Tag: introduction to punctuation

While punctuating a sentence it is important to capitalize the proper nouns such as the name of a person, place or organization. It is a common rule that the initials and the first letter of a person’s name should always be capitalized. Also, one needs to separate the individual letters in the initials with a full stop, to highlight the different letters. Therefore ‘J.R.D. Tata’ would be the correct way of writing. Since options, B and D fail to capitalize the initials and the first letter of the name they are incorrect. Similarly, adjectives in a sentence are not capitalized unless they figure as the first word of a sentence or denote a title that a person possesses, for example, “Honourable Chief Minister”. Therefore the capitalizing of the ‘g’ in ‘Great’ would be wrong. Hence option C is incorrect whereas option A is correct.

We use an exclamation mark to indicate an exclamatory clause or expression in writing. ‘Wow’ is a commonly used exclamation that indicates surprise. Therefore it should be followed by an exclamation mark. Similarly, ‘What an expression she had’ is another sentence that indicates exclamation, therefore the first letter of the sentence needs to be capitalized and it needs to be followed by an exclamation mark, at the end. Hence option C is correct. A full stop is used in a declarative sentence and not in an exclamatory sentence. Hence options B and D are incorrect. Similarly, a question mark is used to punctuate an interrogative sentence that demands an answer and not an exclamatory sentence that indicates surprise. Thus option A is incorrect.

While punctuating a sentence it is important to capitalize the first letter of the sentence. Also, it is important to capitalize the proper nouns such as the name of a person, place or organization. In the given sentence, ‘Ram’ which is the first name of the person is a proper noun and therefore the first letter of the name should be in uppercase. Therefore option D is incorrect. Similarly, we should capitalize an all the letters in an acronym since it is formed by putting the initials of words it abbreviates together; also the acronym functions as a name. Thus, ‘IAS’ is the correct form. Therefore option A is incorrect. Further, we use a comma to set off the title or qualification from someone’s name and the clause that follows it, to avoid misreading. Therefore we need to set apart the title - ‘IAS’ in the sentence by adding a comma, before and after the acronym, to avoid misreading and confusion. Therefore option C is correct while option B is incorrect. 

The basic rules in punctuating a sentence are that we use a full stop for a declarative sentence, a question mark for an interrogative sentence and an exclamation mark for an exclamatory sentence. Further, a comma is used to indicate the separation of ideas or elements. In the given sentence the speaker enquires about the listener's well being. Thus it is an interrogative sentence that indicates a question. Therefore it needs to be punctuated with a question mark, so option C is correct. Whereas a full stop or exclamation mark cannot be used since it is not a declarative or exclamatory sentence. Hence options A and B are incorrect. Similarly, the sentence doesn’t convey multiple ideas and only poses a question. So a comma cannot be used to punctuate the sentence. Hence option D is incorrect. 

While punctuating a sentence it is important to capitalize the first letter of the sentence. Whereas the first letter of the words in the middle of a sentence should be lowercase unless it is a proper noun. Thus the first letter in ‘Mother’ has to be uppercase and ‘me’ which appears in the middle should be in lowercase. Hence options A and C are incorrect. Further, while writing a statement in the direct speech there needs to be a comma before the open quotations, as it represents a shift in the idea. Similarly, the full stop should be before the close quotations since it represents the end of the sentence. Hence option B is correct. Option D is incorrect because ‘me’ isn’t in lowercase, there is no comma before the open quotation and the full is placed after the close quotation. 

We use an apostrophe to show possession or belonging. We add an apostrophe and a ‘s’ to singular nouns for the same reason. In the given sentence, ‘Rajan’s father’ would be the right way to express belonging. Therefore, option D is incorrect. On the other hand, while punctuating a sentence it is important to capitalize the proper nouns such as the name of a person, place or organization. In the given sentence, ‘Netherland’ is the name of a country and therefore the first letter of the name has to be capitalized. Therefore option C is correct, whereas option B is incorrect. Further ‘Netherland’ is a single unit, i.e. one name; therefore we should not capitalize the ‘l’ in 'lands' which is in the middle of the name. Thus option A is incorrect. 

While punctuating a sentence it is important to capitalize the first letter of the sentence. Also, it is important to capitalize the proper nouns such as the name of a person, place or organization. The first letter in titles is also capitalized. In the given sentence, the proper noun is ‘Sundhanshu’ therefore the ‘s’ in the beginning of his name needs to be capitalized, and cannot be in lowercase. Therefore, option A is incorrect. Further, the basic rules in punctuating a sentence are that we use a full stop for a declarative sentence, a question mark for an interrogative sentence and an exclamation mark for an exclamatory sentence. The given sentence poses a question as to where Dr. Sundhanshu went at noon. Hence it is an example of an interrogative sentence. So it has to be punctuated with a question mark and not a full stop or exclamation mark. Thus option C is correct, whereas options B and D are incorrect.