PUNCTUATION MASTERCLASS - Learn Punctuation Easily in 30 Minutes - Comma, Semicolon, Period, Etc.

Hello, and welcome back.

In this lesson, I’m going to teach you the rules for using the seven most important punctuation

marks, so that you can write correct English without making mistakes.

There are exercises within the lesson to help you practice, and as always there is a final

quiz at the end of the video.

So, if you’re ready, let’s begin.

We’re going to start with terminal punctuation.

‘Terminal’ means the end, so terminal punctuation marks are what we use to end a

sentence.

There are three of these: the period or the full stop, the exclamation mark, and the question

mark.

Let’s look at the period first.

This mark is called the period in American English (AmE means American English), and

it’s called the full stop in British English.

It is used to mark the end of declarative and imperative sentences.

I’ll explain.

Here are some examples: “I teach English.”

“We had pizza for dinner last night.”

“If it rains tomorrow, I’ll bring my umbrella.”

These sentences are called declarative sentences because they declare something; they give

us some information.

And at the end of each sentence, you see a period or full stop.

Imperative sentences are commands or requests: “Please don’t feed the animals.”

You might see this on a sign in a zoo.

“Let me know what time your flight arrives.”

“If it rains tomorrow, bring your umbrella.”

Let’s now turn to the exclamation mark.

It is used to convey strong emotion or feeling.

Have a look at these two sentences: Both of them mean the same thing.

The first sentence, which ends in a period, has no special feeling or emotion; it’s

like saying “I’m really excited about my new job.”

Doesn’t sound like I’m very excited, does it?

That’s why we use the exclamation mark: “I’m really excited about my new job!”

– it tells our reader to read the sentence with emotion – in this sentence, the emotion

is excitement.

This next sentence: “If you come to work late tomorrow, you’re fired!”

Imagine a manger saying this to an employee.

So, this expresses anger.

In the same way, you can show many other feelings including surprise, joy, fear etc. using the

exclamation mark.

Now, both of these sentences are declarative, but you can also use the exclamation mark

in an imperative sentence like this one: “Johnny, don’t play with your food!”

You can imagine a mother saying that angrily to her son.

So, it’s a strong or strict command.

Another place where we use the exclamation mark is after interjections.

Here are a couple of sentences: “Ouch!

You just stepped on my foot!”

“Wow!

What a beautiful house!”

Interjections are words like “ouch” and “wow” which are used to express feelings.

So, remember: if you want to convey strong emotion in a sentence, put an exclamation

mark at the end of it.

If there’s no special feeling, just end the sentence with a period.

OK, let’s turn now to the third terminal punctuation symbol: the question mark.

It is used to mark the end of a question.

So, it’s very straightforward: if a sentence is a question, then put a question mark at

the end of it.

Here are some examples: “What do you do?”

“Are we allowed to feed the animals?”

“If it rains tomorrow, should I bring my umbrella?”

“Are you excited about your new job?”

“Who lives in that house?”

So, the rule is: if a sentence is a question, it must end with a question mark.

Alright, let’s do a small exercise now.

There are four sentences on the screen.

I want you to add periods or full stops, exclamation marks and question marks where necessary.

Stop the video, think about your answers, then play the video and check.

OK, here are the answers.

If you want, stop the video again, check your answers, then play the video and continue.

Before we move on to the next topic, a quick note on spacing.

Notice that there is no space between the last letter of a sentence and the terminal

punctuation mark.

If you put a space there, it’s wrong.

But, when you begin a new sentence, you should leave a space after the terminal mark, and

you should start the new sentence with a capital letter.

Capital letters are called uppercase letters and small letters are called lowercase letters.

OK, now let’s move on to the next topic – pauses.

There are, again, three marks that fall under this category: the comma, the semicolon, and

the colon.

These are called pauses because they are used to tell the reader to stop briefly (for a

moment), and then continue reading.

Let’s start with the comma.

Yes, it’s pronounced /ˈkɑː.mə/, not /ˈkə.mə/ or /ˈkoʊ.mə/, /ˈkɑː.mə/.

This mark has four main uses.

The first is to separate items in a list.

For example: “We need to buy milk, eggs, flour, and sugar for the cake.”

There are four items in this list separated by commas.

Notice how when we read the sentence, we naturally pause after each item in the list – “milk,

eggs, flour, and sugar”.

The job of the commas is to show these pauses.

Now, your English teacher in school may have taught you that it’s wrong to put that last

comma before ‘and’.

But there’s no rule about it – it’s really your choice.

You can include that comma, or you can leave it out if you wish.

I like to always put it there to avoid confusion.

Now, if you only have two items, don’t use a comma: “We need to buy eggs and flour

for the cake.”

But if you have more than two, put a comma after every list item except the last.

Also, notice that there is no space before the commas but there is a space after each

one.

This is the correct formatting.

Please remember that.

Here are two more examples: “The car is spacious, stylish, and affordable.”

“Why don’t you go upstairs, take a shower, and get ready to leave?”

In this last sentence, the list items are not just single words; they’re verb phrases.

So, this is the first use.

The second use of the comma is to separate words that are not part of the sentence.

Take this example: “Unfortunately, he missed his flight.”

Here, the main sentence is “He missed his flight.”

The word “unfortunately” is an extra – it just expresses my opinion about the sentence.

This type of word is called a sentence adverb.

Words like “frankly”, “hopefully”, “sadly” etc. are some more examples.

One more sentence: “Frankly, I don’t care whether she agrees with my decision or not.”

Here, “frankly” is the opinion word – the sentence adverb.

In both of these examples, the comma helps to set the sentence adverb apart from the

main sentence.

Another form of extra information is forms of address, like names: “Emma, can you come

here and help me with this?”

Emma is a name.

The words sir or madam are also forms of address: “Sir, please have a seat.”

“Ma’am, can I get you something to drink?”

Notice the commas after the name and after “sir” and “ma’am.”

This brings me to an important point about formal letters and emails.

In the salutation, that is, in the greeting, we use “Dear”; we say “Dear sir”,

“Dear madam”, or “Dear sir or madam” or the name of a person like “Dear Sita”.

Should you put a comma at the end?

Well, the answer is different for American and British English.

In British English, you should always put a comma at the end.

In American English, a colon should be used instead.

In the closing, the most common formal expressions are “Yours faithfully”, “Yours sincerely”

and “Yours truly” (which is a little less formal), but after all of these, you must

always put a comma.

This is true for both American and British English.

The third use of the comma is to separate linking words like however, therefore, for

example, in fact, of course etc.

These words connect one sentence to another sentence.

Here are some examples: “Her parents wanted her to be a doctor.

However, she had other plans.”

“This is a great book.

In fact, it is one of the best I have ever read.”

In these sentences, the linking words “however” and “in fact” are at the beginning of

the sentence, and there is a comma after them.

But they can also occur in the middle of the sentence like this, and the meaning is the

same.

Now, you see that we use two commas to clearly separate the linking words from the rest of

the sentence.

Sometimes, the linking words can also occur at the end.

In that case, one comma is enough because the sentence then ends with the period.

The fourth and final use of the comma is with clauses.

What is a clause?

A clause is just like a sentence.

Here are two examples: “We went to the beach last weekend.”

“When Rahul gets home from work” Notice that the first one is a full, complete sentence.

So, this is called an independent clause.

But the second one is not complete.

If I say, “When Rahul gets home from work,” you will ask, “OK, what does he do?”

So, this is called a dependent clause.

We need to finish the sentence by adding an independent clause, so “When Rahul gets

home from work, he watches TV for an hour.”

That first clause “When Rahul gets home from work” is called dependent because it

depends on the independent clause (“he watches TV for an hour”) to be a complete sentence.

The dependent clause is sometimes also called a subordinate clause, but it means the same

thing.

Remember: an independent clause is a complete sentence, and a dependent or subordinate clause

is not complete; it needs to be connected to an independent clause to be a full sentence.

So, now that you know the basics of clauses, let’s talk about the correct use of commas

with them.

There are six sentences on the screen.

Each sentence has two clauses but there are no commas.

I want you to just try the exercise – put commas where you think they are needed.

Stop the video, think about your answers, then play the video again and check.

Alright, let’s discuss the answers.

In the first sentence, there are two independent clauses – “They offered him a promotion”

is the first one.

“He accepted it immediately” is the second one.

These clauses are independent because each one can be a complete sentence.

Whenever you connect two independent clauses in the same sentence, you must put a comma

after the first one.

But that’s not enough.

You must use a word like ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘or’, or ‘so’ to connect the clauses

– these words are called coordinating conjunctions (coordinating just means connecting).

In this sentence, I’ve used ‘and’.

Now if you don’t use a conjunction, it’s wrong.

It’s actually a common error and it’s called a comma splice – that’s when you

use just a comma to connect two independent clauses.

So, the rule is when you want to connect two independent clauses using a comma, write the

first clause, put a comma after it and put the correct coordinating conjunction, then

write the second clause.

Here are some more examples: “I waited for the doctor for over two hours, but she never

came.”

“We can go out for dinner, or we can just order in some Chinese.”

“They’ve never been to Vietnam, so they’re going there on vacation this year.”

In all of these, we have two independent clauses connected by a comma and then a conjunction.

Exercise sentences number two and three deal with connecting a dependent clause to an independent

clause.

In number two, we have a dependent clause first – “If you study more,” – this

clause is dependent because it is not complete.

The second clause – “your grades might improve” is independent.

So, here’s the rule: if the dependent or subordinate clause comes first, put a comma

after it.

In number three, the first clause is independent – “I was so happy” and the second clause

is dependent – “when I heard the news.”

So, now, the order is reversed.

If the subordinate or dependent clause comes second, then you don’t use a comma.

So, this sentence is correct as it is – no comma should be used here.

Let’s move on to the next three sentences.

In these, we have a special type of subordinate clause – the relative clause, also called

the adjective clause because it gives information about a noun.

A relative clause is introduced by a relative pronoun – who, which, whom, that or a relative

adverb like when, where or why.

In sentence number four, the relative clause is “who won the Nobel Prize in Physics this

year.”

It gives information about the noun “scientist” – that is, it tells who that scientist is.

Now, what happens when we remove this clause?

“That lady is the scientist.”

That lady is what scientist?

I don’t understand.

So, this relative clause cannot be removed from the sentence, and it is called an essential

relative clause (‘essential’ means it’s very important).

The rule is that we don’t use commas with essential relative clauses.

But, in number five, we have something different.

There is a relative clause – “which is the last day of the year” – it gives information

about New Year’s Eve.

But this clause can be removed.

“People love to celebrate New Year’s Eve.”

The meaning is still clear.

So, the clause is called non-essential.

It’s not so important – it just gives some extra information.

We separate non-essential relative clauses with a comma.

OK, what about number six?

Here, we find a relative clause in the middle of the sentence – “whom you met at the

party”.

It gives information about Oliver.

So, let me ask you: is this essential or non-essential?

It’s non-essential because you can remove it and the sentence still makes sense – “My

friend Oliver just got a job at Apple.”

So, we separate it from the rest of the sentence, but we use two commas this time because the

relative clause is in the middle.

So, these are all the rules for punctuating clauses correctly.

Let’s do another exercise now.

This time, it’s for all the uses of the comma.

Stop the video, put commas in the correct places in these sentences, then play the video

again and check.

OK, here are the answers.

If you want, stop the video again, check your answers, then play the video and continue.

Alright, the next mark in the category of pauses is the semicolon.

This mark is used to combine closely related sentences.

Here’s an example: “I went to see a movie with my wife.

I thought it was amazing.

She thought it was terrible.”

These two sentences are very closely related – “I thought it was amazing” (that’s

my opinion); “she thought it was terrible” – that’s her opinion.

So, instead of ending a sentence and starting a new one, we can do two things: we can either

use the conjunction “but” – “I thought it was amazing, but she thought it was terrible.”

In that case, we have two independent clauses, so remember that we need a comma between them.

Or we can just use a semicolon – “I thought it was amazing; she thought it was terrible”.

So, we have combined the two clauses into a single sentence without a conjunction.

But, there are some types of linking words which we can use with a semicolon.

These are called conjunctive adverbs – words like however, therefore, for example, in fact,

of course etc.

We discussed them in the section on commas.

Do you remember these two sentences: “Her parents wanted her to be a doctor.

However, she had other plans.”

“This is a great book.

In fact, it is one of the best I have ever read.”

In both, we first have one sentence which ends with a period.

Then, a new sentence begins with the linking words “however” and “in fact.”

But there’s another way to write these sentences.

Instead of the period or the full-stop, you can also use a semicolon.

If you do that, the second clause should begin with a lowercase letter because it’s now

part of the same sentence.

The meaning is still the same, but the semicolon makes the clauses look more connected.

So, remember that with conjunctive adverbs, you can either use a period to end the first

sentence and start the next one, or you can use a semicolon to combine the two clauses

into one single sentence.

As with the other punctuation marks we’ve discussed so far, we leave no space before

the semicolon, but we leave a single space after it.

OK, now we move on to the last punctuation mark in the category of pauses, and that is

the colon.

The colon has one purpose: to introduce information after an independent clause.

Here are two lists introduced by colons: “Danny’s seafood restaurant specializes in four items:

prawn, shrimp, crab, and lobster.”

“Whenever you drive, you must do the following: wear your seat belt, obey traffic laws, and

keep your eyes on the road.”

The information that comes after the colon can also be a clause rather than list items:

“Let me make this very clear: if you fail another test, I’m taking away all your video

games.”

“I’d love to move to Japan, but there’s one big problem: I don’t speak any Japanese!”

In all of these examples, I want you to notice that before the colon, there is an independent

clause or a complete sentence.

This is very important.

But notice what happens when we rewrite the first sentence like this: “Danny’s seafood

restaurant specializes in prawn, shrimp, crab, and lobster.”

Now, we cannot use a colon after ‘in’ because up to that word, “Danny’s seafood

restaurant specializes in”, is not a full, complete sentence – it’s not an independent

clause.

We can rewrite other sentences as well: you see these on the screen now.

If you want, stop the video and read them.

So, remember that we only use a colon after a complete sentence, also known as an independent

clause.

There is an exception though, and that is in titles and headings, where we want to save

space.

In those places, you will see colons used after single words or phrases (you will see

that in the headings of this lesson as well), but, in general, use a colon only after an

independent clause.

When you use a colon, don’t leave a space before it, but do leave a space after it.

Alright, it’s time for another exercise now.

There are five sentences; in each one, I want you to add commas, semicolons and colons wherever

necessary.

Stop the video, think about your answers, then play the video again and check.

OK, here are the answers.

If you want, stop the video again, check your answers, then play the video and continue.

And, finally, we move on to the last punctuation mark in our lesson – the apostrophe.

This is used for two purposes: the first is to mark contraction.

Contraction is when we combine two words into a single word as in these examples: “I’m

a teacher.”

“She’s waiting at the bus stop.”

“He’d never take a bribe.”

Here, we see “I am” shortened to “I’m” – that’s the contraction.

And then, we have “She’s” which is “She is” (it can also be ‘she has’ in a different

situation) and “He’d” which is “He would” here (but it can also be “he had”).

And there are many other contractions in English.

The apostrophe is used to indicate that certain letters have been omitted or removed to make

the contraction.

So, always check to make sure that you are putting the apostrophe in the correct place.

For example: “Pedro does not like the idea.”

We can shorten “does not” to “doesn’t” by removing the “o” in not.

So, we put the apostrophe in the place of the “o.”

You cannot put it anywhere else.

Another important thing with contractions is that you can only shorten and combine two

words at a time, not more than that.

Take this sentence: “They are not coming to the party.”

So, “They aren’t coming to the party.”

is correct.

The contraction is “aren’t” – “are” plus “not.”

“They’re not coming to the party.”

is also correct.

The contraction is “They’re” – “they” plus “are.”

But you cannot write “They’re’nt coming to the party.”

That’s not possible.

In fact, it’s wrong in speech as well.

So, remember: you can only contract two words at a time.

This is the first use.

The second use of apostrophes is to mark possession.

Possession refers to ownership or relationship.

For example: “Have you seen Anita’s new car?”

“It is my brother’s birthday today.”

“Forbes Magazine publishes a list of the world’s most powerful people.”

In these sentences, we have used apostrophes with the nouns “Anita”, “my brother

and “the world.”

But what do we do when a word ends in “s” already?

Like “Thomas”, “boss”, “girls” or “years” in these sentences?

In each sentence, there are two options – which option is correct?

Stop the video, and think about it, then play the video again and check.

OK, notice that in the first two sentences, the nouns “Thomas” and “boss” are

singular.

In sentences three and four, the nouns are plural: “girls” and “years.”

In these last two sentences, it’s pretty easy: don’t use the “s”.

With plural nouns that end in “s”, only put an apostrophe.

But in the first two sentences, both options are correct.

This is because some writing guides say that with a singular noun that ends in “s”,

you should write “apostrophe s” to make the possessive; others say you shouldn’t

use the “s” – just an apostrophe.

So, there’s no strict rule.

It’s up to you to choose which method you want to follow, but make sure that you pick

one method and use the same thing throughout your writing.

Now, another quick note on spacing.

With the apostrophe, we don’t leave a space before or after it.

But if it comes at the end of a word, that is, if it’s the last character in a word,

we leave a space and then begin the next word.

OK, I want to alert you now to a common error with the possessive use apostrophes.

And it is with the possessive pronouns yours, hers, ours, theirs and its.

For example: “That room is hers.”

“Is this book yours?”

“He is a friend of ours.”

“Our car is more spacious than theirs.”

In these words, you must never use an apostrophe.

The case of ‘its’ is interesting.

Because there are actually two words that sound the same.

“Its” without an apostrophe and “It’s” with an apostrophe.

The word “Its” without an apostrophe is the possessive pronoun.

For example: “The dog wagged its tail.”

– meaning the tail of the dog.

“The company is planning to expand its operations in Asia.” – that means the operations

of the company.

“It’s ” with the apostrophe is a contraction of either “it is” or “it has”.

As in: “It’s time to start the meeting.”

That means “It is time to start the meeting.”

“It’s been a while since we spoke.”

Meaning “It has been a while since we spoke.”

So, make sure to remember this difference between them to avoid mistakes.

Alright, that is the end of apostrophes, and now, if you’re ready, it’s time for the

final quiz to test if you can use all of the seven punctuation marks that we have discussed

correctly.

There are eight sentences on the screen, and there are many punctuation mistakes in them.

In each one, I want you to identify and correct the punctuation errors.

Stop the video, think about your answers, then play the video again and check.

Alright, here are the answers.

How many did you get right?

Let me know in the comments below.

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