the butter.”

The teacher suggested reading “Romantic Artist” by Raymond Williams.

As Barthes puts it, “the text is experienced only as an activity of production” (156).

Hyphen is used between two or more words to make it as a single unit or to divide a word at the end of a line. For example, words like: up-to-date, well-constructed, 19-year-old girl.

Dashes are used to give a pause while reading; it is longer than a comma and shorter than a period. Em dash and en dash are the commonly used dashes.

Em dashes are used to set off a break in thought as in the example, I think I forgot it—wait, I got it! They are also used to set off information that is too important to enclose in parenthesis but less important than the main sentence. For example, Certain dishes—none of them very complicated or exotic—have made the restaurant very popular.

An en dash is shorter than em dash and longer than a hyphen. They are used to indicate a range of numbers. For example, Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), pages 36-45, 13-15 copies of the book.

Parenthesis is used to set off extra details or important but less important details from the rest of the sentence. For example, Please enclose the materials we discussed earlier (resume and reference letters).

     Brackets are punctuation marks used to enclose explanations within a direct quote.

For example, The commentator reported, “He [the Panchayath President] was reluctant to sit in the committee.”

Ellipsis point, three periods, is used to indicate that some words are missing in the sentence. For example,

Maya wrote the following in describing her mother: “the first film she ever saw was…Gone with the wind.” (Here the writer has omitted the words “the well-known movie classic”.)

          The above mentioned are the main punctuations used in the English language. However, the use of punctuation marks differ from British English to American English and in other languages. Also, the insertion and use of punctuation marks may vary according to various writing styles like MLA, APA, etc formats. Knowledge and correct usage of punctuations help in effective communication and it also reflects the efficiency of the writer.