OBJECTIVES To identify the natural pauses in English speech Punctuation Grammar Grammar  Comma = ,  period = .  Semicolon = ;  Colon = :  Parentheses = ( ) When I was a little girl, I flew kites. When I was a young woman, I played the piano. Sentences are made up of grammatical units. Identify those unit, and you’ll know where to pause. Grammatical units  Verbs phrases ran quickly (verb + adverb) cooked delicious food (verb + object) has been learning (auxiliary verbs + main verb) Grammatical units  Prepositional phrases with my family  Clauses 1. When I was a little girl / I flew kites.// 2. The girl, / who was wearing a beautiful hat / flew her kite.//  Example: 1. She cried. 2. Who laughed? 3. Were we late? 4. It’s her gift. 5. Did you sleep late?