Basic Written English - Part 2

This is the solution to the puzzle we set on the previous page. It's a good idea to practise building sentences in the same way:

The Paragraph

If a sentence may be defined as a group of words expressing a single thought, and ending with a full stop, a paragraph may be regarded as being an ordered sequence of sentences expressing a number of thoughts that relate to the same idea, theme or topic. The end of a paragraph, or rather the beginning of the next one, is indicated by the use of a fresh line, which sometimes starts a little way in from the left-hand margin, and there is often a significant space between one paragraph and the next. The intended pause at the end of a paragraph is usually much longer than the pause at the end of a sentence; it gives the reader a rest or a break, something like a rest ( an interval of silence) in music.

There is no rule to tell us how long or short a paragraph should be, but most paragraphs probably contain no more than twelve sentences and no fewer than three. Popular newspapers frequently use very short paragraphs, and they often contain only one sentence. This device of the one-sentence paragraph can be quite effective, but we recommend that you do not use it until you are experienced enough to be able to do so without any possibility of criticism.

Suppose that we want to write a short article or essay containing three paragraphs on the subject of 'My local railway station'. The first paragraph could say where the station is and how we get there. We could say what is close to the station, such as fields, shops, houses, and give a description of the station itself including, for example, the number of platforms. The second paragraph could say where most of the trains go to or come from and how many carriages they have. Presumably there would be only a few for short distances and more for longer distances. The third and final paragraph could mention the fact that years ago the engines were all powered by steam but are now all diesel or electric. This final paragraph (and the article) could possibly be brought to an end with two sentences something like, 'It is a pity that steam engines are no longer in general use on our railways. For many of us, train travel no longer has the romance that it had all those years ago'.

Spelling and the use of the dictionary

Despite the fact that English is a beautiful language, there is no doubt that it is not easy to spell many of the words we use, as they are not always spelt as they sound. However, one way to overcome this difficulty is to read, and retain the spelling of words as you come across them. Our own president, Dr Bernard Lamb, has admitted that he was a poor speller until he was in his thirties, but he is now the author of numerous articles and books. His latest book, 'The Queen's English and How to Use It', published in hardback in 2010 and now is in paperback and as an ebook. It deals fully with all aspects of the English language (including spelling!) and we shall refer to it again later.

Over the years there have been many attempts at spelling reform, but for one reason or another they have all ended in failure. This is not to say that minor adjustments to our spelling are not possible. For example, some writers end certain verbs in 'ise' and others insist on ending them in 'ize' (baptise, baptize, etc), probably on account of their Greek origin. For some time it was thought that 'ize' was used by our American cousins, and 'ise' by traditional English speakers, but this is no longer the case. Our advice is to forget etymology (the origins of words) and to use 'ise' for them all.

We have to admit that there is no easy way to learn spelling: no 'Spelling Without Tears'. But there is one method that was in constant use in our schools until about the 1960s. Those of us who are now into our fifties (or of course older) were taught how to spell correctly at school from about the age of six. The method was simple but effective. Every so often the teacher would give us a list of about a dozen 'difficult' words, which we had to memorise (often as homework) in readiness for a spelling test. We were also given frequent reading tests, which involved reading out aloud, either on our own to the teacher, or to the rest of the class. From memory this did not give us any real difficulty, and it undoubtedly helped us, not only with our spelling but also with our writing.

There are, of course, many ways of learning spellings, and you have to find the best one for you, or make up your own. Sometimes people use rhythm in order to fix a spelling: for example, 'a' double 'c', 'o' double 'm', o d a t i o n = 'accommodation'. If you think of it as in 4/4 rhythm in music, you will see how it works.

Other people use a mnemonic, otherwise known as a memory aid: for example, there is a rat in separate; Mrs D, Mrs I, Mrs FFI, Mrs C, Mrs U, Mrs LTY = difficulty: big elephants can always understand small elephants = because. Think of the NEC in Birmingham to know there is only one 'c' in 'necessary'.

And sometimes you need to write a word many different ways until your brain recognises the pattern of the right spelling. Even when you have learnt how to spell a certain word, it will be useful practice for you to make up different sentences using the word, and to write the sentences down, perhaps three or four times.

It is fair to say that most of us have difficulty spelling some particular word or words, and the reason is not always obvious. However, we must never rely on modern technology to correct our spelling mistakes. To do so would be lazy and dangerous, as the computer just checks whether each word typed is one that is in the dictionary. All the computer knows is that 'checks' and 'cheques' (for example) are both valid words, and we may well end up with 'checks' when we meant 'cheques' or 'cheques' when we meant 'checks'.

This is where the dictionary itself comes into its own. All we need are the first two letters of the word we are looking for and we should then be able to find it quite easily. But a medium-sized dictionary usually offers much more than that. When we have found the word we are looking for, we are given its meaning or meanings and are told which part of speech (adjective, noun etc) it comes under. If a word can function as more than one part of speech, each is dealt with in turn. A selection of any fixed phrases containing the word usually then follows (for example, 'here', in 'neither here nor there'). If a word or phrase is colloquial (broadly, suitable only for speech or informal writing) or slang or vulgar, it will be labelled accordingly. The origin of each word (if known) is given at the end of each entry.

There is an old saying that practice makes perfect. That simple statement certainly applies to writing in general, but it also applies
This is the solution to the puzzle we set on the previous page. It's a good idea to practise building sentences in the same way.

Basic Written English

by Bill Ball, Rhea Williams and Tony Scott

Introduction

Before we can write we have to learn to read, and before we can read we have to learn to speak. That is the normal order of events from the time we are born to about the age of four. Indeed, that is how the language came into being all those years ago. In other words, the language came before the grammar, and not the other way round. It is important to remember this simple fact, because it is the spoken word that fashions the changing language, and not the grammarians, who in reality can do no more than list the rules as they exist in their own lifetimes. Popular usage (that is, speech) has always had the final say and it always will, much to the understandable annoyance of those of us who love the language and want it to remain as it is. It is true that many of the changes that have taken place in the language (particularly over the past 40 years or so) have been changes for the worse. For this reason, it is essential that we all do our utmost to discourage the intrusion of anything that might be detrimental to the language as it exists today. That is one of the main aims of the King's English Society.

What is basic written English?

For our purposes, basic written English may be regarded as lying somewhere between the informal language of everyday conversation and the formal language of the legal profession and those who draft our legislation. Basic written English is that which is not open to serious criticism when judged by the standards of current good usage. In other words, it is English which is in accordance with the rules and customs of today.

The tools of the trade

Before we can even begin to write acceptable English, we need to have some knowledge of the basic components of the language: the tools of the trade, as it were. Just as any skilled workman needs his tools to enable him to carry on his trade, so too does the writer. The writer's tools are the thousands of words that make up the language, even though to start with he will need only a fraction of them. But it is how he uses those words that determines whether he is writing what may be loosely termed 'good English' or 'bad English'. Words on their own are only one of the components of the language, although they are of course the most important. The words must be made into readable sentences, and within those sentences there will be groups of words that are called phrases and clauses. We shall look at all these elements a little later on, together with the paragraph, spelling and the use of the dictionary, and punctuation.

In the meantime, we cannot stress often enough that the writer's strongest ally is his ability to read. The more he reads, the better his writing becomes; and the beauty of this is that it does not matter what he reads: books, newspapers, pamphlets, advertisements, or articles on his computer. Someone once said that reading maketh a full man. It is certainly true that reading is absolutely necessary from the outset if we are to have any chance of becoming writers of good English.

What is a sentence?

The basic unit of writing is the sentence. But what is a sentence? Over the centuries, grammarians and other writers on language have set down hundreds of different definitions of a sentence, many of which were too complicated to be of any real use. Briefly, we need to know just three things. Firstly, a sentence is a group of words that is complete in itself and expresses a statement, a command, a question, or an exclamation. Secondly, a sentence always begins with a capital letter and ends only with a full stop (.) or a question mark (?) or an exclamation mark (!). Thirdly, every sentence must contain or imply a subject, (the person or thing we are talking about) and a predicate ( which is simply what is said about the subject). Here are four simple sentences which should help to make this clear:

She is going to the dance tonight. (statement)
Stop here. (command)
Have you seen my book? (question)
How old he is looking! (exclamation)

In the first sentence, the subject is 'She' and the predicate is 'is going to the dance tonight'. In the second, the subject (which is implied or understood) is 'You' and the predicate is 'stop here'. In question sentences and exclamation sentences, part or all of the predicate may come before the subject. In sentence 3, the subject is 'you' and the predicate is 'have seen my book?' In sentence 4, the subject is 'he' and the predicate is 'is looking how old!' However long a sentence may be, it can still be divided into its two parts, subject and predicate:
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

The subject is 'A bird in the hand' and the predicate is 'is worth two in the bush'.

There is one type of word that must appear in every sentence. It is the 'doing' or 'being' word that is called the verb. The grammarians call such verbs 'finite verbs', which for our purpose are verbs that have subjects. In 'John goes to work', for example, the verb is the doing word 'goes' (with John as subject) and in 'Mary is a swimmer' the verb is the being word 'is' (with Mary as subject). The main non-finite part of the verb is known as the infinitive. It does not have a subject, and in English it is usually preceded by 'to' (to go, to run, to speak etc).

All finite verbs have 'tenses', or 'times', and the doing or being action expressed by the verb may be thought of as taking place in three different times: past, present, future. Here are three simple examples:

I saw (past tense)
I see (present tense)
I shall see (future tense)

The tenses of verbs do not cause us much trouble, and we usually are able to make the necessary adjustments without much thought. One thing should be noted, however. The verb is not always just one or two words. In the following examples the full verbs are underlined:

We shall be going home tomorrow.
They have been playing for two hours.
She should have finished her homework by now.

The grammar books say that the verb must 'agree with its subject in number and person'. 'Number' explains itself. If the subject is regarded as one (singular), the verb must be singular. If the subject is more than one (plural), the verb must be plural. Verbs are said to have three 'persons', as follows:

First person: I (singular), We (plural)
Second person: You (singular and plural)
Third person: He, She, It (singular), They (plural)

If the subject is in the first person, the verb must be in the first person (I am. We are). If the subject is in the second person, the verb must be in the second person (You run). If the subject is in the third person, the verb must be in the third person (He, She, It swims. They swim).

We have said that every sentence must have a verb. Each of the other words that are used to make up a sentence will fall into one of the other types of word that are often referred to as parts of speech. The main parts of speech (including verbs) are as follows:

Nouns (used to identify people, places or things)
Adjectives (used to 'describe' nouns)
Adverbs (used to 'modify' other words, mainly verbs)
Pronouns (used mainly to avoid repetition of nouns)
Prepositions (used to show their relation to other words)
Conjunctions (used to join words, phrases and clauses)
Interjections (are exclamations such as Bravo! and Oh!)

Here's one for our younger visitors. Try to place the words on the right into a proper sentence. The solution is on the next page. NO PEEPING!

It is important to note that many words have more than one function. That is, they can be one part of speech in one context and a different part of speech in another. In 'Where is my book?' for example, the word 'book' is a noun. In 'I will book a table' the word 'book' is a verb.

When we are reading, speaking or writing, we do not consciously break down a sentence into its parts (subject, predicate, noun, adjective etc) and you may be wondering why we have bothered to mention them. The main reason is that, as your writing improves and you feel encouraged to consult books on grammar and usage, you may well find it useful to have some basic knowledge of these words in advance.

The same can be said of clauses and phrases which again we are not normally conscious of when we read or write. A clause, like a sentence, must have a subject and a predicate of its own. A phrase is a group of words without a subject or a predicate. The best way to explain the difference between clauses and phrases is by illustration. Here are three sentences, with comments:

The man is a teacher.
The man who lives next door is a teacher.
The man who lives next door is a teacher at my school.

In the first sentence there is one verb only ('is') and therefore only one clause (the sentence itself). In the second sentence there are two verbs ('lives' and 'is') and therefore two clauses, 'who lives next door', and 'The man is a teacher'. In the third sentence there are again the two clauses that are in the second sentence, but with 'at my school' tagged on at the end. These three words at the end have some meaning of their own, but as they do not contain a finite verb they cannot be called a clause. They are what are known in English grammar as a phrase, which is something that has meaning but is neither a single word nor a clause.

Until about the middle of the 1960s, the English tests and exams in many schools invariably contained the dreaded command,'Analyse the following sentences into clauses....' In 1945 a writer on language, Gordon Humphreys, had this to say in his book 'Teach Yourself English Grammar'.

"Practice in the analysis of sentences can develop an appreciation of the well-constructed sentence and assist in detecting the faults of a loose sentence. It takes you into the workshop of the language. You see how the sentence works."

That may be so, and sentence analysis could be of some interest to the experienced writer. But, as we have already mentioned, we do not consciously break down a sentence into its parts before (or after) we write it. As we become more experienced at writing, our ear will tell us whether the sentence sounds right or not. In other words, it is more important to 'hear' a sentence than it is to analyse it.

In this section we have briefly shown how the English sentence is made up. Sentences then have to be put into paragraphs, unless what we are writing is short and paragraphs are not required.
This Guide is continued on the next page.

The main punctuation marks

1. The Full Stop [.]

a. This is the strongest punctuation mark, making the most definite pause (in reading aloud or silently) when used at the end of a sentence. As shown in the previous examples, it is used at the end of sentences unless they are questions, strong exclamations or strong commands. It is also called a period and a full point.

b. It is used to indicate omitted letters in abbreviations, such as Mon. for Monday or a.m. for ante meridien (Latin for 'before noon'), and in initials, as in B.K.Smith.

Common abbreviations, and those of scientific terms and names of organisations, are now frequently spelled without full stops, e.g. Mr (Mister), Dr (Doctor),DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid),cm (centimetre), UK (United Kingdom). A distinction is sometimes made between a contraction, where the last letter of the contracted form is the last letter of the original word, needing no full stop (e.g., Dr for Doctor) and an abbreviation in which its last letter is not the last letter of the full word, needing a full stop (e.g., Prof. for Professor). If an abbreviation which takes a full stop, such as etc. (et cetera, Latin for 'and so forth'), comes at the end of a sentence, there is no need for another full stop to end the sentence: I will send you the members' names, addresses, etc.

c. Full stops are often used in amounts of money: £10.20 and in times: 3.20 a.m. When used in numbers as a decimal point, it is usually just typed as a full stop, but this stop should strictly be raised above the line [·], as in 9·66. On most computers, this can be obtained by having Num Lock on, holding Alt and typing 0183.

d. Three full stops together (the Ellipsis or suspension dots) [. . .] are used to show an unfinished sentence, omission of part of a sentence: The letters of the alphabet are a, b, c, ... x, y, z, or hesitation in speech: She would invite him to. . . No, that was unthinkable.

2. The Question Mark [?]

This is used to end a direct question where an answer is normally expected: "Where do I buy a season ticket?" It is not used for an indirect question (which reports a direct question), to which no answer is expected: She asked where she could buy a season ticket. It is used at the end of rhetorical questions(*) even though no answer is expected. A question mark is needed when question phrases (question tags) are added to statements: "The concert is tonight, isn't it?"

3. The Exclamation Mark [!]

This is used after exclamations showing a high degree of surprise: "Fancy meeting you here!" or strong emotion: "You filthy cheat!" or special emphasis: "You are so beautiful!" or an expletive(**) "Damn!" It is also used after strong commands or requests, especially where the voice would be raised in speech: "Don't shoot!" Mild requests or commands usually end with a full stop: "Come here, please." Using too many exclamation marks weakens their impact.

(*) A question, often implicitly assuming a preferred (usually negative) answer, asked so as to produce an effect rather than to gain information.
(**) An oath or swear word.

4. The Comma [,]

A comma has many uses, including:

a. To separate items in a list:

Jake stole her purse, keys, cheque book and credit cards. There is no need for a comma before the 'and' unless the sense demands it. The comma before the final 'and' is helpful in: The children played cops and robbers, hide and seek, and hopscotch. Some people, especially in the USA, use commas before 'and' even in simple lists as in the Jake stole... example above. Commas can also be used to separate a series of phrases or clauses.

b. To separate two or more adjectives which individually modify a noun:

He was a small, shy, sickly, red-headed child. There is no comma after the last adjective, and the commas carry the sense of 'and'. If the last adjective and the noun form a single unit of meaning, there is no need for a comma before the final adjective as there is no sense of 'and' connecting the two adjectives: He was a great mathematical genius.

c. In pairs, commas are used to separate descriptive phrases or clauses, or less important material, from the main part of the sentence:

Her sports car, painted a vivid orange, was parked illegally. Omitting the first comma in that sentence would initially suggest that her car could paint; omitting the second comma initially suggests that a vivid orange was parked: both commas are needed, operating as a pair. Where correct punctuation is used, the reader should not have to re-read a sentence to make sense of it. The test for the correctness of this use of a pair of commas is to read that which precedes the first comma and that which follows the second, omitting the words between the commas. The result should still make sense: Her sports car [...] was parked illegally.

It is most important to know the difference between phrases or clauses that merely comment, which have a pair of commas separating them off, and phrases or clauses that are defining, where a pair of commas would give the wrong meaning. In: The boys, who were fit, enjoyed the race, 'who were fit' is commenting: this implies that all those particular boys were fit and all enjoyed the race. In: The boys who were fit enjoyed the race, 'who were fit' is defining: only those boys who were fit enjoyed the race; by implication, those boys who were not fit did not enjoy the race.

Note how the presence or absence of a comma can change the meaning:
(i) She liked Tony, who played cricket better than John.
(ii) She liked Tony, who played cricket, better than John.
In (i), 'better' refers to 'played cricket',
but in (ii), 'better' refers to 'liked Tony', as the words between commas are now a descriptive aside.

Note also the effect of omitting the comma from these sentences: (i) She hoarded silver, paper and rags. (ii) We ate chocolate, cakes and ices.

d. To separate parts of compound or complex sentences, to aid comprehension by separating different ideas:

Although he was already deeply in debt, he bought her an expensive ring.

Do not, however, separate the subject from the verb, unless a commenting section comes between them. Wrong: Such absurd, extravagant and distracting gestures, should not be used when speaking to a very small audience. The second comma is wrong as it hinders the flow of meaning from the subject, 'gestures', to the verb part, 'should not be used'.

e. To separate sentence modifiers such as moreover, indeed, however:

(i) The submarine, however, continued its attack.

(ii) Indeed, I have never felt better.

f. To separate parts of dates and addresses, and in opening and closing letters:

Note that the comma after 28 is standard practice even though there is no logical or grammatical reason whatsoever for its use there. Its omission would not detract from the meaning and would remove an unnecessary comma.

Some or all of those commas in the address are now often omitted, with moving to a new line acting as a kind of punctuation. The Post Office prefers no punctuation in addresses, the post town in capitals, and the post code on a separate line.

g. To separate the figures within a number into groups of three, from right-to-left if there is no decimal point, or from the decimal point, going to the left only:
6,457; 13,109,896; 4,678·98577; 0·9876547. This helps the reader. As a matter of interest, in some countries where English is not the official language commas are used where we use a full stop, and vice versa, which can be very confusing. Thus in France, for example, 3·1 is written 3,1 and a million as 1.000.000.

h. To separate two independent clauses (which could usually be written as separate sentences) that are joined by a co-ordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, so, yet, either...or, neither...nor):
It is necessary to eat, but it is better to combine necessity with pleasure.

i. To prevent misreading, even temporary misreading:
If you want to shoot the farmer will lend you his gun.

This would be clearer as:
If you want to shoot, the farmer will lend you his gun.
The first version initially implies shooting the farmer.

j. To show the omission of a word or words whose meaning is understood:
He can tolerate no noise; she, no silence.
One of the most common errors ('run-on sentences', with only a 'comma splice') is to use only a comma, without a conjunction, to join main clauses which could stand as separate sentences, each having a subject and finite main verb. Wrong: We went to the races at Ascot, it was beautifully sunny, the horses sweated even more than usual. Such 'sentences', if linked, should be joined by a stronger link than just a comma; a semicolon, or a comma plus a linking conjunction, should be used. Use a colon if a second 'sentence' explains, expands or summarises the first.

5. The Semicolon [;]

The semicolon is an important but often under-used punctuation mark. It is particularly useful in long, complicated sentences, giving a longer pause than a comma, but not as long as a full stop. There are several major uses:

a. Semicolons can be used instead of commas to separate items in a list, especially where some items are long or contain commas themselves, or to avoid misunderstandings:
At the zoo we saw a brown bear, which was suckling two tiny cubs; a sleepy crocodile; two stick insects, each looking like a dead twig; and five elephants.
Here, having a semicolon, not a comma, after 'cubs' avoids any implication that the bear was suckling all remaining items in the list. A comma is usually sufficient before the last item, but a semicolon here makes clear that the stick insects did not look like five elephants as well as like dead twigs.

b. To separate clauses which could have been two different sentences, but which are closely related in meaning, and are of similar importance:
It was long past midnight, in a remote part of the forest; she shivered with fear.
Although one could use a full stop after 'forest', making two sentences, joining the sentences with a semicolon shows better that her action was related to, not independent of, the time and place.
Two statements joined by a semicolon may provide contrasting ideas:
The very young often wish to be older; the very old would prefer to be younger.
The second or later statement may complement the first:
The road to Bristol seemed unusually smooth; the recent repairs had been costly but effective.
A colon could be used here instead of a semicolon.

c. To come before linking words (those quoted are adverbs, or adverbs and conjunctions) such as therefore, nevertheless, however, besides, when they join two independent clauses or sentences:
She hated London; nevertheless, she flourished there.
A semicolon is often equivalent to, and replaceable by, a comma plus a conjunction:
(i) She liked Robert; he disliked her.
(ii) She liked Robert, but he disliked her.
With this equivalence, some textbooks state that it is wrong to have a semicolon followed by an ordinary conjunction (e.g., and, but, for, nor), but other books permit it.

6. The Colon [:]

A colon is generally a punctuation mark of introduction, signalling 'look ahead', rather than of separating or stopping things. It is used:

a. To introduce a list:
I suggest the following for promotion: Enid Brown, Peter Scott and John Reid.
Use a colon (without a following dash), not a semicolon, to introduce lists.

b. To introduce direct speech:
He said: "I don't give a damn".
A comma could be used instead of the colon.

c. To introduce an explanation, expansion or summary of the first part of a sentence:
There were two problems: his small income and her taste for luxury.

d. Colons are used in proportions and ratios: a 3:1 ratio and in expressing time: 10:25:45 (45 seconds past 10.25 am).

e. There are some occasions when either a colon or a semicolon could be used to join two sentences, but choose a colon if the second one expands, explains or summarises the first one, with the colon signalling 'look ahead!':
At last he told us Peter's secret: the old tramp had been extremely wealthy, but had gambled his fortune away.

7. The Brackets [( )]

Brackets are always used in pairs, to separate supplementary, subsidiary or explanatory material from the main flow of a sentence:
Visitors arriving for the conference in Glasgow on 2nd January (a bank holiday in Scotland) should make their own arrangements for lunch that day.
The same, strictly speaking, holds true for paragraph numbering: (1)... (2)... but this is frequently ignored, only the closing bracket being used [ 3) ].
The material inside the brackets can be referred to as being 'in parenthesis'.(*) In equations, there may be different types of brackets,
( ), { }, [ ], to show different hierarchies of terms. Brackets are also used to enclose references, interruptions and afterthoughts:
Mr Brown's comments (letter, The Times, Aug. 3) show a total ignorance of Germany's history.
Brackets make a firmer separation of the enclosed material than do two commas. If the words in brackets come at the end of a sentence, a full stop (or [?] or [!]) comes after the second bracket. If the words inside the brackets make a complete sentence, put a full stop (or [?] or [!]) before the closing bracket.
Square brackets, [ ], are used to enclose editorial comments or explanations in material written by a different author:
Rachael [his second wife, who died in 1983] left the cottage at Amberley to her sister Rebecca.

(*) Note that any of the following can form a parenthesis:
The boys, who were fit, enjoyed the race [a pair of commas]
The boys — who were fit — enjoyed the race [a pair of m-dashes]
The boys (who were fit) enjoyed the race. [a pair of round brackets]

8. The Dash [- or — ]

A single dash is used:

a. To mark a pause for effect:She wore her most stunning dress — a billowing ocean of multi-coloured taffeta.

b. To introduce an afterthought, a summary, an elaboration or a change in direction of thought:
"I was in the artillery during the war — but I mustn't bore you with ancient history."

c. A pair of dashes is used to show an interruption in the flow of thought, to enclose a side comment or a subsidiary idea:
His grandmother — a brilliant actress in her day — encouraged him to apply for the leading part.
Pairs of dashes, brackets and commas are sometimes interchangeable, but may give a different emphasis.

Some printers do not put spaces before and after a dash, but putting those spaces, as in the examples in points 1 and 2 in this section, helps to distinguish a dash from a hyphen. Distinctions are sometimes made between en-dashes (or en-rules), originally the length of the letter 'n', and em-dashes, originally the length of an 'm'. En-dashes [-], without spaces, are used for a span, as in The 1939-45 war or in joining names, as in The Rome-Berlin axis or The Hardy-Weinberg law. Em-dashes [—], with or without spaces, are used to enclose commenting statements, as in: His taste in clothes —which was appalling —had many followers. Some word-processors automatically put en-dashes and em-dashes where they are appropriate, but not always correctly. With most computers, en-dashes can be obtained by having the Num Lock on, holding Alt, and typing 0150, with 0151 for em-dashes. For most purposes, typing [space][hyphen/dash][space] is sufficient for an en-dash. In MS Word, the em-dash will automatically appear if the word following the en-dash is followed by a space. In cases where this does not happen, the em-dash can be forced by typing a letter/space/en-dash/space/letter; to convert: * -* into * —* type * m - m * then delete the two 'm's.

9. The Hyphen [-]

The hyphen has no surrounding spaces and is a joining mark within words and compound expressions:
ex-wife, short-sighted, blue-eyed; do-it-yourself, non-stick.
American usage is often to omit the hyphen, and that trend is now increasingly apparent in British English, although 'blueeyed' would be absurd. There is no such word asnon in normal English, so non aggression treaty is wrong; the non must be hyphenated to the following word: non-aggression.
A hyphen is particularly useful to distinguish words with the same letters but different meanings:
To re-cover the chair with velvet; to recover the chair from the rubbish dump.
To resign from one's job; to re-sign the lease agreement for another year.
Hyphens are valuable for avoiding ambiguity. Note the differences in meaning between:
An ancient-history teacher and An ancient history-teacher.
There is ambiguity in this sentence: Forty odd people were present. Does it mean about forty normal people or forty unusual people? A hyphen could resolve that:
Forty-odd people were present, but putting About forty people were present is even better.
Contrast a cross-party group of MPs with a cross party group of MPs.
A hyphen is often used if combining two words, or a prefix with a main word, would result in two identical vowels or three identical consonants coming together from different component parts of the word: pre-emptive; co-opt; co-operation and co-ordination or grass-seed.
Note that cooperation could read as cooper (a barrel-maker). The principle is that where English has double-vowel combinations as a sound in their own right, e.g. seed, food, look, such double vowels should be separated by a hyphen when they belong to separate words or a prefix or a suffix and are pronounced separately. Hence:
Co-operate and not cooperate (which the Americans use).
Pre-emptive and not preemptive.
Socio-oriented and not sociooriented.
As English does not have words with the "aa", "ii" or "uu" combinations, this separation is not essential but is still to be preferred, e.g.
Contra-action is better than contraaction (looks like a misspelling of contraction).
Anti-incendiary is better than antiincendiary.
A Hindu-union movement rather than a Hinduunion movement.
One would not put a hyphen in seed as the two identical vowels are not from different components of the word, as they are in 'pre-emptive'.
Hyphens are also used when writing numbers, and fractions used as adjectives, if consisting of more than one word:
By the age of twenty-three, he had spent his one-third share of his father's legacy. Note that one third of the class would not have a hyphen after 'one', as 'one third' is then a noun phrase, not an adjectival phrase. It is unusual to hyphenate 'twenty three' in that sentence.
The man with many children paid thousands of pounds for their twenty first birthday parties is ambiguous: it needs a hyphen after twenty or after first, depending whether '21st birthday' or '20 first-birthday' is intended.
The hyphen is used to divide a word at the end of a line. Do not divide one-syllable words and do not divide a word so as to leave only one letter before or after the division. In general, divide words at the ends of syllables (pronounce them, if unsure where the syllables end, e.g., mi-cro-scop-ic). Avoid distracting fragments, as in: the-rapist or depart-mental.

10. The Apostrophe [ ' ]

This has several uses:

a. To indicate that a letter or letters have been omitted: don't (do not); I'll (I will or I shall); it's (it is or it has — note that the possessive pronoun 'its' does not have an apostrophe). Do not use an apostrophe in possessive pronouns: its, hers, his, ours, yours, theirs, but there is one in one's.

b. To form plurals of expressions with no natural plural: The 1980's were a better decade for us. Many writers would omit that apostrophe.

c. To form the possessive case of a noun:
(i) With a singular noun, add an apostrophe and an "s" to the basic form: John, John's hat; the car, the car's wheels. One may optionally omit the "s" if it makes an awkward combination of s-sounds: James's house, but James' serious suspicions.
(ii) With a plural noun, add only the apostrophe if the plural ends in s already: the two boys' bicycles; the books' prices; the ladies' hats.
(iii) If the plural noun does not end in "s" already, add an apostrophe and an "s": the men's choice; the people's reactions.

d. To form the plurals of letters (There are two c's and two r's in 'occurred') where the combination "cs" and "rs" might be confusing, although there is no recognised rule to this effect and it would be far better to use quotes rather than an apostrophe, thus: "c"s and "r"s).
Do not use an apostrophe in the plurals of ordinary words which are not possessive. Wrong: cheap cauliflower's! Bargain shirt's. These are ordinary plurals, with no sense of possession, whereas The shirt's price does need an apostrophe, showing possession of the price by the shirt. Such wrong apostrophes in plurals are often called "greengrocer's apostrophes".
The power of the apostrophe is shown in the newspaper headline: BRITON'S BATTLE FATIGUE. This was an account in Metro of one Briton's battle fatigue. If the apostrophe had been after the "s", it would have indicated the battle fatigue of more than one Briton. Without the apostrophe, Britons battle fatigue, the word "battle" changes from a noun to a verb, indicating that more than one Briton was battling with fatigue, not battle fatigue specifically.

11. The Quotation Marks [ " " ] or [' ']

Quotation marks are also called inverted commas, speech marks or quotes. Use common sense to decide where other punctuation comes in relation to them. British and American usages differ at the end of the quoted text:
The Englishman said, "Carry on, chaps".
The American said, "Carry on, you guys."

Common sense dictates as follows:
"It is raining." The whole sentence, including the full stop forms the quotation.
John walked into the room and said, "It is raining". Only the last 3 words are quoted but the sentence is a complete unit from John to the end of the quotation so the full stop comes at the very end, after closing the quotation mark.
When a quotation comprises several sentences, the end quotation mark comes after completion of the last sentence, i.e. after the last full stop: He said, "It has been a long day. You look pretty exhausted. I suggest we go home."

a. They are used in pairs to enclose direct speech; that is, the exact words spoken:
"We've won!" she shouted.
When the words spoken come before the verb relating to the act of saying, they are followed by a comma (or [?] or [!]) before the closing inverted comma, not by a full stop, even though the spoken sentence has ended:
"I'm going to France soon," she declared.
The first word spoken has a capital letter. Where the spoken sentence is broken by the subject and verb of saying, the continued speech after the break is still the same spoken sentence and so continues with a small letter (unless the first word always has a capital letter):
"It is my wish," the comedian said, "to bring laughter to this troubled world."
In quoted speech lasting more than one paragraph, there is an initial quotation mark and one at the beginning of each subsequent paragraph (to indicate that the speech continues), but no quotation mark at the end of each paragraph (the speech has not finished), until the final closing quotation mark. Extended quotations are sometimes shown by indenting a whole section, without quotation marks.
Although sets of either single or double inverted commas can be used — different publishers have different conventions — using double inverted commas avoids possible confusion when an apostrophe follows a final "s". For example, in: are often called 'greengrocers' apostrophes', it is not immediately clear whether the marks after 'greengrocers' or 'apostrophes' are apostrophes or closing single quotation marks. It would be clearer to write: are often called "greengrocers' apostrophes".

b. Inverted commas are used in pairs to indicate direct quotations in writing. For quotations within quotations, one alternates single and double inverted commas: The colonel said: "My happiest times as a soldier were with 'the boys in the bush' in North Africa."

c. Inverted commas can also be used to enclose slang, dialect or foreign expressions, and technical terms or other terms that seem out of context:
(i) He punched him viciously in the 'bread basket'. [slang for stomach]
(ii) Her natural 'joie de vivre' [French for 'joy of living'] was accentuated by several glasses of champagne.

d. Inverted commas are sometimes used to enclose the titles of books, plays, poems, newspapers, etc., when quoted in writing, but such marks are often omitted. Italics are now often preferred to quotation marks for titles, slang and foreign expressions.

e. Inverted commas are used when a word is used in a sarcastic, ironic or figurative sense:
I don't know what the girls see in him; it must be his "good looks" [he is ugly].
She is our "Margaret Thatcher". [The strong lady of our group.]

12. The Slash [ / ]

The slash is also known as the solidus, the slant, the oblique or oblique stroke or simply the stroke. It is used in fractions: 3/5ths of the distance; in dates: 21/12/02;
to show alternatives: (i) Your coach/train/boat/plane ticket;
(ii) He/she should go... Both the forward slash (/) and the backslash (\) are used in computing.

13. The Caret

The last of these is also known as the circumflex accent in French and Portuguese, although it serves a different purpose in those languages; in English, the caret indicates where omitted material (usually shown above in smaller print) is to be inserted.
[The above symbols do not display correctly on all systems. They can be described thus: The first is an upside-down letter "y"; the second is an upside-down letter "V"; the third is exactly like the French circumflex accent.]

Written by the President of the Queen's English Society, Dr B. C. Lamb, who thanks Michael Gorman and Ray Ward for their very useful comments. This is a slightly amended version of the original 2008 printed version.
lV. Other Punctuation or Typographic Devices

1. The The Capital Letter [ A,B,C... ]

Capital letters, sometimes called upper-case letters, are visual symbols, helping the reader in the same way as punctuation marks. They are used in many places, including: the beginning of a sentence or piece of speech; in proper names (London, Joan Smith, River Thames, North Pole, Fleet Street, Senate House); in titles, for example, of people, plays, films, books and newspapers (the Prime Minister, Princess Diana, the Earl of Essex, the Managing Director, The Tempest, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Daily Telegraph); in days of the week; in months; in the name of God or other divine figures, and in the pronoun I. Capitals are not used for the seasons (spring, winter), nor for points of the compass unless part of a proper name: "Go east, to East Sheen." In titles, less important words such as a, of, or the, often do not have a capital letter, as in:The Applied Genetics of Humans, Animals, Plants and Fungi.
Be careful not to use a capital letter for a word which had a capital as part of a title, but is no longer part of a title: This morning Prince Charles opened the bridge over the River Crane. He then sailed up the river in a small yacht. In the second sentence, 'river' is not part of a title.
The importance of using the right case, upper or lower, is shown by the difference between a DSC and a DSc. A DSC is a military award, the Distinguished Service Cross, while a DSc is an academic higher doctorate, a Doctor of Science degree.
In scientific Latin names, by international convention, the genus always has a capital letter and the species always has a small (lower case) letter, even if based on a proper name: Salmonella typhimurium; Rosa chinensis; Homo sapiens. Newspapers frequently get such capitals and lower case letters wrong. In English, but not in some other languages, adjectives of nationality normally have a capital letter: a French wine; an American flag; German measles. Adjectives derived from proper names have a capital letter: Mendelian laws (from Mendel).

2. Italics [a,b,c,A,B,C, ]

Italics or cursive script, with sloping print, are used to show special emphasis, as in: "You were meant to come next Tuesday, not today!" If one read the sentence aloud, the part in italics would be read emphatically. Italics are also used for the titles of books, newspapers, films, and similar items.
Scientific names are usually printed in italics, as in Homo sapiens. Latin and other foreign words used in English are often printed in italics, such as in vitro [in glass, in scientific equipment], in vivo [in life], in situ [in place], jeu d'esprit [witticism]. In a priori [from first principles], having the a in italics helps to prevent one from initially misreading it as the indefinite article, 'a'.
Furthermore, as is clear from this Guide, italics are used to highlight the examples given, to make them stand out from the descriptive text.

3. Bold Type

Bold-face type is heavier than ordinary type. It is used to make certain words stand out from the rest, as in the headword entry in a dictionary, to distinguish it from that word's definition. It is used in this guide for section headings.

4. Underlining

Underlining or underscoring was used on old-fashioned typewriters for emphasis or Latin names. It has largely been replaced by bold type or italics, respectively. Underscored spaces are sometimes used in computing, especially in e-mail addresses, such as John_Smith@xyz.com. A wartime poster used underlining for emphasis, capital letters for clarity and impact, and moving to a new line as a kind of punctuation — but not consistently.
YOUR COURAGE
YOUR CHEERFULNESS
YOUR RESOLUTION
WILL BRING
US VICTORY

5. The Space

The space is not normally listed as a punctuation device but it is the commonest of all and is vital to show where one word ends and another begins. The earliest manuscripts had no spaces between the words, making them hard to read. Note the difference between The rapists are evil and Therapists are evil; Her cake was not iced and Her cake was noticed; The joy of his life was a trophy and The joy of his life was atrophy. A space can change a specific type, such as a blackbird, into a general type, such as a black bird, which includes crows and rooks. As mentioned under "full stop" earlier in this guide, it is advisable to use two consecutive spaces between sentences for ease of reading.

V. Computers and Character sets

Early computers used only a limited set of characters familiar to Americans. Various later attempts have been made to provide much fuller character sets including foreign letters, accented letters and various currency symbols, e.g., ß, é, ¥. There have been different systems at different times, and the extra characters used on one computer may come out differently on other computers or printers. Since the mid-nineties, the main computing systems have been Windows and Unicode (including Microsoft's 16-bit coding) and the UTF-8 generally used in Linux systems.
The following punctuation marks are part of the original ASCII character set and should transfer without problems: full stop, colon, semicolon, question mark, exclamation mark, hyphen, slash, brackets (round, square, curly); the old vertical single and double quotes (the same for opening and closing quotations). Problems may arise with: "curly quotes" or braces, single and double (where opening and closing quotes differ), en-dash, em-dash, ellipsis, caret, raised decimal point, currency symbols, accented and foreign letters.
When using Microsoft Windows, extended character sets can be found using Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Character Map, then choose the font required and scroll down to find the desired character. This can then be copied [Ctrl C] and pasted [Ctrl V] or one can record the key combination to use with the Num Lock on; for example, Alt+0183 for a raised decimal point [·], Alt+094 for a [^] caret.

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Basic Written English - Part 2

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1. The Full Stop a. This is the strongest punctuation mark, making the most definite pause (in reading aloud or silently) when used at the end of a sentence. As shown in the previous examples, it is used at the end of sentences unless they are questions, strong exclamations or strong commands. It is also called a period and...