Punctuation Rules
End Marks . ? !
*Every sentence must end with an end mark. (Period, Question Mark, or Exclamation Mark)
Commas
,
1. Use commas before the conjunction to separate two independent clauses in a compound
sentence.
2. Use commas to separate items in a series.
3. Use commas to separate adjectives of equal rank.
4. Use commas after an introductory word, phrase, or clause.
 Introductory words (No,)
 Nouns of Direct Address (Jon,)
 Common Expressions (Of course,)
 Introductory Adverbs (Obviously,)
 Prepositional Phrases – two or more
 Participial Phrases (Jumping over the fence, the horse fell.)
 Infinitive Phrases (To buy things on the Internet, a credit card is often required.)
 Adverb Clauses (When World War II ended, shopping centers became popular.)
5. Use commas to set off parenthetical expressions.
A parenthetical expression is a word or a phrase that is unrelated to the rest of the
sentence and interrupts the general flow of the sentence.
*Names of people being addressed: Don, Judge Burke, my son
*Conjunctive Adverbs: also, besides, furthermore, however, indeed, instead,
moreover, nevertheless, otherwise, therefore, thus
*Common Expressions: by the way, I feel, in my opinion, in the first place, of course,
on the other hand, you know
*Contrasting Expressions: not that one, not there, not mine
6. Use commas to set off nonessential expressions.
7. Use a comma when a geographical name is made up of two or more parts.
8. Use a comma when a date is made up of two or more parts.
9. Use a comma when a name is followed by one or more titles.
10. Use a comma after each item in an address of two or more parts.
11. Use a comma after the salutation in a personal letter and after the closing in all letters.
12. Use a comma with numbers of more than three digits after every third digit starting
from the right.
13. Use a comma to indicate the words left out of an elliptical sentence. EX. Developed
countries buy food from the grocery store; undeveloped countries, the market.
14. Use commas to set off a direct quotation from the rest of the sentence.
Punctuation Rules
Semicolons
;
1. Use a semicolon to join independent clauses that are not already joined by a
conjunction.
2. Use a semicolon to join independent clauses separated by either a conjunctive adverb or
a transitional expression. (See Commas #5 for list.)
3. Use a semicolon to avoid confusion when independent clauses already contain commas.
4. Use a semicolon between items in a series if the items themselves contain commas.
Colons
:
1. Use a colon before a list of items following an independent clause.
2. Use a colon to introduce a quotation that is formal or lengthy or a quotation that does
not contain a “he said/she said” expression.
3. Use a colon to introduce a sentence that summarizes or explains the sentence before it.
4. Use a colon to introduce a formal appositive that follows an independent clause.
5. Use a colon when writing the time.
6. Use a colon between volume numbers and page numbers when referring to a periodical.
7. Use a colon between the title and subtitles of books.
8. Use a colon after a salutation in a business letter.
Quotation Marks (Direct Quotations)
“ ”
1. Use quotation marks to set off direct quotes.
2. Use a comma or colon after an introductory expression.
3. Use a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark after a quotation followed by a
concluding expression.
4. Use a comma after part of a quoted sentence followed by an interrupting expression.
Use another comma after the expression.
5. Use a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation mark after a quoted sentence that
comes before an interrupting expression. Use a period after the expression.
6. Use a comma or a period inside the final quotation mark.
7. Use a semicolon or colon outside the final quotation mark.
8. Use a question mark or exclamation mark inside the final quotation mark if the end mark
is part of the quotation.
9. Use a question mark or exclamation mark outside the final quotation mark if the end
mark is not part of the quotation.
10. When writing dialogue, begin a new paragraph with each change of speaker.
11. For quotations longer than a paragraph, put quotation marks at the beginning of each
paragraph and at the end of the final paragraph.
12. Use single quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation.
Punctuation Rules
Other uses of Quotation Marks
“ ”
1. Use quotation marks around the titles of short written works: short stories, chapters
from books, short poems, essays, articles, episodes, songs, parts of musical compositions.
2. DO NOT underline or place in quotation marks the name of the Bible, its books, divisions,
or versions or the names of other holy scriptures, such as the Koran.
3. DO NOT underline or place in quotation marks the titles of government charters,
alliances, treaties, acts, statutes, or reports.
Underlining
_________
1. Underline the titles of long written works and the titles of publications that are
published as a single work: books, plays, magazines, journals, pamphlets, newspapers, long
poems
2. Underline the titles of movies, television and radio series, lengthy works of music,
paintings, and sculpture.
3. Underline the names of individual air, sea, space, and land craft.
4. Underline foreign words not yet accepted into English.
5. Underline numbers, symbols, letter, and words used to name themselves. EX. Is that
first letter a G or and S?
Dashes
-
1. Use dashes to indicate an abrupt change of thought, a dramatic interrupting idea, or a
summary statement. (Page 698 in grammar book)
2. Use dashes to set off a nonessential appositive or modifier when it is long, when it is
already punctuated, or when you want to be dramatic.
3. Use dashes to set off a parenthetical expression when it is ling, already punctuated, or
especially dramatic.
Parentheses
( )
1. Use parentheses when the material is not essential or when it consists of one or more
sentences.
2. Use parentheses to set off numerical explanations—such as dates of a person’s birth and
death—and around numbers and letter marking a series.
3. When a phrase or declarative sentence interrupts another sentence, do not use an initial
capital or end mark inside the parentheses.
4. When a question or an exclamation interrupts another sentence, use both and initial
capital and an end mark inside the parentheses.
5. With any sentence that falls between two complete sentences, use both an initial capital
and an end mark inside the parentheses.
6. In a sentence that includes parentheses, place any punctuation belonging to the main
sentence after the parenthesis.
Punctuation Rules
Hyphens
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Use a hyphen when writing out two-word numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.
Use a hyphen with fractions used as adjectives.
Use a hyphen after a prefix that is followed by a proper noun or adjective.
Use a hyphen in words with the prefixes all-, ex-, and self- and in words with the suffix –
elect.
Use a hyphen to connect two or more words that are used as one word unless the
dictionary gives a contrary spelling.
Use a hyphen to connect a compound modifier that comes before a noun.
Do not use hyphens with compound modifiers that include words ending in –ly or with
compound proper adjectives or compound proper nouns acting as adjectives.
Use a hyphen within a word when a combination of letter might otherwise be confusing.
Use a hyphen between words to keep the reader from combining them erroneously.
Using hyphens at the end of lines 10. If a word must be divided, always divide it between syllables.
11. If a word contains word parts, it can almost always be divided between the prefix and
the root or the root and the suffix.
12. Do not divide a word so that a single letter stands alone.
13. It is preferable not to divide proper nouns and proper adjectives.
14. Divide a hyphenated word only after the hyphen.
15. Do not divide a word so that part of the word is on page and the remainder is on the next
page.
Apostrophes
‘
1. Add an apostrophe and s to show the possessive case of most singular nouns.
2. Add an apostrophe to show the possessive case of plural nouns ending in s or es.
3. Add an apostrophe and s to show the possessive case of plural nouns that do not end in s
or es.
4. Add an apostrophe and s to the last word of a compound noun to form the possessive.
5. To form possessives involving time, amounts, or the word sake, use an apostrophe and s
or just an apostrophe if the possessive in plural.
6. To show joint ownership, make the final noun possessive.
7. To show individual ownership, make each noun possessive.
8. Use an apostrophe and s with indefinite pronouns to show possession.
9. Do not use an apostrophe with the possessive forms of personal pronouns.
10. Use an apostrophe in a contraction to indicate the position of the missing letter or
letters.
11. Use an apostrophe and –s to write the plurals of numbers, symbols, letters, and words
used to name themselves.