The Rules of Punctuation

PUNCTUATION MARK

DEFINITION USE IT… EXAMPLE

PeriodA mark used at the end of a regular sentence (declarative or imperative) representing a full stop.

-at the end of a sentence

-after initials

-after an abbreviation

Jim stopped.

R. L. Stevenson

Dr.

Question MarkA mark at the end of an interrogative sentence indicating a question.

-at the end of a question Do you understand?

Exclamation PointA mark at the end of an exclamatory sentence indicating great feeling.

-at the end a shouting I stubbed my toe!

Why did I stub my toe?!

Capitalization Upper case letter used to start a sentence, represent proper nouns, titles, initials, and the pronoun I.

-to begin a sentence

-to begin a proper noun

-to begin a title

-to write initials

-to begin a quotation

-to write the pronoun I

The car…

Colin or Moncton or Friday

Mr. or Mrs. or Dr.

R. L. Stevenson

Rob said, “Today will be fun.”

This is what I believe.

Comma An internal mark indicating a pause.

-to separate words in a list

-to separate geographic locations

-to separate words from words and #s from #s in a date

-after transitions

-after interjections

-to set off non-restrictive clauses

-to set off direct quotations

Rover sits up, rolls over, and begs.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Monday, July 8, 2016

First,

Hey,

This, believe it or not, is the end.

“I think,” said Jill, “I will leave.”

Transition is an introductory word or phrase used to smoothly move (transition) from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph.

Interjection is a word or phrase that occurs alone and expresses emotion.

Non-Restrictive Clause is when two commas offset a word or phrase providing extra information to the sentence.

The Rules of Punctuation (continued)

PUNCTUATION MARK

DEFINITION USE IT… EXAMPLE

ApostropheAn internal mark used to indicate a contraction or possession

-in contractions

-in possessive nouns

didn’t

Bob’s hat

Possessive Apostrophe Rules

When singular possessive noun, add apostrophe and s (Jim’s bike)

When plural possessive noun but already ends in s, only add the apostrophe at the end (the five birds’ nest)

When plural possessive noun and does not already end in s, add apostrophe and s (see the mice’s tails)

When one-syllable possessive noun, add apostrophe and s (James’s)

When two-or-more-syllable possessive noun, only add the apostrophe at the end (Jesus’)

ColonAn internal mark used to introduce further information and to express numeric time

-to introduce a list

-to introduce a question or related statement

-to express numeric time

-after a salutation

Our three choices: up, in, or on.

I had only one thought: what now?

1:25 p.m.

Dear Sarah:

SemicolonAn internal mark used to join together two independent clauses similar in thought

-to join independent clauses

-to separate items in a complex list

Josh worked hard; it was worth it.

The presentation was organized by Jay Lee, President; Ben Key, Vice-President; and Sarah Dee, Secretary

Independent Clause is a group of words that, by themselves, forms a complete sentence.

Complex List is when a list contains extra information for some (or all) of its components.

Quotation MarksA pair of internal marks used to indicate the start and end of a direct quotation

-in a direct quotation

-in titles of smaller works

Sally said, “Silly summer socks.”

Aerosmith sings “Dream On.”

Direct Quotation is when you quote the exact words someone said.

Smaller Works include titles of poems, songs, short stories, articles, or chapters in a book.

EllipsisA set of dots used to indicate the omission of words

-when words are being left out Joe went for a walk…fell asleep.