The question mark is also known as an interrogation point, interrogation mark, question point, query, or eroteme. It is used after interrogative sentences (questions).

In English, the question mark is used for yes/no questions, wh- questions, tag questions, and the requests in the form of questions.

Yes/no question: Did she go to the college?
Wh- questions: Which college did she go?
Tag questions: That college is great, isn’t it?
Request in question form: Could you please open the door? Would you mind not speaking so loudly?

Rules of Using the Question Mark

1. Do not put a space between the sentence and the question mark.

Incorrect: Was the college great ?
Correct: Was the college great?

2. In rare situations, you can use the question mark within the question; however, this is very rare.

How did the thief get away? and where did the police find him?

Uses of Exclamation Mark

1. Use exclamation mark after exclamations, interjections, commands, and sentences expressing astonishment (great surprise).

Exclamation:

What a wonderful day this is!
You’ve got a sweet ride there!

Interjection:

Wow!
Oh my God!
Sorry!

Command:

Go!
Leave it alone!
Stop doing that!

Astonishment:

The animal we saw in the jungle was this big!

2. You can also use exclamation mark in the middle of a sentence, too.

Afterward, oh! there was a frightful noise.

3. Exclamation mark can also be used with a question mark to express protest or great surprise.

Did he really betray his wife?!
You mean he can do this job?! I don’t think so.

The Rules of Using Exclamation Mark

1. Do not overuse exclamation mark; it does not look formal. Usually, comic books end their sentences with many exclamation marks. Click here to see an example page.

That’s awesome!!!
Oh my dear Lord! That’s classic!!

2. In English, do not put any space between the final word in the statement and the exclamation mark.

Incorrect: The Donnas were really great last night !
Correct: The Donnas were really great last night!

1. To separate two related, independent clauses.

Digital technology is becoming more advanced everyday; the future of our lives cannot be imagined so easily regarding the fast pace of its advancement.

The Government shunned the calls for negotiations; it was a signal which meant war.

Important Note

You must not use a conjunction like and, or, or but after the semicolon. However, you can use conjunctive adverbs after the semicolon.

2. To separate a complex series of items, especially the ones that contain commas.

I went to the party with Andy, my colleague; Jane, his wife; and Amy, my girlfriend.

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Punctuating Rules of Conjunctive Adverbs

1. Conjunctive adverbs can be used after semicolon or period.

• She knew she was going to die; however, she married her long-time friend.

• The government has taken measures to stop the economic crisis. Additionally, the private sector has promised to coordinate with the government.

2. If a conjunctive adverb is one-syllable, it does not require a comma after it. But if it has two syllables or more, it should be followed by a comma.

3. If conjunctive adverbs are brought at the end of a sentence, they need a comma before them (some conjunctive adverbs do not require comma when they come at the end, like again).

• The pharmaceutical company was responsible for the virus; its managers were not prosecuted, however.

4. If they are used in the middle of a sentence, they should be enclosed in two commas.

• Knowing the literature of a language preserves the language. Teaching its literature, consequently, saves it from extinction.

accordingly
additionally
anyway
again
as a result
besides
certainly
comparatively
consequently
contrarily
conversely
finally
further
furthermore
elsewhere
equally
hence
henceforth
however
just as
identically
in addition
in comparison
in contrast
in fact
incidentally
indeed
instead
likewise
meanwhile
moreover
namely
nevertheless
next
nonetheless
notably
now
otherwise
rather
similarly
so (with the meaning of therefore)
subsequently
still
that is
then
thereafter
therefore
thus
undoubtedly
uniquely
yet

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1. To introduce a list of items.

• She mentioned three factors causing obesity: genetics, lack of physical activity, and psychiatric illnesses.
• In the dorm, we all had responsibilities: cooking, washing the dishes, cleaning the rooms, and shopping.

Important Note

Make sure you always use the colon after an independent clause (a complete sentence). Do not use it when you want to introduce a series of items normally.

Incorrect: In the party, he met: Jane, Doug, Mandy, and Brian.
Correct: In the party, he met Jane, Doug, Mandy, and Brian.
Correct: In the party, he met his old friends: Jane, Doug, Mandy, and Brian.

2. Colon is also used to introduce a quotation. Here, again, you need to use the colon after an independent clause.

• The free encyclopedia Wikipedia introduces heavy metal like this: “Heavy metal (often referred to simply as metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and the United States. With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo.”

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It’s great.

It’s great.

Besides the common uses, apostrophe has a lot of tiny and confusing uses, and they are different according to different authorities in English use. I have put here the most common uses of apostrophe.

1. Making contractions

• He is a teacher. —— He’s a teacher.
• We are not interested. —— We aren’t interested.

2. Indicating possession (used with s)

• ‘s is used for singular nouns and irregular plurals.
  • John‘s house is very big.
  • The boy‘s father came home.
  • The children‘s mother is a dentist.
  • The women‘s room is on the left.

• s’ is used for regular plural nouns.
  • His parents’ car was missing.
  • The boys’ class starts at 10:00.

• s’ is used for classical and biblical names ending in -s.
  • Jesus’ life on earth was short.
  • Socrates’ ideas were against democracy.

3. Making the numbers and letters plural.

• He got two A‘s at school.
• His phone number had many 1‘s and 2‘s.

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The transcription on this page is based on the pronunciation table in Longman Dictionary. Here are some examples of words for you.

after /’æftɚ/
afraid /ə’freɪd/
age /eɪdʒ/
amusement /ə’myuzmənt/
and /ænd/
angle /’æŋgəl/
answer /’ænsɚ/
area /’ɛriə/
around /ə’roʊnd/
association /əsoʊʃi’eɪʃən/ also /əsoʊsi’eɪʃən/
attack /ə’tæk/

baby /’beɪbi/
baggage /’bægɪdʒ/
beach /bitʃ/
become /bɪ’kʌm/
break /breɪk/
boyfriend /’bɔɪfrɛnd/
burn /bɚn/
busy /’bizi/

cable /’keɪbl/
calculate /’kælkyəleɪt/
captain /’kæptən/
ceremony /’sɛrəmoʊni/
characteristic /kærək’trɪstɪk/
chemical /’kɛmɪkəl/
chew /tʃu/
circumstance /’sɚkəmstæns/
clown /klaʊn/
collect /kə’lɛkt/
compare /kəm’pɛr/
cosmos /’kɑzməs/ also /’kɑzmoʊs/
crowd /kraʊd/
cue /kyu/
customer /’kʌstəmɚ/

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/p/ —— pack, happy
/b/ —— back, rubber
/t/ —— tin, tie
/d/ —— die, red
/k/ —— came, key, quick
/g/ —— game, guest
/tʃ/ —— church, nature, watch
/dʒ/ —— judge, general, major
/f/ —— far, photograph
/v/ —— van
/θ/ —— thing, breath
/ð/ —— then, breathe
/s/ —— sit, city, psychology
/z/ —— zip, please, goes
/ʃ/ —— ship, machine, station, discussion, special
/ʒ/ —— measure, usually, vision
/w/ —— wet, wide
/m/ —— men, some
/n/ —— sun, know
/l/ —— light, long
/r/ —— right, wrong
/y/ —— yes, use, music
/h/ —— hot, help
/ŋ/ —— sing, ringing

/i/ —— beat, feed
/ɪ/ —— bit, did
/eɪ/ —— date, paid
/ɛ/ —— bet, bed
/æ/ —— bat, bad
/ɑ/ —— box, odd, father
/ɔ/ —— bought, dog
/oʊ/ —— boat, road
/ʊ/ —— book, good
/u/ —— boot, food, student
/ʌ/ —— but, mud, mother
/ə/ —— banana, among
/ɚ/ —— shirt, murder
/aɪ/ —— bite, cry, buy, eye
/aʊ/ —— about, how
/ɔɪ/ —— voice, boy
/ɪr/ —— beer
/ɛr/ —— bare
/ɑr/ —— bar
/ɔr/ —— door
/ʊr/ —— tour

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Traveling on Tour vs. Traveling Alone

I can never forget the trip my friend and I had to the North. After a lot of hardships, traveling only by a map and a compass, we realized that we were in another country close to a city near the border! In contrast to my friend’s cowardice, I would really like to repeat such experiences in traveling alone around the world. To my friend, traveling on tour is the only way to prevent such bad mistakes, which in our case led to our detention as spies and staying a week in custody. Thinking about similarities between traveling alone and traveling on tour, little can be found; however, their differences are distinct. These kinds of traveling are different in two major ways.

One huge difference between traveling with a tour and traveling alone is the degree of the comfort tourists experience. Tourists are sure that they are safe when they travel in a group. They know where they are going and the new places will not be bewildering for them. On tour, if the tourists get lost, the tour managers will be looking for them; however, there is little chance of getting lost because the tourists are usually together and the tour guide will make sure everyone is present in the tour group before moving to another place. On the other hand, traveling alone, a tourist is always in danger of being confused and losing the way. Also they may not be safe from criminals who are looking forward to  taking advantage of stranger tourists. If a stranger tourist gets in a very bad trouble -like a woman kidnapped by woman trafficking groups- she will not be able to easily get out of the situation because there is no one to inform, or nobody knows her in the area. Definitely, traveling on tour has a lot more comfort and much less anxiety.

However, many who travel alone can find more memorable experiences. When a person travels alone, he is not forced to follow a strict schedule by other people. He can spend more time in a place, or he might want to observe and get more information about the people of that area. In most cases, those people who traveled around the world alone would actually decide to live with the people of a certain culture, to study them, and to gain greatly useful experiences; some of these lonely travelers would, in fact, fall in love with the new culture and would decide to live with the people they had just known. Being on tour, on the other hand, feels like being forced to visit places on a fixed schedule. It is clear where and when the tour will start and should end. That is why many people do not bother even to learn the language of the country they are going to visit. If asked about the reason they go on tour, not alone, some may answer, “Traveling with a tour will not have the bother of learning the culture and the difficulty of finding new faces!” In fact, many people who travel with tours do not want anything but the fun part of it. Surely, this kind of traveling will be boring for those who seek excitement and experience.

Choosing to travel alone or with a tour totally depends on one’s tastes and goals of traveling. Both types have their own advantages and disadvantages for different people with different preferences. Despite the advantages of being safe and its comfort, I would not like to travel with a tour. My tastes go mostly with the desire of discovering things and exposing my life to perils through which I would gain a lot of experiences. Who knows how much experience did Huckleberry Finn get, going down the Mississippi River, and how much this experience would change his life forever?

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Let’s start with a topic for an example. We want to compare City A with City B in terms of climate, regional features, and ethnicity.

In block-style essay format, you need to develop your essay and the paragraphs with the order shown below.

In point-to-point essay format we will not talk about City A and City B separately; we will talk separately about the features which make the cities different or similar.

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