Punctuation

1
Punctuation
2
Periods and Other End Marks

• Period
• 1. Use at the end of a declarative sentence.
• Ex. My teacher is the best ever.
• 2. Use at the end of most imperative sentences.
• Ex. Give the dog a bath.
• 3. Use at the end of an indirect question.
• Ex. She asked me to go to the store.
• 4. Use at the end of most abbreviations and
  initials.
• Ex. Mr., min., Ave., Dr., Ph.D., Oct., U.S.A.
• (abbreviations without periods TV, VCR, DVD, CD,
  ER, etc.)
• 5. Use a period after each number and letter in
  an outline or list.
• I. Horses
• A. Fast horses
• 1. Thoroughbreds
• 2. Arabians

3
Periods and Other End Marks

• Exclamation Point
• Use at the end of an exclamatory sentence.
• Ex. Blondee ate my homework!
• 2. Use after an interjection or after any other
  exclamatory expression.
• Ex. Wow! Thats a big hunk of cheese!
• Question Mark
• Use at the end of an interrogative sentence.
• He asked me, Will you please go to the store
  and buy milk?

4
Commas in Sentences

• There are eight ways to use a comma in a
  sentence.
• Commas are used to combine two complete sentences
  to create a compound sentence. The comma comes
  before the conjunction.
• Ex. The class was noisy, and they had to stay in
  for recess.
• 2. Commas come after every item in a series
  except the last one.
• Ex. Go to the store and buy a stick of butter, a
  gallon of milk, and a loaf of bread for dinner.

5
Commas in Sentences

• 3. Use a comma between two adjectives of equal
  importance.
• Ex. The tall, beautiful woman is a star.
• 4. Use a comma after an introductory word or
  phrase.
• Ex. Quietly, pack your bags to go home.
• 5. Use commas to set off words or phrases that
  interrupt, or break the flow of thought in a
  sentence.
• Ex. Tommy, finally, raised his hand to speak.

6
Commas in Sentences

• 6. Use a comma to set off a noun of direct
  address.
• Ex. Stop talking, Courtney, before you earn a
  detention.
• 7. Use a comma to set off an appositive phrase
  when it is not needed in a sentence. (An
  appositive phrase defines or names a noun or
  pronoun right before it)
• Ex. The principal, Mrs. Dutton, just walked
  into the room.
• 8. Use a comma whenever the reader may
  otherwise be confused.
• Ex. The art of writing, my lifes work, is so
  much fun!

7
Commas in Dates, Addresses, and Letters

• Commas in Dates Use a comma between the day and
  year unless in a sentence then add a comma after
  the year to continue the sentence.
• Commas in Addresses Use a comma between the
  city and state on an envelope. If written in a
  sentence, put a comma after the street address,
  between the city and state, the zip code and
  country, and after the country (if included) in
  order to continue the sentence.
• Commas in Letters- Use a comma after the greeting
  of casual letters and closing of casual and
  business letters.

8
Punctuating Quotations

• Direct Quotes
• Use quotes to mark the beginning and end of a
  direct quote.
• Ex. I will not tolerate talking during a test,
  explained the teacher.
• Use commas to set off explanatory words with
  direct quotes.
• Ex. I will not, explained the teacher,
  tolerate talking during a test.
• If a quote is a question or exclamation, place
  the question mark or exclamation point inside the
  closing quotation marks.
• Ex. I will not tolerate talking during a test!
  shouted the teacher.
• If quoted words are part of a question or
  exclamation, but not the actual question or
  exclamation, place the end mark outside the
  closing quotation marks.
• Ex. Did the teacher say, I will not tolerate
  talking during a test?

9
Punctuating Quotations

• Indirect Quotations
• Do not use quotation marks to set off indirect
  quotes.
• Indirect Did he ask you to the prom?
• Direct Did he ask, Will you go to the prom
  with me?
• Divided Quotations
• Use quotations to enclose all parts of a divided
  quotation.
• Do not capitalize the first word of the second
  part of a divided quote unless it begins a new
  sentence.
• Use commas to set off explanatory words.
• Wow, exclaimed Coleton, that is a big hunk of
  cheese!

10
Semicolon

• Use a semicolon to connect two sentences that are
  closely related. (The semicolon replaces a comma
  and conjunction to create a compound sentence.)
• Ex. Making Power Points is time-consuming I hope
  you appreciate all of my hard work.
• Use a semicolon when there are commas within
  parts of a series.
• Ex. The solar system consists of nine planets,
  like Earth, Mars, and Jupiter many comets, like
  Haleys Comet and countless stars.

11
Colon

• Use a colon to introduce a list of items.
• Ex. The St. Martha uniform is lovely plaid
  skirts, blue pants, white shirts, green shirts,
  and green sweat suits.
• Use a colon in the formal greeting of a business
  letter.
• Ex. To Whom It May Concern
• Ex. Dear Mrs. Dutton
• Use a colon in between the hours and minutes in
  expressions of time.
• Ex. 845 A.M. 1209 P.M.

12
Hyphen

• 1. Use a hyphen at a line break
• You must separate a word between syllables
• The word must be at least two syllables.
• You must have at least two letters on each line.
  Ex. dum-founded or dumfound-ed
• 2. Use a hyphen in certain compound words
• Ex. mother-in-law self-confident
  jack-o-lantern
• 3. Use hyphens to spell-out numbers twenty-one
  through ninety-nine. Ex. fifty-three
  seventy-two
• 4. Use hyphen to spell-out fractions
• Ex. one-fifth three-eighths

13
Dashes

• Use a dash to show an abrupt break in thought.
• Use the Oh, by the way! test
• Ex. Muhammad Ali whose birth name was Cassius
  Clay is a world famous boxer.

14
Parentheses

• Use parentheses to set off ideas loosely related
  to the sentence.
• Ex. Jesus was born in a stable (the exact date is
  unknown).
• Warning using too many parentheses will weaken
  your writing.

15
Apostrophes

• Use an apostrophe to form the possessive of
  nouns.
• Ex. Bobs house is big.
• Ex. The cars exhaust needs to be replaced.
• Use apostrophes to form contractions.
• Ex. Its it is youre you are wasnt
  was not
• Use apostrophes to form the plurals of a letter,
  number, or a word referred to as a word.
• Ex. I received six As on my report card.
• Ex. I earned seven 5s on my Traits of Writing.
• Ex. You have five gots in your paper.

16
Punctuating Titles

• Quotation Marks
• Book Chapter
• Story
• Essay
• Article
• TV Episode
• Song
• Poem

• Italics or Underlining
• Book
• Play
• Magazine
• Movie
• TV Series
• Long Musical Work
• Epic Poem
• Painting
• Ship
• Train
• Spacecraft
• Airplane