![]() Hyphens and dashes look alike but serve different purposes. Brackets īrackets are often used to clarify who a pronoun is referring to when the reader can’t be entirely certain.Įxample: She teaches third grade at Lincoln. Interesting side note: You can also use a set of commas in place of each parenthesis. My sister, who grew up in Los Angeles, has no idea how to deal with the Illinois winters. Parentheses are used when your thought requires a bit of expansion to be better understood.Įxample: My sister (who grew up in Los Angeles) has no idea how to deal with the Illinois winters. When you need to elaborate on a thought or clarify your meaning, you need punctuation to encase your little sojourn in your explanation. This is similar to using a coordinating conjunction to join two complete sentences into one, but it allows you to drop the conjunction completely.Įxample (a semicolon twist on our earlier comma example): Carlos is prompt he always completes work ahead of the deadline. Semicolon ( )Ī semicolon joins two complete sentences into one sentence. The primary use of a colon in American punctuation is to introduce a list.Įxample: The project has four phases: planning, development, testing, and delivery. Example: While I was on vacation, Sarah filled in. To separate an introductory clause at the beginning of a sentence. ![]() Example: Stephanie handled the scope, development, production, and delivery of the final product. Example: Carlos is prompt, and he always completes work ahead of the deadline. To use with coordinating conjunctions to join two complete sentences into one compound sentence.Example: It was nice working with you, Sam. ![]() There are tons of extended rules for comma use, but here are the basic uses: Comma (,)Ĭommas are one of the most versatile and useful bits of punctuation. Punctuation to join or separate ideas in a sentenceĬommas, colons, and semicolons are all used to join or separate ideas in a sentence. Question mark (?)Īs the name implies, the question mark ends a sentence that asks a question.Įxample: Is the Wi-Fi down? Exclamation point (!)Įxclamation points end sentences with strong emotion.Įxample: I can’t believe I caught that pass! You get to choose from three main options: Period (.)Ī period ends a sentence that provides information or states a fact or opinion.Įxample: I want to be a better writer. Your sentence isn’t complete without a punctuation mark.
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