The Question Mark

Use the question mark:

1. At the end of all direct questions

• What is your name?
• Do you speak Italian?
• You're Spanish, aren't you?

2. Do not use the question mark for reported questions

• He asked me what my name was.
• She asked if I was Spanish.
• Ask them where they are going.

General notes:

1. Don't forget to place a question mark at the end of long sentences that contain a question

• Isn't it true that global warming is responsible for more and more problems which are having a disastrous effect on the world's climate and leading to many millions of people in countries that can least afford it having to contend with more and more hardship?

2. Sometimes a question mark can be placed within a sentence

• There is cause for concern - isn't there? - that the current world economic balance is so fragile that it may lead to a global economic downturn.

The 'Period', 'Full Stop' or 'Point'

The period (known as a full stop in British English) is probably the simplest of the punctuation marks to use.

You use it like a knife to cut the sentences to the required length. Generally, you can break up the sentences using the full stop at the end of a logical and complete thought that looks and sounds right to you. Use the full stop

1. to mark the end of a sentence which is not a question or an exclamation.

• Rome is the capital of Italy.
• I was born in Australia and now live in Indonesia.
• The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.

2. to indicate an abbreviation

• I will be in between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Note: Dr and Mr and Mrs and Ms do not take a full stop nor do most abbreviations taken from the first capital letters such as MA Phd CNN

3. special case - three dots

Often you will see a sentence concluding with three dots. This indicates that only part of the sentence or text has been quoted or that it is being left up to the reader to complete the rest of the sentence.

• The Lord's Prayer begins, 'Our Father which are in Heaven...'

3. fullstop after a single word

Sometimes a single word can form the sentence. In this case you place a fullstop after the word as you would in any other sentence.

• "Goodbye."
• "Hello."

Note: This is often the case when the subject is understood as in a greeting or a command such as "Stop."

English Punctuation

Punctuation is used to create sense, clarity and stress in sentences.

You use punctuation marks to structure and organise your writing. The most common of these are the period (or full stop in British English), the comma, the exclamation mark, the question mark, thecolon and semi-colon, the quote, the apostrophe, the hyphen and dash, and parentheses and brackets. Capital letters are also used to help us organise meaning and to structure the sense of our writing.

You can quickly see why punctuation is important if you try and read this sentence which has no punctuation at all:

perhaps you dont always need to use commas periods colons etc to make sentences clear when i am in a hurry tired cold lazy or angry i sometimes leave out punctuation marks grammar is stupid i can write without it and dont need it my uncle Harry once said he was not very clever and i never understood a word he wrote to me i think ill learn some punctuation not too much enough to write to Uncle Harry he needs some help

Now let's see if punctuating it makes a difference!

Perhaps you don't always need to use commas, periods, colons etc. to make sentences clear. When I am in a hurry, tired, cold, lazy, or angry I sometimes leave out punctuation marks.

"Grammar is stupid! I can write without it and don't need it." my uncle Harry once said. He was not very clever and I never understood a word he wrote to me. I think I'll learn some punctuation - not too much, enough to write to Uncle Harry. He needs some help!

Use the punctuation section to learn how to make your English clearer and better organised.

Quotes	Period (full stop)	Question Mark	Exclamation	Brackets	Semicolon
Apostrophe	Hyphen	Capitals	Comma	Punctuation Home	Grammar Home

WHERE TO PUT THE PREPOSTITION IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE

WHERE TO PUT THE PREPOSTITION IN A RELATIVE CLAUSE

There are often prepositions in relative clauses, and the relative pronoun is the object of the preposition. This means that the preposition can sometimes be omitted.

The preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause:

• Is that the man (who) you arrived with?
• Do you know the girl (that) John is talking to?

In formal or written English, the preposition is often placed before the relative pronoun, and in this case the pronoun cannot be omitted:

• The person with whom he is negotiating is the Chairman of a large company.
• It is a society to which many important people belong.

However, this is unusual in spoken English.

Examples

• The jungle the tribe lived in was full of strange and unusual animals.
• He liked the people that he lived with.
• The tree under which they had their picnic was the largest and oldest in the park.
• To the east of the city was a lake that many people went to on the weekend.
• It was the river in which the children preferred to swim.

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

NON-DEFINING RELATIVE CLAUSES

The information in these clauses is not essential. It tells us more about someone or something, but it does not help us to identify them or it.

Compare:

• Dogs that like cats are very unusual. (This tells us which dogs we are talking about).
• Gorillas, which are large and orignate in Africa, can sometimes be found in zoos. (This gives us some extra information about gorillas - we are talking about all gorillas, not just one type or group).
• John's mother, who lives in Scotland, has 6 grandchildren. (We know who John's mother is, and he only has one. The important information is the number of grandchildren, but the fact that she lives in Scotland might be followed with the words "by the way" - it is additional information).

Punctuation

Non-defining relative clauses are always separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. The commas have a similar function to brackets:

• My friend John has just written a best-selling novel. (He went to the same school as me)
• My friend John, who went to the same school as me, has just written a best-selling novel.

Relative pronouns in non-defining clauses

	Person	Thing	Place
Subject	who	which
Object	who/whom	which	where
Possessive	whose

Notes

• In non-defining clauses, you cannot use 'that' instead of who, whom or which.
• You cannot leave out the relative pronoun, even when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause:
• He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope.
• He gave me the letter, which I read immediately
• The preposition in these clauses can go at the end of the clause, e.g.
• This is Stratford-on-Avon, which you have all heard about.

This pattern is often used in spoken English, but in written or formal English you can also put the preposition before the pronoun: e.g. Stratford-on-Avon, about which many people have written is Shakespeare's birthplace.

• Non-defining clauses can be introduced by expressions like all of, many of + relative pronoun:

	Person	Thing
all of	+ whom	+ which
any of	+ whom	+ which
(a) few of	+ whom	+ which
both of	+ whom	+ which
each of	+ whom	+ which
either of	+ whom	+ which
half of	+ whom	+ which
many of	+ whom	+ which
most of	+ whom	+ which
much of	+ whom	+ which
none of	+ whom	+ which
one of	+ whom	+ which
two of etc...	+ whom	+ which

Examples

• There were a lot of people at the party, many of whom I had known for years.
• He was carrying his belongings, many of which were broken.
• The relative pronoun which at the beginning of a non-defining relative clause, can refer to all the information contained in the previous part of the sentence, rather than to just one word.
• Chris did really well in his exams, which was a big surprise. (= the fact that he did well in his exams was a big surprise).
• A socialist and a conservative agreed on the new law, which is most unusual. (= the fact that they agreed is unusual).

Examples

• My grandmother, who is dead now, came from the North of England.
• I spoke to Fred, who explained the problem.
• The old man looked at the tree, under which he had often sat.
• We stopped at the museum, which we'd never been into.
• She's studying maths, which many people hate.
• I've just met Susan, whose husband works in London.
• He had thousands of books, most of which he had read.