Page 318 - Oxford_English_Grammar_Course_Basic_2015

between separate sentences
Between separate sentences (with no conjunction), we use a full stop (.) or a semi-colon (;), but not a comma.
Compare:
Robert phoned, a nd he asked to speak to the m anager, (comma and conjunction)
Robert phoned. He asked to speak to the manager.
OR Robert phoned; he asked to speak to the manager.
BUT NOT Robert phoned, he asked tos p ea k to th e manager.

lists

We use commas to separate the different things in a list (but not before and).
She gave presents to her brothers, her sister, her sister's husband, her secretary a n d all o f her colleagues.

abbreviations (short forms of words)
We use full stops after some abbreviations, like e.g. (meaning 'for example'). Mr and Mrs have full stops in
American English, but not usually in British English.
Some British cities have beautiful cathedrals, e.g. Salisbury.
Everybody liked M r Carter.

quotation marks ('...'or"...")
Quotation marks are used to show direct speech (somebody's actual words).
His father said, 'D o w h a t you wan f/(N OT <Do w h at you w ant> OR - Do w ant your want.)

figures
We use commas after thousands and millions, and full stops in decimal fractions.
€5,500,000 ( = 'five million, five hundred thousand euros')
€5.5m (= 'five and a half million euros')

apostrophes (')
For apostrophes in contractions (e.g. isn't), see Appendix 4. For apostrophes in possessives (e.g. John's),
see page 201.

APPENDICES 303