English punctuation rules with examples

Learning a new language has its stages, and writing is not for absolute beginners. Building the vocabulary and knowing your way around grammar, should be followed by punctuation rules. The period, comma or exclamation mark along with other 14 punctuation marks it total have a purpose of organizing the structure of sentences. We use punctuation marks to stress out essential things, clarify the meaning of our words and make overall sense.

Sentence ending trio

In the age of messaging apps and abbreviation heavy style of writing, even these necessary punctuation rules have been often left out or misused. The period, question mark, and exclamation point are three punctuation marks you can use to as a sentence ending.

The period is with comma probably most used punctuation in all languages. It is placed at the end of declarative sentence or statements and after above mentioned abbreviations.

• Use of period at the end of the sentence: Game of Thrones final season will be aired in April and May.
• Use of the period after abbreviation: Mr. Jones is my favorite Counting Crows song, and I heard it on Oct. 6 for the first time.

Question mark implies that there is a question asked in the sentence so that the proper use would be after a direct question.

• Use of question mark at the end of the sentence: Who will survive the great battle with the army of undead?

An exclamation point is a tool for adding emphasis or to show emotion, sudden shout, surprise.

• Use of exclamation point in dialogue: I'm shocked with the way Hezonja blocked Lebron James at the end of the game!
• Use of exclamation point to emphasize a point: My wife comments about my work ethic make me outraged!

Punctuation rules for sentence breaks

While the use of the period, question marks and the exclamation point are pretty straightforward, comma, semicolon, and colon could get tricky. Misuse is possible between comma and semicolon and semicolon and colon while mistaking comma and colon is not usual.

The comma indicates a pause and is not as final as a period. This punctuation mark is used to separate ideas or elements in sentences.

You should use a comma to separate word, or word groups in a series of three or more repetitions. It is also used with numbers, dates, and letter writing after the salutation.

• Use of comma as a separator: I went with George, Paul, and Mick to a System of a Dawn concert.
• Use of comma for separation of two complete sentences: I visited New Zealand, and then went to the Australian Gold Coast.
• Use of comma to directly address: Thank you for being of service, sir Jamie.

Some writers don't use the final comma before the conjunction in a list. This last comma is called Oxford or serial comma. It is useful in a complex series, but in a simple string, many will find it unnecessary.

The vaguest punctuation is probably semicolon. It connects independent clauses, and semicolon indicates a stronger relationship between the clauses.

• Use of semicolon: Call us tomorrow; you can give us an answer to the proposal then.

There are three primary uses for a colon. The most common is when announcing a quotation, an explanation or a series.

• Use of colon for the introduction of quotation or series: I told her I like listening:  punk, rock, heavy metal and jazz.

Colon is used for point of emphasis.

• One meal is above all in my world: foie gras.

The colon is used between independent clauses just like a semicolon, but in this case, the second needs to explain the first.

• I didn't finish my painting: I already missed a deadline.

Don't mistake a dash with the hyphen

The dash and hyphen share the same visual appearance, but their use is very different. There are two types of dashes: en dash and em dash. The primary purpose is to separate words into statements.

En dash indicates a connection of differentiation.

• Use of en dash: 1991-1995 or Paris-London train

Em dash is twice as long as the en dash and can be used instead of a comma or colon to add to the readability or for emphasis.

• Use of em dash: She responded to his proposal- No!
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A hyphen usually connects two or more words into a term, and there are no spaces in between.

• Use of hyphen: short-term, part-time

Punctuation marks for additional explanation

Brackets, braces, and parentheses usually contain words or phrases that for further clarification or are considered a group.

Brackets are the squared notations with the purpose to clarify the meaning or hold technical explanation.

• Use of brackets: He [Bran] completely changed after his fall.

Braces are not very common in writing. They are used to contain listed items or text to show they are perceived as a unit.

• Use of braces: I colored {red, orange, grey, pink} my bike couple of times, and was never fully satisfied.

Parentheses are curved notations that have additional thoughts or qualifying remarks. Commas can replace them without changing the meaning.

• Use of parentheses: The Panzers (who were technically superior) suffered utter defeat at Kursk.

Other punctuation marks are Apostrophe, Quotation Marks and Ellipsis

The last three punctuation rules are not linked to each other. An apostrophe is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, to emphasize possession or for the plurals of lowercase letters.

Use of apostrophe:

• I visited a drugstore yesterday. She wasn't there.
• Doug's TV set is considerably larger than mine
• House of Commons was told to mind their p's and q's.

Quotation marks function in pairs and as their name says are used to mark the beginning and end of a passage containing someone's quote.

• Use of quotation: "Don't try to score a winning basket over Mario Hezonja," said Lebron James after LA Lakers loss to the Knicks.

The ellipsis is used to indicate an omission, or in the quotation to jump from one phrase to another, or to avoid copying lengthy text writer think is unnecessary.

Use of ellipsis:

• My kid learned to count, "One, two, three..." until he got to ten, and then started to look for me.
• We scored 110 points in the basketball game, our opponents only 80...