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When we study Shakespeare on the page, for academic purposes, we may require all kinds of help. Generally, we read him in modern spelling and with modern punctuation, and with notes. But any poetry that is performed - from song lyric to tragic speech - must make its point, as it were, without reference back.
James Fenton

Meaning of "punctuation" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

PRONUNCIATION OF PUNCTUATION

punctuation  [ˌpʌŋktjʊˈeɪʃən] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF PUNCTUATION

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Punctuation is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES PUNCTUATION MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Punctuation

Punctuation is "the use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain typographical devices as aids to the understanding and correct reading, both silently and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts." Another description is: "The practice, action, or system of inserting points or other small marks into texts, in order to aid interpretation; division of text into sentences, clauses, etc., by means of such marks." In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences. For example: "woman, without her man, is nothing", and "woman: without her, man is nothing" have very different meanings; as do "eats shoots and leaves" and "eats, shoots and leaves". The sharp differences in meaning are produced by the simple differences in punctuation within the example pairs, especially the latter. The rules of punctuation vary with language, location, register and time and are constantly evolving. Certain aspects of punctuation are stylistic and are thus the author's choice. Tachygraphic language forms, such as those used in online chat and text messages, may have wildly different rules. For English usage, see the articles on specific punctuation marks.

Definition of punctuation in the English dictionary

The first definition of punctuation in the dictionary is the use of symbols not belonging to the alphabet of a writing system to indicate aspects of the intonation and meaning not otherwise conveyed in the written language. Other definition of punctuation is the symbols used for this purpose. Punctuation is also the act or an instance of punctuating.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH PUNCTUATION


actuation
ˌæktʃʊˈeɪʃən
attenuation
əˌtɛnjʊˈeɪʃən
continuation
kənˌtɪnjʊˈeɪʃən
Croatian
krəʊˈeɪʃən
disambiguation
ˌdɪsæmˌbɪɡjʊˈeɪʃən
discontinuation
ˌdɪskənˌtɪnjʊˈeɪʃən
effectuation
ɪˌfɛktjʊˈeɪʃən
evaluation
ɪˌvæljʊˈeɪʃən
fluctuation
ˌflʌktjʊˈeɪʃən
graduation
ˌɡrædjʊˈeɪʃən
infatuation
ɪnˌfætjʊˈeɪʃən
menstruation
ˌmɛnstrʊˈeɪʃən
perpetuation
pəˌpetjʊˈeɪʃən
re-evaluation
ˌriːɪˌvæljʊˈeɪʃən
revaluation
ˌriːvæljʊˈeɪʃən
self-evaluation
ˌsɛlfɪˌvæljʊˈeɪʃən
Serbo-Croatian
ˌsɜːbəʊkrəʊˈeɪʃən
situation
ˌsɪtjʊˈeɪʃən
superannuation
ˌsuːpərˌænjʊˈeɪʃən
valuation
ˌvæljʊˈeɪʃən

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE PUNCTUATION

punctual
punctualist
punctuality
punctually
punctuate
punctuation mark
punctuationist
punctuative
punctuator
punctulate
punctulation
punctule
punctum
puncturable
puncturation
puncture
puncture repair kit
puncture vine
puncture wound
puncturer

WORDS THAT END LIKE PUNCTUATION

accreditation
action
administration
animation
application
association
certification
citation
combination
communication
confirmation
conversation
corporation
creation
decoration
destination
documentation
duration
education
excitation
federation

Synonyms and antonyms of punctuation in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «punctuation» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF PUNCTUATION

Find out the translation of punctuation to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of punctuation from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «punctuation» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

标点符号
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

puntuación
570 millions of speakers

English

punctuation
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

विराम चिह्न
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

وَضْعُ عَلامَاتُ التَّرْقِيم
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

пунктуация
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

pontuação
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

যতিচিহ্নসিন্নিবেশ
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

ponctuation
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Tanda baca
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Zeichensetzung
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

句読
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

구두법
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Tandha titik
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

dấu chấm phẩy
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

நிறுத்தற்குறிகள்
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

विरामचिन्हे
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

noktalama
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

punteggiatura
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

interpunkcja
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

пунктуація
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

punctuație
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

στίξη
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

punktuasie
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

interpunktion
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

tegnsetting
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of punctuation

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «PUNCTUATION»

The term «punctuation» is quite widely used and occupies the 24.117 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Quite widely used
89
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «punctuation» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of punctuation
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «punctuation».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «PUNCTUATION» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «punctuation» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «punctuation» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about punctuation

EXAMPLES

10 QUOTES WITH «PUNCTUATION»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word punctuation.
1
Peter L. Bergen
Bin Laden's death is just a punctuation point on a set of problems they've had for a long time. I think the prognosis for al-Qaida and groups like it is really bad, and that's a good thing.
2
Julie Burchill
Tears are sometimes an inappropriate response to death. When a life has been lived completely honestly, completely successfully, or just completely, the correct response to death's perfect punctuation mark is a smile.
3
Brian P. Cleary
I like all things grammatical, and I had already written several books about parts of speech, and even the alphabet, so everything that makes up a sentence and even a word was covered except for punctuation.
4
James Fenton
When we study Shakespeare on the page, for academic purposes, we may require all kinds of help. Generally, we read him in modern spelling and with modern punctuation, and with notes. But any poetry that is performed - from song lyric to tragic speech - must make its point, as it were, without reference back.
5
Dorothea Benton Frank
And if you want to know why great editors scare the pants off of writers everywhere, read 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' by Lynne Truss. The punctuation police are everywhere!
6
Abbas Kiarostami
Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life.
7
Jaron Lanier
The mass culture of childhood right now is astonishingly technical. Little kids know their Unix path punctuation so they can get around the Web, and they know their HTML and stuff. It's pretty shocking to me.
8
Tao Lin
I don't think music affects what words I choose to type in what order, within what punctuation, at this point, because I'm rereading and editing each sentence, at this point, in my published books, probably 100-150 times each, on average, and listening to probably 20-60 different songs in that time.
9
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The punctuation of anniversaries is terrible, like the closing of doors, one after another between you and what you want to hold on to.
10
Laura Linney
I am very aware that playwrights, particularly good ones, have a intention for everything they write. Language and punctuation is used specifically, and most of the time actors can find wonderful clues about character in the rhythm and cadence of the language used.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «PUNCTUATION»

Discover the use of punctuation in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to punctuation and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation: An Easy-to-Use ...
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, Eleventh Edition English Usage Rules Explained in Plain English It doesn’t take a lifetime to master English grammar and punctuation. All it takes is The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation.
Jane Straus, Lester Kaufman, Tom Stern, 2014
2
The Penguin Guide to Punctuation
Effective and easy to follow, this step-by-step guide will dispel the mysteries of punctuation and prove an invaluable aid to writing clear English.
Robert L. Trask, 1997
3
Eats, Shoots and Leaves
Anxious about the apostrophe? Confused by the comma? Stumped by the semicolon? Join Lynne Truss on a hilarious tour through the rules of punctuation that is sure to sort the dashes from the hyphens.
Lynne Truss, 2011
4
The Perfect Pop Up Punctuation Book
Featuring quizzes and helpful hints from different animals on each page, a fun, hands-on introduction to punctuation allows kids to slide tabs and lift-the-flaps to help them recognize the correct use of every punctuation mark.
Kate Petty, 2006
5
The Linguistics of Punctuation
That these rules obey constraints that are structurally analogous to those of lexical grammar leads Nunberg to label the text-grammar an 'application' of the principles of natural language organization to a new domain.
Geoffrey Nunberg, 1990
6
Punctuation: Art, Politics, and Play
DIVPunctuation offers playful interpretations of punctuation in relation to aesthetics, performance, and experimental art./div "Here is a book that earns the right to the spaces between its sumptuously smart words.
Jennifer DeVere Brody, 2008
7
A Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation: Helping Young ...
A guide to teaching students to use punctuation correctly and effectively through a program of extensive reading and writing.
Janet Angelillo, 2002
8
Pause and Effect: An Introduction to the History of ...
Latin texts are accompanied by English translations intended to illustrate the use of punctuation in the originals in so far as this is possible. Pause and Effect is destined to be a standard work.
Malcolm Beckwith Parkes, 1993
9
Punctuation: Commas, Full Stops, and Question Marks
This series introduces the concept of grammar to young readers.
Anita Ganeri, 2013
10
Punctuation Celebration
Punctuation marks come alive in this clever picture book featuring fourteen playful poems.
Elsa Knight Bruno, 2012

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «PUNCTUATION»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term punctuation is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Small punctuation mark bringing big awareness to mental illness
People who have gotten the punctuation inked on their skin say it's not a trend, but it's a symbol to raise awareness about mental illness. Project Semicolon is a ... «WAVE 3, Jul 15»
2
Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation Made a Mobile Game! 'Hatfall …
Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, Australian national treasure and host of the weekly game review show "Zero Punctuation!" over at The Escapist, is a man of many ... «Touch Arcade, Jul 15»
3
Project Semicolon Tattoos: Punctuation Becomes Trending Tattoo …
She said she chose the punctuation as the movement's main symbol since, "A semicolon is used when an author could've chosen to end their sentence, but ... «Headlines & Global News, Jul 15»
4
Test Your Punctuation | Robotic Dogs
Below, the four paragraphs of “A Robotic Dog's Mortality,” an introduction to the video above. Can you choose the correct punctuation needed for each blank? «New York Times, Jun 15»
5
Why an Architect Wrote a 52438-Word Dissertation With No …
When he defended his punctuation-free dissertation, the examiners accepted it unanimously. Read an excerpt from the giant run-on sentence on the National ... «TIME, May 15»
6
Vigilantes correct punctuation on Ecuador graffiti
QUITO, Ecuador, March 6 (UPI) -- A group of grammar-minded graffiti vigilantes in Ecuador are using red paint and the cover of night to correct punctuation on ... «UPI.com, Mar 15»
7
Does Punctuation in Text Messages Matter?
How punctuation is used and interpreted in text messages has become a source of confusion and anxiety for some people. Related ArticleCredit Ron Barrett. «New York Times, Mar 15»
8
The Punctuation Guide Teaches You to Communicate More Clearly
Proper punctuation is key to written communication, but it can be difficult to master. The Punctuation Guide is a webapp that teaches you to use punctuation ... «Lifehacker, Jan 15»
9
The Semicolon: Grammar's Most Misunderstood Punctuation Mark
If a sentence contains internal punctuation, you can use a semicolon to connect the two clauses and still maintain clarity between the clauses. Example: When ... «Huffington Post, Dec 14»
10
5 Punctuation Marks That Look Nothing Like They Used To
The comma is one of the oldest marks of punctuation. It was created over 2,300 years ago by a Greek scholar named Aristophanes, head of the fabled Library of ... «Huffington Post, Oct 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Punctuation [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/punctuation>. May 2024 ».
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