The Units of Essay writing: Using Punctuation marks
The aim of any form of essay writing, personal or formal, is to communicate one’s ideas. A good grasp of the rudiments and units of composition is a prerequisite for an effective communication. No matter how unique your ideas are, if they are not presented to the reader clearly, your essay will lose its impact. A careless placement of a period, colon or a comma can make your writing vague and misleading. If you want to master the skill of essay writing, you must first train yourself in the rudiments of grammar.
Just as pronunciation of a word plays a vital role in comprehension and communication in spoken language, punctuation marks helps in effective communication of views in writing, be it an essay or a dissertation proposal.
Commas: The most common use of a comma (,) is to separate words, phrases and clauses in series. But it also essential to know the other useful placements. A comma should occur-
1. Before a coordinating conjunction.( and, but, for, nor , yet etc.) joining independent clauses in a sentence.
2. Between coordinate adjectives.
3.To set off parenthetical comment.
Semicolons: Semicolon (;) is widely used in between commas. When a sentence has separate words in a series which are qualified with an adjective, we place semicolons. eg. I have invited Sandra, a college friend; Massie, a Colleague; and Lara, a neighbour; for my brother’s wedding.
Colons: The colon (:) is used between the two parts of a sentence where the first part states and the next part elaborates. It is also used in introducing a list .
Hyphens: All kinds of compound words are separated with a hyphen(-). Eg. hard-and-fast, sixth-floor apartment, post-Victorian.
Apostrophe: The main use of apostrophe is to denote possession. It is also used to form contractions in informal writing. It should be noticed that apostrophe of noun ending in s, or of a plural noun will only have an apostrophe mark. Eg. The zebra’s stripe ( for a singular noun), James’ car ( For a singular noun ending in s), tourists’ luggage. ( For plural noun).
Parenthesis: Parenthesis is used to enclose a sentence in between a sentence that interrupts the train of thought. For example, This black bag- my sister gifted me on my birthday- is mine. A parenthesis can also be used instead of a colon to introduce a list.
Period, Question Marks or Exclamation marks: These are used in ending a sentence. A period is used in ending a declarative sentence. Question marks follow interrogative sentences. Exclamation marks- which are common in informal writing but must be avoided in dissertation writing- are used to end expressions.
A punctuation mark is not an optional frill added to essay writing, it adds clarity to writing by organizing thoughts into logical units at the same time bringing a few ideas into greater prominence than others.
