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). In English, stress, pausing, and tonal changes interlock in a set of patterns often called intonations. Such features are represented by punctuation, indicated by signs inserted usually between words, and often following the feature they mark.

The intonations of declaration are classified in three types, symbolized by the comma (,), used to separate words or phrases for clarity; the semicolon (;), used to mark separation between elements in a series of related phrases, generally in a long sentence; and the full stop, or period (.), used to mark the end of a sentence. Other intonations are shown by the exclamation point (!); the interrogation point, or question mark (?); the parenthesis [( )], used to set off a word or phrase from a sentence that is complete without it; and the colon (:), typically used to introduce material that elaborates on what has already been said. Quotation marks (" ") indicate direct quotation or some borrowing, and usually demand special intonation. The ellipsis (…) is used to indicate the place in a passage where material has been omitted or a thought has trailed off. The long dash (—) is especially used in handwriting for incomplete intonation patterns.

Punctuation of material intended to be read silently rather than aloud—the far more usual case today—has introduced refinements designed to help the reader: brackets ([ ]), a secondary parenthesis; capital letters; paragraphing; and indentation. Two other frequent signs are the apostrophe ('), marking an omission of one or two letters, or a possessive case, and the hyphen (-), marking a line division or an intimate joining, as in compound words. These last two are practically extra letters, and their use, belonging with spelling rather than with punctuation, is highly arbitrary.

Each written language has its tradition of punctuation, often very different from that used in English; thus, in German nouns are capitalized, and in Spanish the beginnings of exclamations and of questions are marked with inverted signs. See also accentaccent,
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See W. D. Drake, The Way to Punctuate (1971); Words into Type (3d ed. 1974); D. Hacker, A Writer's Reference (4th ed. 1999); Univ. of Chicago Press, The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed. 2003).



a system of punctuation marks in any written language and the rules for their use; the placement of these marks in a text; a basic element of written language, along with graphics and orthography. The punctuation systems of modern languages written in the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Indian, and many other alphabets are based on uniform principles and use approximately the same set of punctuation marks.

The theoretical bases of Russian punctuation were developed by V. K. Trediakovskii, M. V. Lomonosov, and grammarians of the 19th and 20th centuries. Several different trends developed in the interpretation on the bases of Russian punctuation: the logical (F. I. Buslaev, S. I. Abakumov, A. B. Shapiro), the syntactic (la. K. Grot), and the intonational (L. V. Shcherba, L. A. Bulakhovskii, A. M. Peshkovskii). The logical school believed that punctuation aids in setting forth thoughts clearly and expresses the speaker’s feelings and his attitude toward the listener. According to the syntactic school, punctuation indicates a greater or lesser degree of linkage between sentences and sentence parts and aids in the comprehension of written language. The intonational school held that punctuation served to designate the rhythm and melody of a phrase; it regarded punctuation as primarily reflecting not a grammatical but a declamational and psychological segmentation of speech, including pauses, melody, and tempo.


Grot, la. K. Russkoepravopisanie,22nd ed. Moscow, 1916.
Peshkovskii, A. M. Shkol’naia i nauchnaia grammalika,5th ed. Moscow, 1925.
Shapiro, A. B. Osnovy russkoipunktuatsii. Moscow, 1955.
Abakumov, S. I. Metodikapunktuatsii, 4th ed. Moscow, 1954.


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Access to one of the great assets of Pause and Effect -- its wealth of bibliographical information -- has been made somewhat complicated by the inclusion of only a ~select List of Printed Works Cited' (315-27) which shows an unhelpful division into two parts, depending on whether a title has been cited to illustrate punctuation symbols and practices or not.