Punctuation

Punctuation

Punctuation is a sign or gestures used to separate various parts of written language units. The rules of punctuation have changed throughout the years and will continue to change. The punctuation marks are used to signal grammatical structure, give the reader clues about how to read the text aloud, highlight semantic units, and emphasize or clarify the meaning of our words. There are various types of punctuation marks that have different functions.

Types of Punctuation

Period (.)

• to end a sentence

Example: I went to Manhattan last month.

• to indicate abbreviations

Example: 127 lbs.

• to indicate courtesy titles

Example: Mr. Anderson

• to indicate initials of a name

Example: W. A. Mozart

• to separate the decimal part of a number

Example: 3.5 GPA

Comma (,)

• to separate items in a list of three or more

Example: I love chocolate, ice cream, and flowers.

• to connect two or more independent clauses in a sentence

Example: We ran out of groceries, so I went to the store.

• to set apart non-restrictive relative clauses

Example: The baker, whose name was Jacob, gave us free donuts last weekend.

• to set apart nonessential appositives

Example: Her brother, Colin, came to the party last night.

• to set apart introductory phrases

Example: Without knowing why, she started crying.

• to separate parts of a date

Example: I was born on Monday, September 22, 2003.

• to set apart question tags

Example: The moon is beautiful, isn't it?

• to set apart names in direct address

Example: Hello, Daphne.

• to set off a direct quotation

Example: "It's cold outside," she said.

Question Mark (?)

• to indicate question in a sentence

Example: When will we get there?

Exclamation Point (!)

• to indicate a forceful command or statement

Example: Get out of here!

• to express strong feelings or convey emotion

Example: What a lovely view you have here!

• to emphasize short phrases

Example: Careful!

Colon (:)

• to name a list of items

Example: I have a few favorite subjects: physics, chemistry, and mathematics.

• to give emphasis

Example: She only has one love: books.

• to present dialogue

Example: Donna: Let's grab a bite before we leave.

• to separate time units

Example: 11:11 a.m.

• to separate a piece of work's title from its subtitle

Example: Avengers: Endgame

Semicolon (;)

• to connect two independent clauses

Example: Mia has gone to the shop; her sister has gone to play tennis.

• to divide items in a serial list

Example: There are countries I want to visit: Germany and Spain in Europe; Japan and China in Asia; and South Africa in Africa.

Apostrophe (’)

• to show ownership

Example: She used Xavier's phone.

• to show contractions

Example: I'd do anything for her.

• to indicate dialect

Example: 'Twas two days ago.

Quotation Marks (“ ”)

• to enclose a direct quote

Example: He said, "Don't go home too late."

• to show dialogue or transcribe speech

Example: "Why are we here?" he wondered.

• to show titles of a piece of work

Example: He watched "Back to the Future" for the second time today.

• to indicate unusual, unfamiliar, slang terms, or words that being used in a special way

Example: I thought he was a "stuffed shirt."

• to discuss a word, phrase, or letter

Example: The "p" in "raspberry" is actually silent.

• to differentiate a nickname from a given name

Example: John "Duke" Wayne was a popular actor.

Parentheses (( ))

• to add additional information

Example: I'm planning to visit my grandma (my dad's mom) tomorrow.

• to define acronyms

Example: NASA (The National Aeronautics and Space Administration) discovered an exoplanet in double star system.

Hyphen (-)

• to connect words before nouns

Example: We're looking for a pet-friendly park.

• to show compound words

Example: She is my mother-in-law.

• to separate tens and ones in numbers

Example: Ricky has arrived in Barcelona twenty-two hours ago.

• to separate numerator and denominator in fractional numbers

Example: That is about one-third of the affected population.

• to form words with prefixes

Example: She's so self-centered that she believed that the universe revolved around her.

• to separate two a's, two i's, two o's, and other combinations of letters

Example: He came from an anti-intellectual environment.

En Dash (–)

• to indicate a span of time or a range of numbers

Example: Add 10–20 grams of sugar.

• to mean "to" in certain contexts

Example: I'm taking the Berlin–Munich train.

Em Dash (—)

• to separate extra information

Example: A regular selection of three kinds of milk—plain, vanilla, and chocolate—has easily run out of stock.

• to mark a break in a sentence

Example: I'll be there soon—I promise!

Slash (/)

• to indicate "or"

Example: Each has his/her own struggle.

• to form abbreviations

Example: She looks prettier w/o her glasses.

• to denote dates

Example: 09/06/22

• to denote fractions

Example: ¼

• to separate lines of poetry

Example: Roses are red / Violets are blue / Sugar is sweet / And so are you

Brackets ([ ])

• to explain a part of the sentence within a direct quote

Example: Liam said, "I read that novel [Harry Potter] in middle school."

Ellipsis (...)

• to indicate the omission of words

Example: "... and you'll never guess who I met! I believe we're destined for each other."

• to depict a small pause

Example: Are you ... serious?

• to depict silence in text

Example: Should I take it, or ...

• to suggest an incomplete thought

Example: The only thing I want to do is ...

References

1. Crystal, David. (1995). The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language. Cambridge University Press.
2. Olson, Gary A. (1999). Punctuation Made Simple. The College of Arts and Sciences at Illinois University.
3. Straus, J., & Kaufman, L. (2014). The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.