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Mastering Punctuation Basics: Learn to Perfect Your Writing Style

Discover the most common types of punctuation, from sentence enders like period, exclamation point, and question mark to sentence breakers like dash and ellipsis. Explore proper usage of comma, semicolon, colon, apostrophe, quotation marks, parentheses, and more. Enhance your writing with these punctuation essentials. From separating clauses to introducing lists, quotations, and more, this guide will help you elevate your writing.

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Mastering Punctuation Basics: Learn to Perfect Your Writing Style

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  1. Punctuation basics

  2. Most common types of punctuation • Sentence enders: period, exclamation point, question mark • Comma • Semicolon • Colon • Apostrophe • Quotation marks • Sentence breakers: dash, parentheses, ellipsis

  3. Sentence enders • Period • Exclamation point • Question mark

  4. Semicolon • To separate two independent clauses in a compound sentence. • David and Mike are brothers; however, they are very different. • To separate items in a list IF the listed items already contain commas. • I have four cats: Brin, who is the largest; Zelazny, who is Brin’s brother; LeGuin, who is small and black; and Butterscotch, who is the youngest.

  5. Colon • To introduce a list. • Here is what I need to order: dry-erase markers, rubber bands, pens, pencils and printer paper. • To indicate time. 3:45 PM • To start a business letter. Dear Mr. Hirsi: • To introduce a long quote. • In a famous speech, Abraham Lincoln said: “…

  6. Apostrophe • Contractions • It’s probably going to rain tonight. • Possession • Aziza is Adam’s daughter. • NOT used to indicate plurals!!

  7. Quotation marks • Donna said, “I’m going down to the Outer Banks tomorrow to visit my brother. I’ll be there for a week.” • What does “serendipity” mean?

  8. Dash • Oscar came home from work--he was a blacksmith--and turned on the air conditioner. • "Is everyone--," began Olivia, choking with emotion.

  9. Parentheses • The Gettysburg Address (a speech made after the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg) is one of the best-known speeches in American history.

  10. Ellipsis • Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation ... dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

  11. Comma • Where it came from • General use

  12. Comma – most common uses • Separate items in a list • I need milk, bread, cheese and eggs from the store. • Separate APPOSITIVE words, phrases or clauses from the rest of the sentence • Well, Mary, I see what you mean, but the rest of the family won’t be happy about it.

  13. Comma – most common uses • After an initial dependent clause • After I finish this project, I’ll take a vacation day. • To set off a NONRESTRICTIVE adjective clause. (This is another type of APPOSITIVE.) • Our youngest cat is Butterscotch, who is very small.

  14. Restrictive clauses • The information in a RESTRICTIVE adjective clause is necessary in order to clearly specify the noun phrase it modifies. No commas are used to set it off. • The woman who is sitting in the corner reading is Mrs. Wheeler.

  15. Nonrestrictive clauses • The information in a NONRESTRICTIVE adjective clause is additional information modifying a noun phrase that is already specific. Commas are used to set it off. • I had lunch on Wednesday with my mother-in-law, who lives in South Africa.

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