The most common punctuation marks in English: full stops, questions marks, commas, colons and semicolons, exclamation marks and quotation marks. Why are they so important?
They are: the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, brackets, braces, parentheses, apostrophe, quotation mark, and ellipsis.
Semicolons are punctuation marks used to separate parts of sentences. Use a semicolon in the following instances.
The Comma. The comma is also used to separate items in a list.
A colon is used to give emphasis, present dialogue, introduce lists or text, and clarify composition titles. Emphasis—Capitalize the first word after the colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence.
The Full Stop [.]
a. This is the strongest punctuation mark, making the most definite pause (in reading aloud or silently) when used at the end of a sentence. As shown in the previous examples, it is used at the end of sentences unless they are questions, strong exclamations or strong commands.
An ellipsis ( ... ) consists of three evenly spaced periods and is used to indicate the omission of words or suggest an incomplete thought.
1. All sentences must end in a period, a question mark, an exclamation point, or, if followed by a closely related sentence, a semicolon. 2. Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks in American English; dashes, colons, and semicolons almost always go outside.
It's time to stop calling them 'dot dot dot' . . . You see those dots? All three together constitute an ellipsis. The plural form of the word is ellipses, as in "a writer who uses a lot of ellipses." They also go by the following names: ellipsis points, points of ellipsis, suspension points.
The colon, :, is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots aligned vertically. A colon often precedes an explanation, a list, or a quoted sentence.
The full set of punctuation marks is separated into three classes: balanced, separating and terminal. The balanced punctuation marks are quotes and parentheses, separating are commas, dashes, semi-colons and colons, and terminal are periods, exclamation points and question marks.
Common Sentence Patterns with Appropriate Punctuation
Simple Sentence = Subject + Verb w/ possible additional information w/in the sentence. Pattern 2: Compound Sentence Using Connectors I scheduled an appointment at the writing center, and I can't wait until my session.
The hardest punctuation mark to use correctly is the comma, an infographic from TheVisualCommunicationGuy.com claims. That's because it has more rules and applications than any other punctuation mark.
Faulty punctuation of bullets is one of the most common mistakes seen in writing. The following examples show different constructions of bulleted items and their correct punctuation. If the lead is a complete sentence but the bulleted items are only phrases or clauses, punctuate as shown.
Also Correct- Use dashes, which are the most versatile punctuation mark, to add extra emphasis. Also Correct- To add extra emphasis, use dashes—which are the most versatile punctuation mark.
A question mark (?) is placed at the end of a sentence which is a direct question.
Two dashes can emphasize a modifier. Words or phrases that describe a noun can be set off with dashes if you wish to emphasize them.
A colon is a type of punctuation mark that is used in a sentence to indicate that something is about to follow on from it, such as a quotation, an example or a list. They can also be used to expand a sentence that is an explanation or continuation of the clause that comes before the colon.
The semicolon is the colon's quirkier sibling. While the colon is simply two dots stacked : the semicolon is a dot hovering over a comma ; The semicolon does jobs that are also done by other punctuation marks, but puts its own spin on the task. Like a comma, it can separate elements in a series.
Preferred style is without terminal punctuation, unless the list item is a complete sentence. Numbered lists may appear with or without the period after the number. One has flexibility in choosing styles for punctuating lists, as long as consistency is maintained within a document.