12
Other Punctuation
MARY ELLEN GUFFEY AND CAROLYN M. SEEFER
BUSINESS
ENGLISH
12e
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Uses for Ten Forms of
Punctuation
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Period
Question Mark
Exclamation Point
Hyphen
Dash
Quotation
Marks
Parentheses
Italics
Brackets
Apostrophe
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L E A R N I N G
O U T C O M E S
Level 1
▶. Use periods to correctly punctuate statements,
commands, indirect questions, polite requests,
abbreviations, initials, and numerals.
▶. Use question marks and exclamation marks
correctly.
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Uses for the Period
To Punctuate Statements, Commands,
and Indirect Questions
To Punctuate Polite Requests
To Punctuate Abbreviations and Initials
To Punctuate Numerals
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Statements, Commands, and
Indirect Questions
Use a period at the end of a statement, a command, or an
indirect question.
Business usually improves in the fall. (Statement)
Place our lunch order by 11:30 this morning. (Command)
She asked whether we accept online orders. (Indirect
question)
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Polite Requests
Use a period, not a question mark, to punctuate a polite
request, suggestion, or command.
A polite request is a command or suggestion phrased as a
request. Such a request asks the reader to perform a specific
action instead of responding with a yes or no.
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Polite Request Examples
Will you please provide an estimate for landscaping our
entryway.
Could you please unlock this door for me.
If you are uncomfortable using a period at the end of a polite
request, rephrase the sentence so that it is a statement or
command.
Please provide an estimate for landscaping our entryway.
Please unlock this door for me.
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Abbreviations and Initials
Use periods to punctuate abbreviations. Abbreviations are
shortened versions of words that can fall into various
categories:
1.
Lowercase abbreviations
2.
Upper- and lowercase abbreviations
3.
Uppercase abbreviations
4.
Geographic abbreviations
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Punctuating Lowercase Abbreviations
Use periods after most abbreviations beginning with lowercase
letters. Notice that the internal periods are not followed by
spaces.
a.m. (ante meridiem)
p.m. (post meridiem)
i.e. (that is)
e.g. (for example)
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Punctuating Upper- and Lowercase
Abbreviations
Use periods for most abbreviations containing capital and
lowercase letters.
Dr. (Doctor)
No. (number)
Mr. (Mister)
Fri. (Friday)
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Punctuating Uppercase Abbreviations
Use all capital letters without periods or internal spaces for most
uppercase abbreviations.
IBM (International Business Machines)
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
MLB (Major League Baseball)
CIO (Chief Information Officer)
FB (Facebook Stock Symbol)
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Punctuating Geographic Abbreviations
Use all capital letters without periods or internal spaces for the
abbreviations of geographical areas, two-letter state
abbreviations, and Canadian province abbreviations.
USA (United States of America)
CA (California)
QC (Quebec)
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Abbreviations and Initials
Use periods when initials identify a person’s first and middle
names. Note that a space follows each period.
John F. Kennedy
F. Scott Fitzgerald
E. B. White
J. K. Rowling
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Numerals
For a monetary sum, use a period (decimal point) to separate
dollars from cents.
The bill showed items at $56.90, $169.80, and $30.
Use a period (decimal point) to mark a decimal in a percent.
A total of 48.9 percent voted for the new tax.
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uses for the Question Mark
To Punctuate Direct Questions
To Punctuate Questions Added to
Statements
To Indicate Doubt
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Direct Questions
Use a question mark at the end of a direct question.
A direct question requires an answer.
Have you researched the candidates’ views on education?
Is this the order for Lamson, Inc.?
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Punctuate Questions Added to Statements
Place a question mark after a question that is added to the end
of a statement.
Use a comma to separate the statement from the question.
Her speech was informative and impressive, wasn’t it?
The marketing meeting is
at 9:30 a.m., isn’t it?
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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To Indicate Doubt
Use a question mark within parentheses to indicate a degree of
doubt about some aspect of a statement.
Space before the opening parenthesis and after the closing
parenthesis.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange
was founded (1790?) before
the New York Stock Exchange.
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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Uses for the Exclamation Mark
Use an exclamation mark after a word, phrase, clause, or
sentence expressing strong emotion.
In business writing exclamation points are used sparingly.
What a fantastic idea!
Stop! That’s hot!
Oops! I forgot the attachment!
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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One Author’s Advice for Using Exclamation
Marks
“Cut out all the exclamation points. An exclamation point is like laughing
at your own joke.”
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, American writer
(1896-1940)
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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TRY
TRY YOUR
YOUR SKILL
SKILL
Indicate which of these
sentences is correctly
punctuated.
1.
(a) Our team leader wanted to know
whether you sent the report?
(b) Our team leader wanted to know
whether you sent the report.
Indirect Question
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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TRY
TRY YOUR
YOUR SKILL
SKILL
Indicate which of these
sentences is correctly
punctuated.
2.
(a) Would you please answer all e-mails
within 24 hours.
(b) Would you please answer all e-mails
within 24 hours?
Polite Request
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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TRY
TRY YOUR
YOUR SKILL
SKILL
Indicate which of these
sentences is correctly
punctuated.
3.
(a) Dr. Hale said she would be here before
4 p.m..
(b) Dr. Hale said she would be here before
4 PM.
(c) Dr. Hale said she would be here before 4
p.m.
Lowercase Abbreviation
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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TRY
TRY YOUR
YOUR SKILL
SKILL
Indicate which of these
sentences is correctly
punctuated.
4.
(a) We heard that IBM is hiring PhDs for its
research program.
(b) We heard that I.B.M. is hiring Ph.D.s for
its research program.
Uppercase Abbreviations
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part, except for use as permitted in a license distributed with a certain product or service or otherwise on a password-protected website or school-approved learning management system for classroom use.
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