Punctuation Part2

7/26/2019 Punctuation Part2

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1 | P a g e L E G A L E N G L I S H 1 N O T E S f o r F e b r u a r y 2 0 , 2 0 1 6

UNIVERSITY OF THE CORDILLERAS

COLLEGE OF LAW

Legal nglish I

PUNCTUATION (Part 2)

E. SEMICOLON A semicolon is not a colon at all. It has the force of a strong

comma or weak period, separating the parts of the sentences, or joining

sentences without need of a conjunction.

1. Strong comma

As strong comma, a semicolon separates portions of a sentence of equal

rank if the other parts are divided by commas.

We have branches in Lipa City, Batangas; Los Baos, Laguna; and

Dasmarias, Cavite.

2. Weak period

A semicolon joins two independent clauses without a conjunction.

Nevertheless, a period may be used instead of the semicolon.

Visitors visit; guests are invited. or

Visitors visit. Guests are invited.

If the independent clauses are joined by transitional expressions (e.g.

indeed, that is, for instance, thus, in fact, for example, therefore, however,

furthermore, as a result, at last, at least, on the contrary, etc.), a semicolon

may be placed before the transitional word or phrase, and put a comma

after it.

The Court of Appeals granted appellants motion for extension of

time to file his brief; as a result, he had more time to research onprecedents.

F. COLON This is the punctuation mark of anticipation. It means something

will follow.


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1. Introducing long quotations or any formal matter

The colon is used to introduce block quotations, laws and rules as well as

set off the speakers name in transcripts of court proceedings.

Section 6, Rule 1 of the 1997 Rules on Civil Procedure mandates:

These Rules shall be liberally construed in order to promote

their objective of securing a just, speedy, and inexpensive

disposition of every action and proceeding.

The accused stood, his head bent, and said: guilty.

Atty. Cruz: Do you know defendantselder brother?

2. Introducing a series

A colon is used to introduce a series, summary and elaboration. The

clause introducing them must be a complete sentence in itself.

The Molina case identified three elements to establish

psychological incapacity: juridical antecedence, gravity and

incurability.

She and I could have made a perfect couple save for the absence

of one thing: marriage.

My sons final grades jumped many points in his major subjects:

from 85 to 90 in Filipino, 86 to 92 in English, and 84 to 90 in Math.

Misuse of the colon: The colon should not be used to separate the verb

from the object, or the preposition from its object

Our witnesses are: Eric, Ronald, and Alfredo.

We are going to look for the documents in: the court, the notary

publics office, and the Bureau of Archives.


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G. HYPHENWhen in doubt whether to hyphenate a compound term (a word

coined from two or more words), the rule is to look up the term in the

dictionary. It is sometimes difficult to form rules for hyphenated terms. For

instance, land agent (a real estate) and land mine are written as two

words; land-grant (government land granted to railroad or educational

institutions) or land-poor (owning much land which income is insufficient to

meet its expenses) are hyphenated; while landlord, landless, landmark,

landscape, landslide are written singly. Generally, compound words

beginning with landare written as one word. Compound words with eyeare

generally written as one (e.g. eyeball, eyeglasses, eyelash, eyestrain,

eyesore, eyewitness). But the following are written separately: eye bank, eye

shadow, eye worm. A few are hyphenated: eye-opener.

Cross-examination, which is questioning an opposing or hostile witness, is

hyphenated while direct examination, which is the initial questioning of a

witness by the lawyer who called the witness, is not.

1. For compound modifiers or phrasal adjectives, use the hyphen only when

the modifier precedes the noun being modified.

My eager-to-please friend (hyphenated)

My friend is eager to please. (not hyphenated)

2. The hyphen is not used if the first term of a phrasal adjective is an adverb

(ends in ly), unless the phrase consists of more than two words.

He went to a highly ranked school. (not hyphenated)

He went to a not-so-highly-ranked school. (hyphenated)

3. Foreign legal phrases are not hyphenated.

My associate took in the case pro bono public.

It was a quid pro quo deal.

4. The following prefixes are usually hyphenated: all-, ex-, self-

All-encompassing, ex-president, self-taught, self-inflicted, self-

serving


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The following prefixes are usually not hyphenated: pro, anti, inter, intra, re,

de, non, para, semi, super. Exception: the hyphen is used to avoid

ambiguity, or if the second element is capitalized.

Reaccommodate, reaccuse, readjourn, readopt, reappearance,

reappoint, reapportion, reassemble, reassert

Antilabor, antiforeign, antismoking, antibacterial, antimilitarism

Hyphenate to avoid doubling letters, or having two successive vowels.

Anti-intellectual, anti-imperialist, anti-aggression, anti-anarchic, anti-

evolutionist, anti-erosion, anti-oxidizer, anti-union

Hyphenate to avoid ambiguity.

Re-count (second count of votes, or a repetition of a count)

Recount (to narrate an event)

Re-cover (to cover again)

Recover (to regain after losing)

Re-create (to create again)

Recreate (to refresh by means of entertainment)

Second element is capitalized (e.g. proper noun, or noun phrase) retain

the hyphen.

Anti-Sandinistas, anti-Aristotelian, anti-freetrade, pre-Hispanic.

5. Two-word and spelled-out numbers from 21 to 99 are hyphenated even

though they are part of a larger number.

Twenty-one, six hundred forty-two

6. Spelled-out fraction is hyphenated.

One-third, eight-sixteenth


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7. The suspensive hyphen is used when two or more hyphenated words

share a common element.

Write a 300- to 500-word essay on justice.

Choose between long-, medium-, or short-term missionary work in

the highlands.

8. If the modifier precedes the noun, use the hyphen. Otherwise, if the

compound words appear after the noun, the hyphen is not used.

The long-anticipated decision was received.

The decision received was long anticipated.

A well-known lawyer appeared in court.

The lawyer who appeared in court was well known.

9. For line breaks (breaking the word at the end of the line), use the hyphen.

It is always good for couples to fight for their mar-

riage and not resort to easy separation.

Note: Do note divide a word in a page break, or break if each part would

only have less than three letters. Also, avoid hyphenating at the end of

more than two consecutive lines.

H. APOSTROPHE The apostrophe punctuates the word rather than the

sentence. In this sense, it is much like the hyphen. The apostrophe has two

main uses to indicate a possessive case and the omission of a letter or

figure. It is also used to form the plural of letters, numbers, abbreviations, or

words (used as such without reference to the meaning).

1. Add sto singular nouns, even if the base word ends in s or ss. The same

rue is applied in proper nouns.

Plaintiffs, witnesss, waitresss, Tomass, Reyess, Perezs


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However, some classical or biblical names ending in s form their

possessive by adding an apostrophe only (e.g. Amos, Jesus, Narcissus).

Likewise, certain virtues take an apostrophe only to form their possessive

(e.g. for righteousness sake, for conscience sake).

2. For plural nouns that end in s or z, add apostrophe only.

Defendants, witnesses, Reyeses, childrens, brethrens

3. For singular names written in plural form, add the apostrophe only.

Philippine Airlines, Manila Times, Court of Appeals, Court of

Industrial Relations

4. The apostrophe is not used for pronoun possessives such as its, his, hers,

theirs, ours, yours, or whose.

5. Joint or individual ownershipIf joint ownership is meant, the possessive

is formed by putting an apostrophe after the name of the last owner. If the

individual ownership is meant, the apostrophe is used after each owner.

Johns and Mylas lots (each owning separate lots)

John and Mylas lots (both own the lots together)

6. For compound expressions, the possessive is formed by putting the

apostrophe after the last word.

The bride-to-bes necklace

TO PLURALIZE LETTERS, SINGLE-DIGIT NUMBERS, UNCAPITALIZED

ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

1. When letters or words (used as they are and not for their meaning) are

pluralized, the apostrophe is used.

Cross yours ts and dot your fs.

He writes his leytes uncapitalized.


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2. The plural of single-digit numbers written in figures is formed by adding s.

Multiple-digit numbers in figures, dates, and single digit numbers which

are spelled out are pluralized by simply adding an s. There is no need to

add an apostrophe.

We must walk in 2s. (Better: We must walk in twos.)

Segregate the bills by 50s.

That was done in the 1970s.

3. Uncapitalized abbreviations are pluralized with s. The plural of a

capitalized abbreviation is formed by adding an s without an apostrophe.

He has a string of PhDs, yet remains humble.

Bring your cds to the picnic.

CPAs usually have the potential to become lawyers.

CONTRACTIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS

1. The apostrophe stands for omitted letters in contractions and

abbreviations.

Generally, however, contractions convey informality and should not be

used in formal legal writing, though such restriction is not as rigidly

enforced today.

A conversational article may be allowed to contract words to convey a

friendly, informal tone.

Arent, isnt, cant, wouldnt

2. The apostrophe marks the elision of letters, or numbers in a date where

the century referred to is understood.

round (for around), 63 (for 1963)

Note: The apostrophe should not be confused with the prime sign (e.g. 5

to indicate feet)


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I. PARENTHESIS - The parenthesis (plural parentheses) is either or both

upright curves used to set off a useful but non-essential word or phrase in a

sentence. The parentheses tone down the segregated material. If the writer

intends to highlight the phrase, the long dashes are used.

The witness (pale and shaking) was grilled during the cross-

examination.

The witness pale and shaking was grilled during the cross-

examination.

1. In parenthetical matters giving extra information or comments, use the

parentheses.

The Philippines (1946) and India (1947) gained independence a

year after the other.

The ADR Act of 2004 (RA 9285) does not repeal but complements

and improves the Arbitration Law of 1953 (RA 876).

2. To indicate an abbreviated reference to a long name, parentheses are

used.

The University of the Cordilleras (UC) gave him a magna cum

laude.

Bong Revilla and Jinggoy Estrada (defendants) filed their answer.

Marito Llosa and Reuben Onting (collectively referred to as plaintiff)

moved to refer the case to the Philippine Mediation Center.

Note: The use by some writers of hereinafter referred to as defendants

is unnecessary, and may be shortened to defendants.

3. Parentheses are used to set off numbers or letters enumerating subparts

of a statement.

His children are (1) Robert Jonathan, (2) Robert Anthony, and (3)

Robert Nicolas.


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J. QUOTATION MARKSQuotation marks may be double ( ) or single ( ).

Periods and commas are placed inside the quotation marks. Other

punctuations (e.g. colon, semicolon, question mark, exclamation point) are

placed outside, unless the question mark and exclamation point are part of

the quoted material.

1. Only short quotations (under 50 words) are enclosed by quotation marks.

Those with 50 words or more do not use quotation marks; instead, they

are written as block quotes, are single spaced and given special left and

right indentions.

2. In nested quotations (quotation/s within a quotation), alternate between

the double and single quotations.

3. If a word or phrase is referred to as such (without going to its meaning) in

a sentence, it may be quoted or italicized.

Emily Dickinson referred to the grave as her little cottage.

Emily Dickinson referred to the grave as her little cottage.

4. Words used ironically or with a different shade of meaning are set off by

quotations.

His wife will soon arrive.

5. Quotation marks set off a nickname if written between the first and last

names.

Benigno PNoy S. Aquino IIII

K. DASHThe dash may be long (called the em dash) or short (called the en

dash).

Em DashEm or long dashes indicate a sudden break in a sentence to

amplify, define, explain or summarize the matters before the dash. They

often substitute the colon, such as to introduce a list, or set off appositives.

However, dashes are less formal than the colon.


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The truth that is what I wanted to hear from you. (sudden break

amplifying matters)

May favorite subjects fall under Civil Law Obligations and

Contracts, Sales, and Partnership. (list)

Two of his four sons have doctorates Mar and James.

(appositives, explaining two)

Appearing in pairs, em dashes substitute for commas and parentheses.

Parenthetical matters may be set off by long dashes instead of the

parentheses.

He broke downunexpectedlywhile testifying.

Our countrys main geographical divisions Luzon, Visayas and

Mindanaoare represented as stars in the flag.

One must not use a comma, semicolon, or colon directly before or after

em dashes. As em dashes are strong and emphatic punctuations, they

should be used sparingly. An overuse creates a choppy effect in the

sentence.

En Dash The en dash or short dash looks like a hyphen, and means

through or up to.

2015-2019, Monday-Saturday

L. AMPERSAND (&)The ampersand symbolizes and and shortcuts the word.

It is not used in formal writing, except as part of a corporate naming style (e.g.

American Telephone & Telegraph Co.). In case of government agencies, the

word is used (e.g. Department of Budget and Management).

When the ampersand is used instead of the comma in the last two items in a

series, do not put a comma before the ampersand (e.g. the law firm of Flores,

Palmera & Go). #

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Punctuation Part2