Capitalization and Punctuation Glossary

1
Capitalization and Punctuation Glossary

• This category of vocabulary will make up
  approximately 25 of the test.

2

• Apostrophe This is used to show the possessive
  form of a noun and is used to show that a letter
  or letters have been left out of a contraction.
• Brackets These are used around any word or phrase
  that has been added to a direct quote.

3

• Colon This is a punctuation mark used before a
  list of items or details, before a statement that
  summarizes the original statement, before a long,
  formal quotation or statement, or in a business
  letter after the salutation.

4

• Comma Splice This results when two or more
  independent clauses are joined by a comma without
  a coordinating conjunction.
• Conjunctive Adverb This may be used with a
  semicolon to connect independent clauses and
  usually serves as a transition between the
  clauses.

5

• Coordinating Conjunction... This is a word used
  to connect grammatically equal elements. These
  include and, but, or, nor, for, so, and yet.
• Dash... This is used to set off parenthetical
  material that merits emphasis, to set off
  appositives that contain names, and to prepare
  for a list, a restatement, an amplification, or a
  dramatic shift in tone.

6

• Dialogue... These are the words spoken by
  characters in a literary work.
• Ellipsis Mark... This, three spaced periods, is
  used to indicate that a word or words have been
  deleted from a direct quote.

7

• Exclamation Point... This is used after a word or
  words that have special emphasis or feeling.
• Interrogative Sentence... This asks a question.
  It is easily identified because the end
  punctuation is a question mark.

8

• Italics... These should be used in lieu of
  underlining. Do this to most titles of printed
  material and names of airplanes, trains and
  automobiles.
• Non-Restrictive Element... This adds additional
  descriptive information to a noun or pronoun.
  Therefore, it is considered nonessential to the
  sentence and should be set off by commas.

9

• Parentheses...  These may be used to enclose
  supplemental material, minor digressions and
  afterthoughts.
• Quotation Marks...  These are used to enclose
  direct quotations and to designate titles of
  short works (like newspaper and magazine
  articles, poems, short stories, songs, episodes
  of television and radio programs, and
  subdivisions of books or web sites).

10

• Restrictive Element...  This defines or limits
  the meaning of the word it modifies and is
  essential to the meaning of the sentence. Because
  it contains essential information, it should not
  be set off by commas.
• Run-on Sentence...  This results when independent
  clauses have not been joined correctly.

11

• Semicolon...  This is a punctuation mark that is
  used between clauses of a compound sentence when
  a conjunction is not used, before conjunctive
  adverbs that join independent clauses, and in a
  series when the series already contains commas.

12

• Sentence Fragment...  This is a group of words
  that does not have both a subject and a verb and
  cannot stand alone.
• Slash...  This separates two or three lines of
  poetry and separates paired terms.