Punctuation and Word Order
1. Punctuation marks
| Mark | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Full stop (.) | end of a statement or indirect question; abbreviations | I don't know where he lives. Mr. Das |
| Question mark (?) | direct question | Can you help me? |
| Exclamation (!) | strong feeling | What a lovely day it is! |
| Comma (,) | lists; apposition; after an introductory clause or word; before and/but/so joining clauses; after "said" before quotes | Ravi, my friend, lives here. When the bell rang, … |
| Semicolon (;) | joins two related clauses, especially before however/therefore | He is honest; therefore, everyone trusts him. |
| Colon (:) | introduces a list or explanation | Bring the following: pens, pencils and paper. |
| Apostrophe (') | possession; contractions | Ram's book, the boys' hostel, it's (= it is), don't |
| Inverted commas (" ") | exact words; the ?/!/. goes inside | "Where are you going?" asked the teacher. |
No apostrophe in possessive pronouns: its, yours, theirs, hers.
2. Capital letters
First word of a sentence and of quoted speech; names of persons, places, rivers, days, months, festivals, languages; the pronoun I; titles (Mr., Dr.).
3. Word order
- Statement: Subject + Verb + Object + Manner + Place + Time.
- Frequency adverbs: before the main verb, after "be" (I seldom go; She is always late).
- enough after an adjective; ordinal before cardinal (the first two).
- Adjective order: opinion → size → age → shape → colour → origin → material.
- Questions: Wh + auxiliary + subject + verb. Embedded questions: statement order.
- Inversion after negative/limiting words at the start: Never have I…, Hardly had he…, Only then did he….