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# punctuate

verb (punctuate, punctuates, punctuated, punctuating)

«punctuate» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To punctuate writing is to put in punctuation marks, like full stops, commas, question marks and speech marks. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#m1)
2. To punctuate something also means to interrupt it again and again: the speech was punctuated by cheers. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#m2)
3. To punctuate can mean to stress a point: he punctuated his words by banging the table. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#m3)

### In the lessons

In English lessons, pupils are told to «punctuate your writing correctly» and «punctuate the speech»: capital letters, full stops, commas in lists, apostrophes, and inverted commas round spoken words. In stories, «punctuated by» shows something happening at intervals: silence punctuated by drips. Phrases: «punctuate correctly», «punctuate the sentence», «punctuated by», «punctuated with».

### Examples

- Punctuate this sentence: where are you going asked tom [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x1)
- Remember to punctuate your story with full stops and capital letters. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x2)
- She punctuated the dialogue with speech marks. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x3)
- The quiet night was punctuated by an owl's hoot. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x4)
- His talk was punctuated with jokes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x5)
- The teacher punctuated each rule by tapping the board. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x6)
- Can you punctuate the list with commas? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/#x7)

### Note

Noun: «punctuation» (uncountable). Spelled with «-uate», like «graduate». The second meaning is common in stories and the exam voice. Do not confuse with «punctual» (on time), though both come from a Latin word for "point".

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «punctuate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/punctuate/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«punctuate» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/punctuate.html) on Mova free.