In the English context, symbols play an important role in the structure and flow of a sentence; these symbols are called punctuation marks. There are fourteen punctuation marks within the English grammar; a period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipse. Although, each punctuation functions differently in a sentence, we can group punctuation by their purpose and function with in a unit.
For example: Period, Question Mark, Exclamation Point are grouped together because, they are used when closing out a sentence.
Comma, Semi Colon, Colon are grouped together because, they are used when there is a break or pause in a sentence.
Dash and Hyphen Mark are grouped together because, they are
Brackets, Braces and Parenthesis are grouped together because, they are symbols that help explain further a concept or idea within a sentence.
Apostrophe, Quotation Marks, and Ellipses: are grouped together because they do not share the same purpose in common.
Period, Question Mark, & Exclamation Point: The period (.): The period is placed at the end of a declarative sentence (Tina went to the gym today.), after abbreviations, and after a complete thought (The month of Dec. is my favorite time of the year.)
Question Mark (?): The question mark is proper to use when purposing a question; when asking a direct question a question mark is placed at the end of a sentence (What is your favorite season?).
Exclamation Point (!): The exclamation point also known as an exclamation mark, is found within a sentence or at the end of a sentence to express a right now emotion (When the Steelers lost the game in overtime I was so mad, I could throw my TV out the window!). Comma, Semi-Colon, & Colon: The comma (,): The comma is used when writing a letter salutation (Dear Sarah,) as well as separating and ideas (We are going to the Mall at Robinson, and we are going to the Olive Garden for dinner.)and elements within a sentence (Lilly's favorite colors are pink, purple, and blue.).
The semi-colon (;): A semi-colon is used to connect an independent clause (You need gas in your car; otherwise you will not travel very far.). It is a way for a writer to continue a thought without breaking the sentence with a period.
The colon (:): The colon has two purposes to consider when constructing a sentence. The first purpose a colon fulfills is when someone is being quoted ("Ask not what your country can do for you: ask what you can do for your country." JFK), explaining something (JFK sent out a challenge:), providing an example (Example:)and a business letter salutation (Dear Ms. Bane:). The second purpose a colon fulfills is to separate the hour from the minutes (10:30 am), and ratios (9:2).
Dashes and Hyphen marks: There are two types of dashes in written communication. The first type of dash is an endash and second dash is the the emdash. The endash (-) is used to illustrated the birth and death of an individual (1988-2088), or illustrating a publishing company (Pearson PLC-New York City 1998). The purpose of the emdash (-) is used to illustrate a break between thoughts or sentences, to add a phrase, definition or explanation, and separate two clauses (We went to adopt a puppy-but the breeder convinced us to adopt two puppies).
The hyphen (-) is used to separate a compound name (Mrs. Cooper-Taylor) or a compound word (side-to-side). You may noticed that the symbol to represent a dash and a hyphen, the point to remember is to identify the function of the symbol.
Brackets, Braces and Parenthesis: Brackets ({}): Brackets are used to show a relationship between two or more lines in a sentence that are part of a unit. They are used in special cases and not as commonly used as parentheses ("Alice signed a permission slip for [her daughter] Molly to the zoo.").
Braces ([]): Braces are used to illustrated a technical definition (when opening a dictionary you see braces to denote the origin of the word).
Parenthesis (()): Parenthesis are used within a sentence to expand upon a thought (I surprised Amanda with a gift today (and bought myself a gift too)).
Apostrophe, Quotation Marks, and Ellipses: Apostrophe ('): an apostrophe is used to omit a letter(s) from a word. It also describe the possessive and plurals of the lowercase letters (Omission word: In the star spangle banner the o'er is used to describe over. Possessive case: Cindy's cat had kittens.).
Quotation Marks (""): Quotation Marks are
used to indicate the beginning and end of a passage, it is also used to
indicate word for word transcript ("When will you arrive at Jenny's
house?" she asked.). The single quotation mark (') serves a different
purpose. The purpose of this punctuation
mark is to signal a quote within a quote (She said, "Jenny screamed, 'Do
not speak to me that way.'")
Ellipses (...): Ellipses are three periods
(or three asterisks *** marks) that are used when omitting words from a passage that
does not take away from the point or meaning of the passage (If he had...Well,
I guess it does not matter now.).
Ellipses also appear when quoting a long passage that does not need to be copied
to its entirety.
Symbolism Symbolism is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense.
The Catcher in the Rye
What Holden most wants to be in life is someone who stands on the edge of a cliff in a rye field catching children before they fall. The image is symbolic of Holden's desire to save both himself and other children from having to grow up into an adult world he sees as "phony." The image is even more symbolic because it is based on Holden mishearing a song based on Robert Burns' poem "Coming Thro the Rye," which is about two bodies meeting in the rye to have sex. Holden's misinterpretation underscores both his desire to shield children from the adult world, and his misunderstanding about just how innocent the world of children is.
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is full of symbols. Two main ones are the green light and the eyes on the billboard. The green light represents Gatsby's hope of being reunited with Daisy and his hopes and dreams for the future. The eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleberg on the sign can be a symbol for God looking down on the city of Ashes and judging America.
References Parentheses and Brackets | Punctuation Rules. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/parens.asp
What Are the Fourteen Punctuation Marks in English Grammar?. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what/fourteen-punctuation-marks.html