PUNCTUATION INFO

COMMAS

RULE: don’t use a comma if the information after the comma is ESSENTIAL to the headword it qualifies:

e.g. compare

My brother who lives in Germany is an engineer

(I may have several brothers. Therefore it is essential that you know I’m talking about the one who lives in Germany)

My brother, who lives in Germany, is an engineer

(the fact that he lives in Germany is not essential. I only mentioned this “by the way”)

RULE: use a comma after a short introductory (subordinate) clause or phrase, otherwise you may confuse the reader!

While he was eating, Tiger Woods came into the restaurant.

COLONS

RULE: use a colon if the second clause explains the first

Järvelä (1996) has researched the subject before, but with a few differences: his samples were obtained from another manufacturer and contained plastics with properties differing from ours.

The devices were not comparable: both quality and cost considerations varied to a high degree.

RULE: don’t use a capital letter after a colon

The procedure was performed three times: once before the test, once after 2 hours and once after 10 hours.

HYPHENS

Hyphenation is really not a simple matter in English. With some words, it does not seem to matter whether a hyphen is used or not, but with others it can matter very much and can affect the meaning of the word.

There are some reference sources that you can turn to for help. A good dictionary (e.g. Collins Cobuild) can be useful, although note that dictionaries do not always agree on whether words should be hyphenated or not! An Internet search for the word using Google will give you a clue about current usage (but keep in mind that there are many usages on the Internet which would be considered unacceptable by most people).

Here are a few “rules of thumb” which may be of help:

2 words acting as a single adjective before a noun are hyphenated, e.g.:

a data-processing system (cf she studies data processing)

hyphens are used to avoid a string of letters which may be confusing, e.g.:

re-sign (= sign again) cf resign (= give notice)

semi-independent cf semiconscious

shell-like cf childlike

hyphens are used:

with the prefix “ex” (meaning former): ex-wife

with the prefix “self”: self-conscious

with the prefix “all”: all-inclusive

with the suffix “elect”: president-elect

between a prefix and a word starting with a capital letter: mid-April

with numbers: mid-1990’s

with letters: O-rings

In adjective or compound noun expressions where several words modify the "Headword", hyphens are NOT (generally) used. Compare the following examples in Finnish and English:

lämpö-, vesi- ja ilmastointijärjestelmä

heating, water and air-conditioning system

DIVIDING WORDS AT THE END OF A LINE

Again, dictionaries and native speakers do not always agree about where a word can be divided if it is necessary to split the word between the end of one line and the beginning of the next. Compared with the Finnish language, the rules for this in English are hopeless! However,once again some rules of thumb may be helpful:

try to avoid hyphens at the end of lines whenever you can
make breaks only between syllables of the word (dictionaries like Webster’s Dictionary and the New American Heritage Dictionary indicate syllable breaks)
if words already have a hyphen, divide them at the existing hyphen
divide words ending in "-ing" between consonants that are doubled when you add the "-ing" (e.g. plan-ning)
don’t end a line with a single letter
don’t start a line with the last 2 or 1 letters of a word

Finally, some dictionaries specialise in indicating places where words can be divided. One such dictionary (in the Oulu University Library) is:

Marshall, S.B. 1968. Collins GEM Dictionary of Spelling and Word Division. London, Collins. 506p.

Problem: the dictionary is rather small, old and limited and many words from contemporary technology are not included.