Punctuation Marks

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There are 15 punctuation marks in English grammar. Knowing where and when to use the fourteen punctuation marks found in English grammar can greatly improve your writing skills.

The 15 punctuation marks in order of difficulty with pronunciation are:

1. Period .
Ends a sentence flatty

2. Question Mark ?
Ends a sentence with curiosity

3. Exclamation Mark !
Ends a sentence with gusto

4. Asterisk *
Suggest a further comment, clarification or qualifier

5. En Dash –
Replaces the word "through" or "to" when suggesting a duration of time

6. Semicolon ;
Joins two related complete sentences

7. Brackets []
Indicate editorial comments by someone other than the author
Indicate asides or other parenthetical information already in parentheses

8. Parentheses ()
Suggest related but unnecessary information
Clarify a writer's frame of mind
Indicate citation or page references

9. Ellipsis ...
Indicates an omission of words in a quote
Indicates hesitating speech in dialogue
Suggest that something is being left out

10. Em Dash —
Expands with emphasis a main clause
Separates and draws special attention to ideas
Suggest an interruption in thought or change in direction

11. Quotation Mark "
Indicates a direct quotation
Indicates a dictionary definition
Indicates the words on a sign
Suggest sarcasm or snarkiness
Highlights a word in a sentence
Indicates short media pieces, like poems, songs, articles, and chapter titles

12. Colon :
Expands or clarifies a main clause
Introduces lists
Comes after salutations
Separates hours from minutes
Separates title from subtitles
Indicates dialogue in plays
Suggest ratios

13. Hyphen -
Creates compound adjectives
Combines two-digit numbers
Clarifies verbs with common prefixes
Joins prefixes to capitalized words
Joins a letter or a number to a word
Joins a prefix to a date
Separate words with same three letters in a row

14. Apostrophe '
As single quotation mark, indicates quote with a quote
Omits letters and numbers
Creates a plural for a single letter
Makes a noun possessive
Gives possession to a singular noun that ends in 's'
Makes abbreviation possessive
Creates plural possessions
Creates compound possessions
In headlines, used as a double quotation mark

15. Coma ,
Separates items in a list
Separates coordinate adjectives
Separates coordinating conjunction
Separates dependent clauses
Separates appositives
Comes after introductory phrases
Comes after interjections
Comes after direct address
Comes after a title
Separates the day of the month from the year
Separates numbers larger than 999
Separates cities from states
Comes after abbreviations i.e. and e.g.
Comes before quotations

Use of Punctuation Marks

Sentence Endings

Three of these punctuation marks are appropriate for use as sentence endings. They are the period, question mark, and exclamation point.

The period (.) is placed at the end of declarative sentences, statements thought to be complete and after many abbreviations.

For example:

• As a sentence ender: Jane and Jack went to the market .

• After an abbreviation: Her Mar . birthday came and went.

Use a question mark (?) to indicate a direct question when placed at the end of a sentence. For example: When did Jane leave for the market ?

The exclamation point/mark (!) is used when a person wants to express a sudden outcry or add emphasis.
1.Within dialogue: “Holy cow!” screamed Jane.
2.To emphasize a point: My mother-in-law's rants make me furious !

Comma, Semicolon and Colon

The comma, semicolon and colon are often misused because they all can indicate a pause in a series.

The comma is used to show a separation of ideas or elements within the structure of a sentence. Additionally, it is used in letter writing after the salutation and closing.

• Separating elements within sentences: Suzi wanted the black , green , and blue shoes.

• Letter Salutations: Dear Uncle John ,

• Separation of two complete sentences: We went to the movies , and we went to the beach.

The semicolon (;) is used to connect independent clauses. It shows a closer relationship between the clauses than a period would show. For example: John was hurt ; he knew she only said it to upset him.

A colon (:) has two main uses:
•The first is after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series. It is also often used after the salutation of a business letter.
•The second is within time expressions. Within time, it is used to separate out the hour and minute: 12 : 15 p.m.

Dash and the Hyphen

Two kinds of dashes are used throughout written communications. They are the endash and the emdash. An endash is a symbol (-) that is used in writing or printing to connect numbers or to connect elements of a compound adjective, such as 1880 - 1945 or Princeton - New York trains.

However, the emdash has more complicated grammatical use. The symbol of ­ is used to:
•Indicate a break in thought or sentence structure
•Introduce a phrase added for emphasis, definition, or explanation
•Separate two clauses
Use it in the following manner: We only wanted to get two birds - but the clerk talked us into four pregnant parakeets.

A hyphen (-) is the same symbol as the endash. However, it has slightly different usage rules. A hyphen is used between the parts of a compound word or name or between the syllables of a word, especially when divided at the end of a line of text.

Examples of this in use include:

• Between a compound name: Mrs. Smith - Reynolds

• Within a compound word: back - to - back

Underscore (also called understrike, underbar, low line, underdash, underline, downspace, or low dash (_)
Creates visual spacing within a sequence of characters where a whitespace character is not permitted

Example of this in use include:

• punctuation_mark.com

Brackets, Braces and Parentheses

Brackets, braces and parentheses are symbols used to contain words that are a further explanation or are considered a group.

Parentheses ( () ) are curved notations used to contain further thoughts or qualifying remarks. However, parentheses can be replaced by commas without changing the meaning in most cases. For example: John and Jane ( who were actually half brother and sister ) both have red hair.

Brackets are the squared off notations ([]) used for technical explanations. They are used when you look up word definitions. At the bottom of each definition page, brackets surround a technical description of where the word originated.

Braces ({}) are used to contain two or more lines of text or listed items to show that they are considered as a unit. They are not commonplace in most writing, but can be seen in computer programming to show what should be contained within the same lines.

Apostrophe, Quotation Marks and Ellipses

The final three punctuation forms in English grammar are the apostrophe, quotation marks and ellipses. Unlike previously mentioned grammatical marks, they are not related to one another in any form.

An apostrophe (') is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of lowercase letters.

Examples of the apostrophe in use include:

• Omission of letters from a word: An issue of nat'l importance.

• Possesive case: Sara's dog bites.

• Plural for lowercase letters: Six people were told to mind their p's and q's. It should be noted that, according to Purdue University, some teachers and editors enlarge the scope of the use of apostrophe, and prefer their use on symbols (&'s), numbers (7's) and capitalized letters (Q&A's), even though they are not necessary.

Quotations marks ( “” ) are a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word. They are also used to indicate meanings and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of a word.

Single quotation marks (') are used most frequently for quotes within quotes.

The ellipses mark is generally represented by three periods ( . . . ) although it is occasionally demonstrated with three asterisks (***). The ellipses are used in writing or printing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words. Ellipses are frequently used within quotations to jump from one phrase to another, omitting unnecessary words that do not interfere with the meaning. Students writing research papers or newspapers quoting parts of speeches will often employ ellipses to avoid copying lengthy text that is not needed.

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