Punctuation

Concept: Capitalization, Fullstop and Question Mark

Definition:

Punctuation refers to marks such as a full stop, comma, question mark etc. These marks are used to make the meaning of the sentence clear. They also help in separating the sentence into different parts.

Examples:

Capitalization

Capitalization means to write the first letter of a word in the capital letter and the remaining letters in lower case.

Examples:

Seema is a smart girl.

The first letter of the word ‘Seema’ is written in the capital letter ‘S’.

Correct and Incorrect Usage:

• Seema is a good girl.
• seema is a good girl.

Question Mark

A question mark is a punctuation mark used in a sentence to refer to a question.

Examples:

In the above example, the sentence ‘Where do you stay?’ is a question, so it ends with a question mark.

Correct and Incorrect Usage:

• Where do you stay?
• Where do you stay.

Full Stop

A full stop is a punctuation mark used to end a sentence.

Examples:

I love to play with my cat.

In the below sentence, ‘I love to play with my cat’ is a complete sentence, so it ends with a full stop.

Correct and Incorrect Usage:

• I love to play with my cat. 
• I love to play with my cat   

Common Mistake:

1. Never begin a proper noun with small letters. It should always start with a capital letter. Notice in the sentence below that the word ‘Ram’ is a proper noun. Hence it is written in capital letters no matter where it is placed in the sentence.

Examples:

• Ram is a good boy. Everybody wants to play with Ram
• ram is a good boy. Everybody wants to play with ram   
2. Do not use a full stop in headings and titles.

Examples:

Chapter 1: The Lion and the Cubs

Chapter 1: The Lion and the Cubs.

3. Use a question mark after a direct question. Do not use a question mark after an indirect question.

Examples:

• Where do you live?
• I don’t know where you live?
• I don’t know where you live.