PUNCTUATION MARKS

PUNCTUATION MARKS:

Full stop. Coma, Colon: Semicolon; Question mark? Apostrophe’ Hyphen- (Brackets) Slash/ “Quotation marks” CAPITAL LETTERS small letters exclamation marks! Dash__________ ELLIPSIS (. . .)  dot-dot-dot

FULL STOP TO END A SENTENCE period (FULL STOP) ( . )

QUESTION MARK??

EXCLAMATION MARK ( ! ) warning - Watch out!" direct order - Do Not Enter! Expressing strong feelings Fear: "That dog is going to bite me!" Anger: "Shut up!" Surprise: "The bus is early today!" Happiness: "It is good to see you again!"

4. ELLIPSIS (. . .)  dot-dot-dot EXAMPLES: She opened the door . . . and saw . . . a cake! I was thinking . . . maybe we should call home. I know I saw my keys somewhere . . . I never thought . . . "I'm not sure what to do . . .," he said.

5. COMMA ( , ) TO SEPARATE PHRASES OR ITEMS When listing items in a sentence, The colors in my bedroom are blue, green, and yellow. Flour, sugar, butter, and milk are what you need to buy. My best friends are Richard, Nick, Beth, and Lisa. Use a comma to separate two adjectives if you can reverse the order of the adjectives or insert "and" between the adjectives. He is a little, short man. I have a small, white cat. When we use an -ly adjective we insert a comma to separate it from other adjectives. She has a lovely, black horse. We walked the dog for a friendly, elderly lady. When writing a date in a sentence He was born on March 17th, 1981. School will begin August 25, 2013, at 8:15 a.m. When writing a location in a sentence, we use commas to separate the city from the state: I am traveling to Austin, Texas, to visit my sister.

To prepare for the competition, Tim surfed every day. Use a comma with a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to connect two independent clauses in a compound sentence. My little brother likes candy, so I bought him a lollipop. The dog chased the cat, but the cat ran up a tree. Sarah wants to go to the theater, and Sandy wants to go to the zoo. She likes flowers, so he bought her a bouquet. When writing a quote, we use commas to set apart the quotation: My mom said, "Be nice to your sister." "Please take good care of yourself," said the doctor. "You can vote for a president this Tuesday," the man instructed. "John," my father asked, "could you please take the dog outside?" When writing a Tag Question, use a comma to separate the statement from the question: You like horses, don't you? His name is Bill, isn't it? This Sunday is your birthday, correct? Use commas around a description of someone or  something in a sentence that has already been identified: Mr. Johnson, my math teacher, told us to study for the test tonight. My green bike, which has a flat tire, is parked in the garage.

She was born in San Diego, California, in 1980. Use commas when you write a sentence that directly addresses someone: Yes, teacher, I will finish my work. Will you, Bill, show me how to do the mathematics problem? Do you like horses, Joe? I was wondering, Mr. Jones, if you would like to come to my house next week. No, mother, I did not pick up all my toys. We also use commas around degrees or titles with names. John Smith, M.D. (= Doctor of Medicine) Sally Ford, Ph.D. (= Doctor of Philosophy) Use a comma to set apart an introductory word such as Yes, No, Well, Finally, Then, and Now. Yes, I would love to go to the park today! Well, I never thought I would see a tiger. Now, it is time to start the movie. Then, it will be time to wash the dishes. Finally, I am finished with my homework! No, she does not like lizards. Use a comma with an introductory phrase to set it apart from the main sentence: On December 25 many families will celebrate Christmas in America. In about two weeks, I will finally be 18 years old.

When you have two contrasting (opposite) phrases, use a comma to separate the phrases. That ball is mine, not yours. The puppy is cute, but messy. I am very tired, but still awake. The alligator is cute, but dangerous. When writing letters, use a comma after the greeting of a friendly letter and the closing in all letters: greetings: Dear John, Dearest Mother, Dear Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Greetings, closings: Sincerely, Your loving children, Your friend, Yours truly, With love, Love, That is a clown, right?

6. EN DASH ( — ) 1.    show a range of number There will be 15–25 kids at the game. 2.    show a period of time The meetings will be held October 11–October 15, 2012. 3.    show distance The flight from Africa–America is long. game scores The team won the game 15–10.

7. SLASH/ AND/OR The slash can also be called a virgule, forward slash, slant, oblique dash or diagonal. 11/16/12 (November 16, 2012) 3/17/1981 (March 17, 1981) w/o = without n/a or N/A = not applicable or not available R/C = radio control c/o = in care of (We use this when mailing packages or letters to someone at another person's address.) John Smith c/o Richard Jones

8. COLON ( : ) TO BEGIN A LIST A colon is made of two equal dots (or periods). One dot sits on top of the other with a small space between ( : ) are used in sentences to introduce that something follows like a quotation, examples, There are two choices at this time: run away or fight. We knew who would win the game: the Eagles He wanted to see three cities in Italy: Rome, Florence and Venice Remember: Two can play at that game. She kept repeating: “I really want that car!” Barry wanted to know why I didn’t respond to his text: I hadn’t received it. My mom always told me to follow the Golden Rule: "Treat others as you want to be treated." I have lived in a few states: Alabama, Kansas, Colorado and California.

9. SEMICOLONS (;) are used to join two independent clauses, to separate main clauses joined by a conjunctive adverb or to separate items in a list that already uses commas. Dad is going bald; his hair is getting thinner and thinner. I really like beef, with mushroom sauce; pasta, with Alfredo sauce; and salad, with French dressing. You should stop eating so much food; you will have to go on a diet. You need new brakes; otherwise you may not be able to stop in time. Star Trek was my favorite television show during the 1960s; in fact, it is my favorite television show of all time. I had a huge meal; however, I am already hungry again. The Christmas ornaments are finally packed away: small, shiny ones; big, bright ones; and the homemade ones. She had self-defense training; consequently she warded off the assailant. We had students from Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; and Caracas, Venezuela. We had too many fumbles; we lost the game.

10. TO QUOTE OR INDIATE A TITLE single quotation marks ( ' ' ) double quotation marks ( " " ) My mother said, "The baby started talking today. The baby said, 'Mama.' " The teacher asked us, "How many of you have read the story 'The Brown Horse' in your textbook?" TO SHOW TITLES. THE TITLES CAN BE OF SHORT STORIES, POEMS, ARTICLES, CHAPTERS, ETC. Examples: My favorite poem by Emily Dickinson is "There Is Another Sky." Did you read the article "Building Vocabulary"? The first chapter in the book is "The Tall Tree." TO SHOW THAT A WORD OR PHRASE IS USED IN AN UNUSUAL WAY. Examples: Her "farewell present" was a slammed door. (= It was not really a farewell present.) What does this "expert" claim? (= The writer does not really think this person is an expert.) She shared her "wisdom" with me. (= The writer thinks she told things that were not so wise.) He could "see" my thoughts. (= The writer knows the word see is not used this way exactly, but is trying to illustrate the idea.) You should "pay" her with your love. (= The writer knows the word pay is not used this way exactly, but is trying to illustrate the idea.) He was "delighted" to read the news. (= He was not so delighted...) TO SHOW THAT A WORD IS USED AS A WORD, OR THAT A LETTER IS USED AS A LETTER. Examples: Look up the word "calm" in the dictionary. "Face" comes from Latin. To get the past form, add "ed" after "walk." She did not understand the word "overweight."

11. PARENTHESIS, BRACKETS - punctuation mark that is used to set aside information that is not deemed to be essential to a sentence, paragraph, or longer text. The remarks put inside of the parentheses are considered to be superfluous, or explanations that are not needed. These statements are also sometimes called parenthesis, or parenthetical statements. to indicate extra information Examples: My family is getting a new dog from the shelter (we are going to name him Barney). The University of Georgia (UGA) is where my mom went to school. Marie (8 years-old) is a little girl who goes to school with my brother. We had a little accident (puddle, mud) on the way here and had to change our clothes. Did you leave your bag (red, black handles) in the classroom?

12. APOSTROPHE to show possession. To show possession with a singular noun, add an apostrophe plus the letter s. a woman's hat the boss' wife Mrs. Chang's house Mr. Jones' golf clubs the canvas' size Texas' weather

13. A HYPHEN (-) is a punctuation mark that’s used to join words or parts of words. It’s not interchangeable with other types of dashes. Mother-in-law Master-at-arms Editor-in-chief Ten-year-old Factory-made Twelve-pack Followup/follow-up You’ll need one-third of a pound of flour and one egg. That’s a half-baked idea if I ever heard one! Lying on the floor beside the plant he had knocked over and chewed on, the cat looked extremely self-satisfied.