He needs some help! Use the pages in this punctuation section to learn how to make your English clearer and better organised. Home Welcome to EF. Programs See everything we do. In American English, it is mandatory to have the Oxford comma, whereas, in British English, this comma is required only when you require clarity in a given list of items.
Commas have many uses, and, as a result, there are many ways that they can be used incorrectly. Three issues which appear regularly in academic writing are the comma splice, the missing comma, and the extra comma.
A comma splice is a comma that is placed randomly in a sentence. It often appears because writers feel that the sentence requires a pause, as a common way of teaching comma use is to describe them as a pause or a place to take a breath.
While this is useful for school children, it leads to many mistakes in formal writing. A comma should never come between the main clause and its subordinate clause, a verb and its direct object or objects joined by a conjunction.
These commas are all used incorrectly:. Missing commas are common because writers are often afraid of overusing them, or using them incorrectly, and so they avoid them altogether.
This results in sentences that make little sense or have an ambiguous meaning. These sentences all require commas:. A comma splice is a comma which separates two independent clauses which should be separated by another form of punctuation, such as a period, a semicolon or a subordinating or coordinating conjunction. The semi-colon is perhaps the most difficult sign of punctuation to use accurately. If in doubt, avoid using it and convert the added material into a new sentence.
Assertive behaviour concerns being able to express feelings, wants and desires appropriately; passive behaviour means complying with the wishes of others.
The colon within a sentence makes a very pointed pause between two phrases. There are two main uses of the colon:. She placed the following items into the trolley: beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals and cartons of milk.
The girls' hats were green, girls in this instance are plural, i. Is not this a fine example of punctuation?
See also: Common Mistakes in Writing for more on using apostrophes correctly. The hyphen is also used when a word is split between two lines. The hyphen should be placed between syllables at the end of the upper line and indicates to the reader that the word will be completed on the next line.
Computer applications such as Word Processors can be set to automatically hyphenate words for you, although it is more common to use extra spacing to avoid hyphenation. Good spelling, correct grammar and the appropriate use of punctuation will give them more confidence in the person or the company communicating with them.
Spelling errors and grammatical mistakes may also change the meaning of your message, which might result in misinformation. Communication is punctuated. Communication events are continuous trans- actions, punctuated into causes and effects for convenience. Communication is inevitable, irreversible, and unrepeatable. Purposeful communication goes beyond just understanding the exchange of these ideas, and hones in on why they exist.
When you answer critical why questions beforehand, people can better understand your message. Determine what help you can offer. Both customers and employees want to feel heard and understood.
Competent communicators are aware of their own ethical beliefs, and they communicate in ways that are consistent with those beliefs. Good communicators are aware of their own behavior and its effect on others. The four key competencies in competent communication are linguistic competency, sociolinguistic competency, discourse competency and strategic competency, according to the National Capital Language Resource Center.
Effective Communication is defined as the ability to convey information to another effectively and efficiently.
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