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WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksin
EnglishGrammar?
Knowingwhereandwhentousethe
fourteenpunctuationmarkscangreatly
improveyourwritingskills.
Therearefourteenpunctuationmarks
commonlyusedinAmericanEnglish?
Theyaretheperiod,questionmark,
exclamationpoint,comma,semicolon,
colon,dash,hyphen,parentheses,
brackets,braces,apostrophe,quotation
marks,andellipses.
SentenceEndings
Threeofthefourteenpunctuationmarks
areappropriateforuse
assentenceendings.Theyarethe
period,questionmark,andexclamation
point.
Theperiod(.)isplacedattheendof
declarativesentences,statements
thoughttobecompleteandaftermany
abbreviations.
Forexample:
Asasentenceender:JaneandJack
wenttothemarket.
Afteranabbreviation:Her
Mar.birthdaycameandwent.
Useaquestionmark(?)toindicatea
directquestionwhenplacedattheend
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ofasentence.Forexample:Whendid
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Janeleaveforthemarket?
Theexclamationpoint/mark(!)isused
whenapersonwantstoexpressa
suddenoutcryoraddemphasis.
1.Withindialogue:Holycow!
screamedJane.
2.Toemphasizeapoint:Mymother
inlaw'srantsmakemefurious!
Comma,Semicolonand
Colon
Thecomma,semicolonandcolonare
oftenmisusedbecausetheyallcan
indicateapauseinaseries.
Thecommaisusedtoshowa
separationofideasorelementswithin
thestructureofasentence.Additionally,
itisusedinletterwritingafterthe
salutationandclosing.
Separatingelements
withinsentences:Suziwantedthe
black,green,andblueshoes.
LetterSalutations:DearUncleJohn,
Separationoftwocomplete
sentences:Wewenttothemovies,and
wewenttothebeach.
Thesemicolon()isusedtoconnect
independentclauses.Itshowsacloser
relationshipbetweentheclausesthana
periodwouldshow.Forexample:John
washurtheknewsheonlysaiditto
upsethim.
Acolon(:)hastwomainuses:
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Thefirstisafterawordintroducingaquotation,anexplanation,an
example,oraseries.Itisalsooftenusedafterthesalutationofabusiness
letter.
Thesecondiswithintimeexpressions.Withintime,itisusedtoseparate
outthehourandminute:12:15p.m.
DashandtheHyphen
Twokindsofdashesareusedthroughoutwrittencommunications.Theyare
theendashandtheemdash.Anendashisasymbol()thatisusedinwriting
orprintingtoconnectnumbersortoconnectelementsofacompound
adjective,suchas18801945orPrincetonNewYorktrains.
However,theemdashhasmorecomplicatedgrammaticaluse.Thesymbolof
isusedto:
Indicateabreakinthoughtorsentencestructure
Introduceaphraseaddedforemphasis,definition,orexplanation
Separatetwoclauses
Useitinthefollowingmanner:Weonlywantedtogettwobirdsbuttheclerk
talkedusintofourpregnantparakeets.
Ahyphen()isthesamesymbolastheendash.However,ithasslightly
differentusagerules.Ahyphenisusedbetweenthepartsofacompoundword
ornameorbetweenthesyllablesofaword,especiallywhendividedattheend
ofalineoftext.
Examplesofthisinuseinclude:
Betweenacompoundname:Mrs.SmithReynolds
Withinacompoundword:backtoback
Brackets,BracesandParentheses
Brackets,bracesandparenthesesaresymbolsusedtocontainwordsthatare
afurtherexplanationorareconsideredagroup.
Parentheses(())arecurvednotationsusedtocontainfurtherthoughtsor
qualifyingremarks.However,parenthesescanbereplacedbycommaswithout
changingthemeaninginmostcases.Forexample:JohnandJane(whowere
actuallyhalfbrotherandsister)bothhaveredhair.
Bracketsarethesquaredoffnotations([])usedfortechnicalexplanations.
YourDictionaryusesthemwhenyoulookupworddefinitions.Atthebottomof
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eachdefinitionpage,bracketssurroundatechnicaldescriptionofwherethe
wordoriginated.
Braces({})areusedtocontaintwoormorelinesoftextorlisteditemstoshow
thattheyareconsideredasaunit.Theyarenotcommonplaceinmostwriting,
butcanbeseenincomputerprogrammingtoshowwhatshouldbecontained
withinthesamelines.
Apostrophe,QuotationMarksandEllipses
ThefinalthreepunctuationformsinEnglishgrammararetheapostrophe,
quotationmarksandellipses.Unlikepreviouslymentionedgrammaticalmarks,
theyarenotrelatedtooneanotherinanyform.
Anapostrophe(')isusedtoindicatetheomissionofaletterorlettersfroma
word,thepossessivecase,orthepluralsoflowercaseletters.
Examplesoftheapostropheinuseinclude:
Omissionoflettersfromaword:Anissueofnat'limportance.
Possesivecase:Sara'sdogbites.
Pluralforlowercaseletters:Sixpeopleweretoldtomindtheirp'sandq's.It
shouldbenotedthat,accordingtoPurdueUniversity,someteachersand
editorsenlargethescopeoftheuseofapostrophe,andprefertheiruseon
symbols(&'s),numbers(7's)andcapitalizedletters(Q&A's),eventhoughthey
arenotnecessary.
Quotationsmarks()areapairofpunctuationmarksusedprimarilytomark
thebeginningandendofapassageattributedtoanotherandrepeatedword
forword.Theyarealsousedtoindicatemeaningsandtoindicatetheunusual
ordubiousstatusofaword.
Singlequotationmarks(')areusedmostfrequentlyforquoteswithinquotes.
Theellipsesmarkisgenerallyrepresentedbythreeperiods(...)althoughitis
occasionallydemonstratedwiththreeasterisks(***).Theellipsesareusedin
writingorprintingtoindicateanomission,especiallyoflettersorwords.
Ellipsesarefrequentlyusedwithinquotationstojumpfromonephraseto
another,omittingunnecessarywordsthatdonotinterferewiththemeaning.
Studentswritingresearchpapersornewspapersquotingpartsofspeecheswill
oftenemployellipsestoavoidcopyinglengthytextthatisnotneeded.
DifferencesinBritishvs.AmericanEnglish
ThereareafewdifferencesbetweenpunctuationinBritishandAmerican
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English.Thefollowingchartsdetailssomeofthosedifferences:
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British American
English English
The.symbolis
afullstop aperiod
called
The()symbols
brackets parentheses
arecalled
The[]symbols square
brackets
arecalled brackets
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