What are Punctuation Marks?
Punctuation marks are symbols that are used to aid the clarity and
comprehension of written language. Some common punctuation marks are the
period, comma, question mark, exclamation point, apostrophe, quotation mark
and hyphen.
Punctuation
Symbol
Mark
Definition
apostrophe
'
comma
,
An apostrophe is used as a substitute
for a missing letter or letters in a word
(as in the contraction cannot = can't), to
show the possessive case (Jane's room),
and in the plural of letters, numbers and
abbreviations (A's).
A comma is used to separate phrases or
items in a list.
exclamation
point
!
An exclamation point is used to show
excitement or emphasis.
hyphen
-
parentheses
()
period
.
question mark
?
quotation mark
"
Example
I can't see the cat's tail.
He got A's in school.
She bought milk, eggs, and
bread.
It is cold!
A hyphen is used between parts of a
compound word or name. It is also used The sixteen-year-old girl is a
to split a word by syllables to fit on a
full-time student.
line of text.
Parentheses are curved lines used to
separate explanations or qualifying
statements within a sentence (each one This sentence (like others on
of the curved lines is called a
this page) contains a
parenthesis). The part in the
parenthetical remark.
parentheses is called a parenthetical
remark.
A period is used to indicate that it is the
I see the house.
end of a declarative sentence.
A question mark is used at the end of a
When are we going?
question.
Quotation marks are used at the
beginning and end of a phrase to show
She said, "Let's eat."
that it is being written exactly as it was
originally said or written.
More Punctuation Marks
Punctuation
Symbol
Mark
ampersand
at sign
&
@
Definition
Example
The main surviving use of the
ampersand is in the formal
An ampersand is a symbol that
names of businesses (especially
means "and." The usage of the
firms and partnerships,
ampersand is subtly different from particularly law firms,
the usage of the word and in the architectural firms, and
English language. That is, the
stockbroker firms).
ampersand is not usually used in
the main body of a piece of well- When the ampersand forms part
written text in place of the word of a registered name (e.g.
and.
Brown & Watson), it should not
be replaced with and.
You can write one easily by
writing a lower case a, then
continuing to draw an almostcomplete circle around the a.
The @ on keyboards and in
email addresses is called the "at
sign."
TO DO LIST:
Completed essays.
Study for test.
Buy notebook.
A check is mark that is used to
note that something has been done
or is correct.
check

circumflex
colon
ˆ
:
Circumflex is an accent placed
over a vowel in some languages
(such as French).
A colon is a punctuation mark that
is used to introduce a list in a
sentence or a quote, to separate
two major parts of a sentence, to
indicate a ratio (such as 1:2) or a
time (8:15).
In French, it usually denotes
the absence of a trailing "s" (as
in côte, which means coast in
English).
For example:
These students were on the
honor roll: Lisa, Jason, and
Jessica
ellipsis
grave accent
paragraph
semicolon
tilde
umlaut
...
 One example of the use of
an ellipsis is: Smith said,
An ellipsis is three dots in a row;
"Rome had many terrible
it is used to indicate that part of a
leaders, ... who caused the
sentence or sequence has been
Empire to fall."
omitted.
 Another example is the
mathematical series:
It is spoken, "dot, dot, dot."
1,3,5,7,9,... (the rest of the
odd numbers are implied but
not written down).
`
The grave accent is a symbol
placed over a vowel in some
languages (such as French).
¶
A paragraph is a one or more
sentences that cover a single topic.
The symbol for paragraph is ¶.
;
It comes from French, where it
is pronounced similarly: accent
grave /aksɑ̃ ɡʁav/.
 Call me tomorrow; I will
give you my answer then.
A semicolon is a punctuation
mark; it is used to separate major  I have paid my dues;
therefore, I expect all the
parts of a compound sentence.
privileges listed in the
contract.
~
Tilde is a mark placed over a letter
in some languages (especially
Spanish).
ü
Umlaut is an mark placed over a
vowel in some languages
(especially German).
Núñez
The umlauted vowels are ä, ö,
and ü. The same name is used
in other languages which have
borrowed these symbols from
German.