1.   The silence was occasionally punctuated by laughter.

2.   LAUGHTER punctuated a thanksgiving service yesterday for the life of the prolific dramatist William Douglas-Home, whose plays chronicled the capers of the upper classes.

3.   Laughter punctuated the debate regularly.

4.   Laughter rarely punctuates debates between Gore and Bradley, the former New Jersey senator, and the few funny lines spring from sarcasm more than wit.

5.   The participants often speak in shorthand punctuated by laughter.