PUNCTUATIONS

USE OF PUNCTUATIONS

Knowing where and when to use the fourteen punctuation marks can greatly improve your writing skills.

There are fourteen punctuation marks commonly used  in American English? They are the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipses.

Sentence Endings

Three of the fourteen 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

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. YourDictionary uses them 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