The Chesterton
Punctuation Guide
with examples from G.K. Chesterton
compiled by Mr. Rose
Archbishop Moeller High School
The comma (,)
1. Use commas between all
items in a series.
Example:
Undoubtedly there is much more elaborate equipment and opportunity for
golfers to play golf, for bridge-players to play bridge, for jazzers to jazz, or for
motorists to motor.
Mr. Rose
2
The comma (,)
2. Use a comma between independent
clauses in a compound sentence
before the conjunction, e.g., and, but,
for, nor, or, so, yet. An independent
clause is a group of words that could
stand alone as a separate sentence.
Example:
A modern vegetarian is also a teetotaler, yet there is no obvious connection
between consuming vegetables and not consuming fermented vegetables.
Mr. Rose
3
The comma (,)
3. Use a comma after an
introductory word or word
group (dependent clause).
Example:
If there were no God, there would be no atheists.
Mr. Rose
4
The comma (,)
4. Use commas around
appositives. An appositive
comes directly before or after
a noun and renames it.
Examples:
All over the world, the old literature, the popular literature, is the same.
Mr. Wells, a very bright gentleman, has an embarrassing blind spot.
Mr. Rose
5
The comma (,)
5. Use commas around parenthetical
expressions. A parenthetical
expression is an aside or
transition that interrupts the flow
of a sentence and does not affect
its meaning.
Example:
It has been often said, very truly, that religion is the thing that makes the
ordinary man feel extraordinary.
Mr. Rose
6
The comma (,)
6. Use a comma to set off nonrestrictive
elements. A nonrestrictive element
is a word group that describes a noun
or pronoun whose meaning has
already been clearly defined or
limited. The nonrestrictive element
often begins with who, which, or that.
Example:
Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for
ignorance.
Note:
The nonrestrictive phrase above does not change the meaning of the word it
modifies -- indifference.
Mr. Rose
7
The comma (,)
7. Note: A restrictive element
defines or limits the meaning of
the word it modifies or limits the
meaning of the sentence. Because
it contains essential information, a
restrictive element is not set off
with commas.
Example:
I agree with the realistic Irishman who said he preferred to prophesy after the
event.
Note: in the example above, the “restrictive element” tells us which Irishman.
Mr. Rose
8
The comma (,)
8. Use a comma to set off direct
quotations.
Example:
"My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying
except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober."
Mr. Rose
9
The comma (,)
9. Use commas to set off nouns
of direct address.
Example:
"Dr. Bull, would you do me a small favour?”
Note: Above, “Dr. Bull” is the noun of direct address. He is the one being
spoken to.
Mr. Rose
10
The semicolon (;)
1. Use a semicolon between
closely related independent
clauses not joined with a
conjunction.
Example:
The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of
some vice.
Mr. Rose
11
The semicolon (;)
2. Use a semicolon between
independent clauses linked
with transitional expressions
such as so, accordingly,
however, moreover, meanwhile,
nevertheless, etc.
Example:
The Professor made no answer, but gazed in front of him with eyes the colour of
a wintry sea; so Syme repeated his question.
Mr. Rose
12
The semicolon (;)
3. Use semicolons to separate
items in a list that itself
contains commas.
Example:
When you think about how an orchestra is organized, notice the strings, the
violin, the viola, and the cello; the woodwinds, the clarinet, and the oboe; and
the horns, the trombone, the French horn, and the trumpet.
Mr. Rose
13
The colon (:)
1. Use a colon after an
independent clause to
introduce a list.
Example:
There comes a certain point in such conditions when only three things are
possible: first a perpetuation of Satanic pride, secondly tears, and third
laughter.
Mr. Rose
14
The colon (:)
2. Use a colon between independent
clauses if the second summarizes
or explains the first. (If the
summary or explanation is an
independent clause, capitalize the
first letter after the colon.)
Example:
The verdict is this: Only poor men get hanged.
Mr. Rose
15
The apostrophe (’)
1. Use an apostrophe to indicate that
a noun is possessive – that it
shows ownership. Form the
possessive singular of nouns by
adding ‘s. Form the possessive
plural by adding (’) if an s is
already present.
Example:
The center of every man’s existence is a dream.
Mr. Rose
16
The apostrophe (’)
2. Use an apostrophe to
indicate a contraction.
Example:
It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have
enough good men to curse them.
Mr. Rose
17
The apostrophe (’)
3. Use an apostrophe to
indicate plural numbers,
letters, and abbreviations.
Example:
Two large J’s were painted on the door.
Mr. Rose
18
Quotation marks (“ ”)
1. Use quotation marks to
enclose direct quotations.
Example:
According to G.K. Chesterton, “You cannot grow a beard in a moment of
passion.”
Mr. Rose
19
Quotation marks (“ ”)
2. Use single quotation marks
to enclose a quotation within
a quotation.
Example:
“War is not 'the best way of settling differences’; it is the only way of preventing
their being settled for you.”
Note: the semi-colon and colon come after the quotation mark, but a period
and comma normally come before the quotation mark.
Mr. Rose
20
Quotation marks (“ ”)
3. Use quotation marks around
the titles of short works:
newspaper and magazine
articles, poems, short stories,
songs, chapters and
subdivisions of books.
Example:
This quote was taken from the essay “How I Met the President,” in Chesterton’s
book Tremendous Trifles.
Note: The titles of full-length books, movies, and plays are written in italics or
underlined – no quotation marks.
Mr. Rose
21
Quotation marks (“ ”)
4. Quotation marks may be
used to set off words used as
words.
Example:
The words “accept” and “except” are frequently confused.
Mr. Rose
22
The period (.)
1. Use a period at the end of a
declarative statement in a
full sentence.
Example:
A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things.
Mr. Rose
23
The period (.)
2. Use a period at the end of
abbreviations.
Example:
In that dance of Dickens characters, I trust I need not explain that I do not
figure as either Mr. Stiggins the Puritan or Mr. Scrooge the Utilitarian.
Mr. Rose
24
The question mark (?)
1. Use a question mark at the
end of a sentence that asks a
question.
Example:
If you like a girl to smoke a cigarette, why can’t you be logical and like her to
smoke a cigar?
Mr. Rose
25
Exclamation point (!)
1. Use an exclamation point
after involuntary
ejaculations.
Example:
Lord, love a duck!
Mr. Rose
26
Exclamation point (!)
2. Use an exclamation point to
salute or invoke.
Example:
Hey!
Mr. Rose
27
Exclamation point (!)
3. Use an exclamation point to
exclaim or admire.
Example:
What a nice day!
Mr. Rose
28
The double dash (--)
1. Use the double dash to set off
additional information
within a sentence.
Example:
Mr. Mencken is content with the bare letter of scripture – the translation of a
translation, coming down to him by the tradition of a tradition – without
venturing to ask for its original authority.
Mr. Rose
29
The double dash (--)
2. Use the double dash for
emphasis at the end of the
sentence.
Example:
If there were a crown, I think I should preserve it -- among the crown jewels.
Mr. Rose
30
The double dash (--)
3. Use a double dash to
indicate a long pause, as with
a punch-line.
Example:
Shakespeare probably did conceive Hamlet in modern dress -- in his modern
dress.
Mr. Rose
31
Parentheses ( )
1. Use parentheses to set off
information that is not
essential to the meaning of
the sentence.
Example:
Even Sherlock Holmes (the friend of my childhood to whom I shall always pay a
tribute of piety) is described somewhere, I think, as being incapable of falling
in love because of his logical nature.
Mr. Rose
32
Brackets [ ]
1. Use brackets to fill in
necessary words not
included in the excerpted
quotation.
Example:
[Marxism will] in a generation or so [go] into the limbo of most heresies, but
meanwhile it will have poisoned the Russian Revolution.”
Mr. Rose
33
The ellipsis (…)
1. Use the ellipsis to indicate
words missing from a
sentence when quoted.
Example:
“I still hold. . . that the suburbs ought to be either glorified by romance and
religion or else destroyed by fire from heaven, or even by firebrands from the
earth.”
Mr. Rose
34
The ellipsis (…)
2. Use the ellipse to trail off a
sentence in an intriguing
manner…
Example:
When the survivals of the Swinburnian epoch, imagining themselves to be
young, actually come and tell me that the world is on an endless march towards
wild liberty and indefinite relaxation of everything, I really do not know how to
answer, except with a melancholy smile: “I have lived long enough to have seen
one thing…”
Mr. Rose
35