Punctuation Rules
Comma (,)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
In a list
In a friendly letter
a). after the greeting
b). after the closing
Between city and state
Between day and year
To separate a quotation from who said it
Direct address
After words “yes” or “no” at the start of a sentence
After a mild interjection
Before or after a parenthetical expression
Before or after an appositive
After the dependent clause in a complex sentence
Period (.)
12. At the end of a telling sentence (declarative) or a command (imperative)
13. After an abbreviation
14. After initials
Question Mark (?)
15. After a question
Exclamation Point (!)
16. After a sentence showing strong feeling
17. After a strong interjection
Hyphen (-)
18. To separate syllables when a word won’t fit on a line
19. In certain compound words
Colon (:)
20. Time (ex. 8:40)
21. After a greeting in a business letter
22. To introduce a list
Semi-Colon (;)
23. Used instead of “and” in a compound sentence
Apostrophe (‘)
24. In a contraction
25. In a possessive (ex. The dog’s bone or the students’ books)
26. The plural of a letter or number (ex. 2 i’s or the 60’s)
Quotation Marks ( “ “)
27. Before and after the words someone said
28. To distinguish the title of a short storey (before and after that title)