English Punctuation Guide - English Writing Lesson

Summary

In this lesson by Oxford Online English, Kasia guides us through the intricate world of English punctuation. The video dissects various punctuation marks, discussing their significance and proper use in English writing. The lesson highlights full stops, commas, colons, semicolons, apostrophes, hyphens, dashes, speech marks, parentheses, question marks, and exclamation marks, emphasizing their roles and rules across British and American English. Viewers learn about punctuation in context, such as sentence construction, contractions, lists, abbreviations, and quotations. The lesson wraps up with a challenge to identify personal punctuation confusion zones.

Highlights

• Learn about the most common English punctuation marks and their usage!
• Dabble into the differences between British and American styles of punctuation.
• Understand the importance of full sentences and punctuation in clarity.
• Discover how full stops work in abbreviations like 'BBC' and 'i.e.'
• Figure out when to use commas in lists versus additional sentence info.
• See how colons and semicolons connect related ideas differently.
• Pit hyphens against dashes, and grasp their unique uses.
• Find out why speech marks matter in both quoting and sarcasm!
• Get the essentials on parentheses and when to use them over commas or dashes.
• Master question and exclamation marks for impactful writing!

Key Takeaways

• Full stops (periods) end full sentences. They punctuate complete grammatical structures!
• Commas divide elements and introduce non-essential info. Use them wisely! 😊
• Colons introduce details, examples, or explanations following a general statement.
• Semicolons link related ideas, adding nuance without extra words.
• Hyphens and dashes connect words or add extra information, but they’re not the same!
• Speech marks can quote words directly or express sarcasm and irony.
• Parentheses add extra (and often non-essential) information efficiently.
• Question and exclamation marks express inquiries and emotions — use them sparingly!
• Explore your punctuation pain points and practice! ✍️

Overview

English punctuation is not just about dots and dashes—it’s about clarity and communication. Kasia from Oxford Online English helps demystify the basic rules, showcasing how to avoid common traps like the unnecessary comma or the dangling dash. With a focus on clarity, the video walks you through setting full stops, crafting compound adjectives with hyphens, and the subtle art of semicolon use! 🎓

Deepen your understanding with a peek into the variations of punctuation between British and American English. Ever wondered why ‘Mr.’ sometimes becomes ‘Mister.’ or how ‘AM’ and ‘PM’ style choices differ? The lesson navigates these tricky waters, turning potential pitfalls into stepping stones for advanced writing.

Punctuation punctuates your writing—literally. With speech marks, parentheses, and question/exclamation marks, Kasia wraps up the essentials, ensuring your sentences flow smoothly while retaining the intended tone. This guide is an invitation to explore where you trip up with punctuation and to smooth out those creases for impeccable English writing! 📘

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Punctuation In this chapter, Kasia from Oxford Online English introduces the topic of English punctuation. She explains that the lesson will cover the most common punctuation marks, their names, and their uses. The lesson is structured into multiple sections, allowing viewers to select the parts they need. Kasia emphasizes the importance of using punctuation correctly in English writing to avoid making a bad impression or causing misunderstandings.
• 00:30 - 03:00: Full Stops and Abbreviations The chapter introduces the importance of improving English writing proficiency and directs learners to resources available on Oxford Online English website. It highlights the availability of free lessons and the option to take personalized lessons with professional teachers. Additionally, the chapter sets the stage to explore one of the fundamental English punctuation marks.
• 03:00 - 05:00: Commas The chapter titled 'Commas' discusses the use of punctuation, focusing specifically on the use of a full stop, also known as a period in American English. It explains the proper placement of a full stop at the end of a full sentence, emphasizing that no space should be before the full stop, but there should be one after. The text includes examples of both short and simple, as well as longer and more complex, sentences to illustrate the proper use of a full stop.
• 05:00 - 08:00: Colons and Semicolons The chapter titled 'Colons and Semicolons' discusses the proper usage of colons and semicolons in English grammar. It emphasizes the importance of understanding what constitutes a full sentence and ensures that punctuation is used correctly. The text provides an example of incorrect punctuation and explains how it should be fixed by identifying the first part as a complete sentence. The explanation stresses the necessity of using a full stop or a semicolon instead of a comma to separate complete sentences.
• 08:00 - 10:00: Apostrophes The chapter titled 'Apostrophes' discusses the importance of understanding sentence structure and the use of English punctuation, specifically focusing on conjunctions and abbreviations. It emphasizes the use of full stops in abbreviations, describing three types of abbreviations: one being abbreviations that never use full stops, such as 'BBC', 'CIA', or 'UN'.
• 10:00 - 15:00: Hyphens and Dashes This chapter discusses the use of hyphens and dashes in abbreviations. It first emphasizes the use of full stops in specific abbreviations such as 'e.g.', 'i.e.', and 'etc.' The chapter then touches on abbreviations that can either be used with or without full stops, providing examples such as 'mister', 'doctor', and time designations like 'AM' and 'PM'.
• 15:00 - 18:30: Speech Marks The chapter "Speech Marks" discusses the differences in punctuation and capitalization usage between British and American English. It highlights that titles such as 'mister', 'Mrs', and 'doctor' are typically written without a full stop in British English, whereas a full stop is included in American English. Additionally, it notes the variations in writing AM and PM, where British English often uses lower-case letters with full stops, and American English prefers capital letters without full stops.
• 18:30 - 20:00: Parentheses The chapter on 'Parentheses' explores the usage and rules pertaining to parentheses. It mentions that while there are common practices in writing, individuals can choose their preferred format. The discussion extends to the use of commas, highlighting their three main functions with a focus on using commas to separate items in a list, exemplified by a sentence about a house with various features.
• 20:00 - 20:00: Question and Exclamation Marks The chapter addresses the use of punctuation marks, specifically focusing on question and exclamation marks. It provides guidance on using 'and' between the last two items in a list and the optional use of a comma before 'and'. It also discusses the necessity of using commas with conjunctions such as 'and', 'but', 'so', and 'or', providing examples for clarity.

English Punctuation Guide - English Writing Lesson Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hi, I’m Kasia. Welcome to Oxford Online English! In this lesson, you can learn about English punctuation. You’ll see the most common punctuation marks in English, what they’re called, and how to use them. This lesson has many sections. If you want, you can just watch the sections you need. Using punctuation correctly is critical for your English writing. Punctuation problems can make a bad impression or lead to misunderstandings.
• 00:30 - 01:00 If you need to improve your English writing, check out our website: Oxford Online English dot com. There are many free lessons to help you with your writing, or you can take writing lessons with one of our professional teachers. But first, let’s look at one of the most basic English punctuation marks.
• 01:00 - 01:30 A full stop is also called a period in American English. Use a full stop at the end of a full sentence. Don’t put a space before the full stop; put one after. A full sentence could be short and simple, like this: ‘I got there early.’ A full sentence could also be longer and more complex, like this: ‘Although my train arrived
• 01:30 - 02:00 late, and I was sure I wouldn’t make it on time, I actually got there slightly early.’ Be careful; the idea of a ‘full sentence’ is not flexible, and it depends on the grammatical structure of the sentence. For example, can you see the mistake in this sentence? The first part, which ends with the word ‘there’, is a full sentence. You can’t choose to put a comma and continue; you need a full stop, or a semicolon, or you
• 02:00 - 02:30 need to add a conjunction. Learning about sentence structure, and how to make clauses into longer sentences, is important if you want to use English punctuation correctly. Full stops are also used in some abbreviations—when you make words shorter. There are three kinds of abbreviation. One: abbreviations which *never* have full stops, like ‘BBC’, ‘CIA’ or ‘UN’.
• 02:30 - 03:00 Two: abbreviations which *always* use full stops, like ‘e.g.’, ‘i.e.’ or ‘etc.’ Three… wait, can you guess? Some abbreviations are sometimes written with full stops, and sometimes without. For example, mister, doctor, or AM and PM for talking about the time.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Titles, like ‘mister’, ‘Mrs’ or ‘doctor’, are generally written without a full stop in British English, and with one in American English. In British English, it’s more common to write AM and PM in lower-case letters with full stops. In American English, it’s more common to use capital letters and no full stops.
• 03:30 - 04:00 However, both forms are commonly used and you can choose which you prefer. Commas have three main jobs. Two of them are very simple. First, use a comma to separate items in a list, like this: ‘Their house has two bedrooms, a large living room, two bathrooms and a terrace.’ After each item in your list, put a comma.
• 04:00 - 04:30 Use the word ‘and’ between the last two items on your list: ‘To make this, you’ll need eggs, flour and sugar.’ You can choose to put a comma before ‘and’ or not. Both styles are possible! You also need a comma with certain conjunctions, particularly ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘so’ and ‘or’. For example: ‘You can ask her, but I don’t think she’ll agree.’
• 04:30 - 05:00 ‘I won’t be there till ten, so don’t wait for me.’ The last way to use commas is also the most complicated. Use a comma—or often two commas, in a pair—to add non-essential information to your sentence. What does ‘non-essential’ mean? It means that you could remove the information, and the sentence would still make sense and
• 05:00 - 05:30 have the same basic meaning. This is common when you use an adverb or linking phrase at the start of a sentence. For example: ‘Apparently, he’s been suffering from depression for several years.’ It’s also common when you add extra information in the middle of a sentence, like this: ‘Yakutsk, which is in northern Siberia, has the coldest winters of any city in the world.’
• 05:30 - 06:00 Colons have one main job: they introduce examples, explanations or details. Look at one example: ‘Rapid urbanisation has led to multiple problems: congestion, air pollution and a shortage of affordable housing for families.’ Here, the sentence before the colon mentions a general idea—multiple problems—and the
• 06:00 - 06:30 sentence after the colon explains what these problems are. This is very common with colons; you mention something general before the colon, then you explain it in more detail after the colon. Let’s see two more examples of this: ‘I can promise you one thing: you won’t regret your decision.’ ‘He left all of his money to his best friend in the whole world: his cat.’
• 06:30 - 07:00 Semicolons are most similar to a full stop. They’re used at the end of a full sentence. So, what’s the difference? Using a semicolon shows that your ideas before and after the semicolon are connected. For example: ‘He’s so stubborn; it’s impossible to convince him to change his ideas
• 07:00 - 07:30 even a little.’ Here, you have two sentences, but they’re both talking about the same idea: him and his stubborn character. The semicolon emphasises that the ideas are connected. You never *need* to use a semicolon, but they can be very useful. Using a semicolon is a very easy way to make connections between your ideas, which can help you to write clearly and efficiently.
• 07:30 - 08:00 When you use a semicolon, you don’t need to use any conjunctions or linking phrases. For example: ‘Companies won’t consider applications which look rushed; it’s better to apply to fewer companies, but put more time into each application.’ However, there are some linking words which can be used with a semicolon, like ‘however’:
• 08:00 - 08:30 ‘I don’t regret it; however, I would do things differently if I had another chance.’ Like commas, apostrophes have more than one job, which can make them more difficult to use correctly. Firstly, use an apostrophe in contractions to replace a missing letter. For example: ‘She doesn’t eat cheese.’
• 08:30 - 09:00 ‘You’re right about that.’ You also use an apostrophe to show that something belongs to a person: ‘Why have you got Dean’s jacket?’ You can even connect multiple nouns together like this: ‘Her mother’s cousin’s son won a Nobel Prize.’ What if the word you want to use already ends with ‘s’? Here’s the rule: if the ‘s’ after the apostrophe is pronounced, then you should
• 09:00 - 09:30 write it, too: ‘We met at Boris’s barbecue.’ If you don’t pronounce an extra ‘s’, then don’t write one; just add an apostrophe to the end of the word, like this: ‘We could stay at my parents’ house for a couple of days.’ Finally, you don’t generally use an apostrophe to write plurals. Even if you’re making a proper name plural, like: ‘There were four Ambers in my group’,
• 09:30 - 10:00 you don’t use an apostrophe for the plural. However, there’s one exception to this. Do you know it? If you need to make a letter plural, then you add an apostrophe, like this: ‘How many m’s are there in ‘accommodation’?’ Hyphens are used to make compound words, especially compound adjectives.
• 10:00 - 10:30 Compound words are words made of two or more other words. For example: ‘It’s a six-hour flight to Mumbai.’ The adjective ‘six-hour’ is made from the two words ‘six’ and ‘hour’, and you use a hyphen to connect the two parts. Here’s another example: ‘It was surprisingly tasty for a five-dollar meal.’
• 10:30 - 11:00 However, hyphen use in compound words is inconsistent and changing. Generally, the trend is to use fewer hyphens, but there are some cases where you need to use a hyphen every time. Compound words made with numbers almost always have hyphens. For example: ‘They have a three-year-old daughter.’ The adjective ‘three-year-old’ is made with a number, and it’s always written with
• 11:00 - 11:30 hyphens. You also need to use hyphens when you use certain prefixes, like ‘ex-’ or ‘self-’. Words with the prefix ‘non-’ are also often hyphenated. For example: ‘His ex-wife was promoted and is now his direct manager.’ ‘Non-smokers generally need to pay much less for health insurance.’
• 11:30 - 12:00 ‘Self-driving cars may become popular one day, but for now the technology is too underdeveloped.’ If you add a prefix to a proper noun or a number, you also need a hyphen, as in: ‘anti-European’ ‘post-1950 politics’ Finally, you also need to use a hyphen in compound numbers and fractions. For example: ‘three-quarters of the population’
• 12:00 - 12:30 ‘twenty-three’ ‘twenty-three’ If you're not sure whether to use a hyphen in a number or not, just write the number. Dashes might look like hyphens, but they aren’t the same. First, there are two kinds of dashes, called en dashes and em dashes. En dashes have a space on either side of the dash – like this.
• 12:30 - 13:00 Em dashes join onto the words before and after—like this. You don’t need to worry about this; both en dashes and em dashes do the same job. Choose one and stick with it. So, what do you use dashes for? Dashes are used to add extra information to a sentence. Remember that commas can also do this.
• 13:00 - 13:30 ‘Extra’ information means that you could remove the information from the sentence and everything would still make sense. Dashes are preferable when the extra information doesn’t fit well with the grammar or flow of the sentence. For example: ‘He had escaped—or so he thought.’ Whether something fits the ‘flow’ of your sentence or not is subjective.
• 13:30 - 14:00 That means you can often choose whether to use dashes or commas to add some extra information to your sentence. For example: ‘The number of stars in the Milky Way—including many which are undetectable—is estimated to be over 400 billion.’ Here, you could replace the dashes with commas. Both versions are correct. However, we recommend choosing dashes when you can.
• 14:00 - 14:30 That’s because dashes only do one job, whereas commas can do multiple jobs. Using dashes makes things clearer, because your reader doesn’t have to think about why the punctuation is there. There are two kinds of speech marks: single and double. Often, they do the same thing, and it doesn’t matter which you use.
• 14:30 - 15:00 However, we recommend that you use double speech marks when you’re quoting what someone said. For example: He stood up and said “I wouldn’t do it if you paid me a million dollars.” “Being lucky is more important than being talented,” were the first words of her speech. Before the speech marks, you can put a comma, a colon, or nothing.
• 15:00 - 15:30 Using a comma is more common, but we recommend you use nothing, because it’s more efficient. Whatever you choose, try to be consistent! There are also different opinions about whether final punctuation—like a full stop at the end of a quote—should go inside or outside the speech marks. Again, it doesn’t really matter; the most important thing is to be consistent.
• 15:30 - 16:00 Speech marks can be used in other ways, too. Look at two examples: Paying 100 euros for ‘luxury economy’ was not a good idea! Many cities in the ‘special economic development zone’ are practically ghost towns. Speech marks can be used to express irony, sarcasm or scepticism. For example, putting ‘luxury economy’ in speech marks shows that there was nothing
• 16:00 - 16:30 luxurious about the plane journey. In the second example, you put ‘special economic development zone’ in speech marks to express irony; if many cities are ghost towns, then there’s clearly not much economic development there. You also use speech marks when you refer to words as words.
• 16:30 - 17:00 What does that mean? Look at two examples: ‘Millennium’ is a difficult word to spell! Why did you use ‘plethora’ here?’ Here, the words ‘millennium’ and ‘plethora’ are used indirectly, to refer to the words themselves, rather than the ideas. Generally, we recommend using double speech marks to quote what someone said, and single speech marks for everything else.
• 17:00 - 17:30 However, you may see different styles. Like commas and dashes, parentheses can be used to add some extra, non-essential information to your sentence. Often, the information in parentheses is a date, a name or a statistic. For example: ‘Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893-1930) was one of the most famous poets of the revolution
• 17:30 - 18:00 era.’ ‘The percentage of under-30s doing regular exercise was lower (45%) than that of people over 45 (52%).’ Using parentheses to add statistics and figures is an efficient method to add numbers and other supporting data to your writing. You can also use parentheses to show that your reader can choose how to understand what
• 18:00 - 18:30 you’re saying. For example: ‘Write your suggestion(s) here.’ By adding ‘s’ in parentheses, you mean that you can write one suggestion, or more than one, as you prefer. Try to avoid using parentheses to add longer ideas to your sentence. For example: ‘Consumption of processed meat (which has been linked to many diseases, including
• 18:30 - 19:00 colon cancer) is rising in many parts of the world.’ This is not a good example of using parentheses. It would be better to add the additional information using commas or dashes instead. In this case, commas would be best. Question marks are simple to use; add them at the end of a direct question, like this:
• 19:00 - 19:30 ‘What time is it?’ ‘How old are you?’ Direct questions can be longer, with more complex structure: ‘Could you tell me how to get to the train station?’ However, if you’re reporting what someone else said, then it’s not a question, and you shouldn’t use a question mark: ‘She asked me how to get to the train station.’ Exclamation marks add some emphasis or emotion to a sentence.
• 19:30 - 20:00 For example: ‘It’s so cold in here!’ ‘There’s a snake!’ Unless you’re writing something very informal, it’s generally good style to use exclamation marks minimally. Overusing them will make them meaningless. Like most final punctuation, you shouldn’t put a space before a question mark or an exclamation
• 20:00 - 20:30 mark, but you do need a space afterwards. OK, we have a question for you: which English punctuation do you find the most confusing? Please let us know in the comments! Thanks for watching! See you next time!