26/7/2016 WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksinEnglishGrammar?

WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksin
EnglishGrammar?

1stgrade 2ndgrade 3rdgrade 4thgrade 5thgrade 6thgrade 7thgrade 8thgrade

9thgrade 10thgrade 11thgrade 12thgrade ElementarySchool MiddleSchool

HighSchool College Infographics

Knowingwhereandwhentousethe
fourteenpunctuationmarkscangreatly
improveyourwritingskills.

Therearefourteenpunctuationmarks
commonlyusedinAmericanEnglish?
Theyaretheperiod,questionmark,
exclamationpoint,comma,semicolon,
colon,dash,hyphen,parentheses,
brackets,braces,apostrophe,quotation
marks,andellipses.

SentenceEndings
Threeofthefourteenpunctuationmarks
areappropriateforuse
assentenceendings.Theyarethe
period,questionmark,andexclamation
point.

Theperiod(.)isplacedattheendof
declarativesentences,statements
thoughttobecompleteandaftermany
abbreviations.

Forexample:

Asasentenceender:JaneandJack
wenttothemarket.

Afteranabbreviation:Her
Mar.birthdaycameandwent.

Useaquestionmark(?)toindicatea
directquestionwhenplacedattheend
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what/FourteenPunctuationMarks.html 1/5
ofasentence.Forexample:Whendid
26/7/2016 WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksinEnglishGrammar?

Janeleaveforthemarket?

Theexclamationpoint/mark(!)isused
whenapersonwantstoexpressa
suddenoutcryoraddemphasis.

1.Withindialogue:Holycow!
screamedJane.
2.Toemphasizeapoint:Mymother
inlaw'srantsmakemefurious!

Comma,Semicolonand
Colon
Thecomma,semicolonandcolonare
oftenmisusedbecausetheyallcan
indicateapauseinaseries.

Thecommaisusedtoshowa
separationofideasorelementswithin
thestructureofasentence.Additionally,
itisusedinletterwritingafterthe
salutationandclosing.

Separatingelements
withinsentences:Suziwantedthe
black,green,andblueshoes.

LetterSalutations:DearUncleJohn,

Separationoftwocomplete
sentences:Wewenttothemovies,and
wewenttothebeach.

Thesemicolon()isusedtoconnect
independentclauses.Itshowsacloser
relationshipbetweentheclausesthana
periodwouldshow.Forexample:John
washurtheknewsheonlysaiditto
upsethim.

Acolon(:)hastwomainuses:

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what/FourteenPunctuationMarks.html
View&DownloadPDF 2/5
26/7/2016 WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksinEnglishGrammar?

Thefirstisafterawordintroducingaquotation,anexplanation,an
example,oraseries.Itisalsooftenusedafterthesalutationofabusiness
letter.

Thesecondiswithintimeexpressions.Withintime,itisusedtoseparate
outthehourandminute:12:15p.m.

DashandtheHyphen
Twokindsofdashesareusedthroughoutwrittencommunications.Theyare
theendashandtheemdash.Anendashisasymbol()thatisusedinwriting
orprintingtoconnectnumbersortoconnectelementsofacompound
adjective,suchas18801945orPrincetonNewYorktrains.

However,theemdashhasmorecomplicatedgrammaticaluse.Thesymbolof
isusedto:

Indicateabreakinthoughtorsentencestructure
Introduceaphraseaddedforemphasis,definition,orexplanation
Separatetwoclauses

Useitinthefollowingmanner:Weonlywantedtogettwobirdsbuttheclerk
talkedusintofourpregnantparakeets.

Ahyphen()isthesamesymbolastheendash.However,ithasslightly
differentusagerules.Ahyphenisusedbetweenthepartsofacompoundword
ornameorbetweenthesyllablesofaword,especiallywhendividedattheend
ofalineoftext.

Examplesofthisinuseinclude:

Betweenacompoundname:Mrs.SmithReynolds

Withinacompoundword:backtoback

Brackets,BracesandParentheses
Brackets,bracesandparenthesesaresymbolsusedtocontainwordsthatare
afurtherexplanationorareconsideredagroup.

Parentheses(())arecurvednotationsusedtocontainfurtherthoughtsor
qualifyingremarks.However,parenthesescanbereplacedbycommaswithout
changingthemeaninginmostcases.Forexample:JohnandJane(whowere
actuallyhalfbrotherandsister)bothhaveredhair.

Bracketsarethesquaredoffnotations([])usedfortechnicalexplanations.
YourDictionaryusesthemwhenyoulookupworddefinitions.Atthebottomof
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what/FourteenPunctuationMarks.html 3/5
26/7/2016 WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksinEnglishGrammar?

eachdefinitionpage,bracketssurroundatechnicaldescriptionofwherethe
wordoriginated.

Braces({})areusedtocontaintwoormorelinesoftextorlisteditemstoshow
thattheyareconsideredasaunit.Theyarenotcommonplaceinmostwriting,
butcanbeseenincomputerprogrammingtoshowwhatshouldbecontained
withinthesamelines.

Apostrophe,QuotationMarksandEllipses
ThefinalthreepunctuationformsinEnglishgrammararetheapostrophe,
quotationmarksandellipses.Unlikepreviouslymentionedgrammaticalmarks,
theyarenotrelatedtooneanotherinanyform.

Anapostrophe(')isusedtoindicatetheomissionofaletterorlettersfroma
word,thepossessivecase,orthepluralsoflowercaseletters.

Examplesoftheapostropheinuseinclude:

Omissionoflettersfromaword:Anissueofnat'limportance.

Possesivecase:Sara'sdogbites.

Pluralforlowercaseletters:Sixpeopleweretoldtomindtheirp'sandq's.It
shouldbenotedthat,accordingtoPurdueUniversity,someteachersand
editorsenlargethescopeoftheuseofapostrophe,andprefertheiruseon
symbols(&'s),numbers(7's)andcapitalizedletters(Q&A's),eventhoughthey
arenotnecessary.

Quotationsmarks()areapairofpunctuationmarksusedprimarilytomark
thebeginningandendofapassageattributedtoanotherandrepeatedword
forword.Theyarealsousedtoindicatemeaningsandtoindicatetheunusual
ordubiousstatusofaword.

Singlequotationmarks(')areusedmostfrequentlyforquoteswithinquotes.

Theellipsesmarkisgenerallyrepresentedbythreeperiods(...)althoughitis
occasionallydemonstratedwiththreeasterisks(***).Theellipsesareusedin
writingorprintingtoindicateanomission,especiallyoflettersorwords.
Ellipsesarefrequentlyusedwithinquotationstojumpfromonephraseto
another,omittingunnecessarywordsthatdonotinterferewiththemeaning.
Studentswritingresearchpapersornewspapersquotingpartsofspeecheswill
oftenemployellipsestoavoidcopyinglengthytextthatisnotneeded.

DifferencesinBritishvs.AmericanEnglish
ThereareafewdifferencesbetweenpunctuationinBritishandAmerican
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what/FourteenPunctuationMarks.html 4/5
English.Thefollowingchartsdetailssomeofthosedifferences:
26/7/2016 WhatAretheFourteenPunctuationMarksinEnglishGrammar?

British American

English English

The.symbolis
afullstop aperiod
called

The!symbolis anexclamation anexclamation

called mark point

The()symbols
brackets parentheses
arecalled

The[]symbols square
brackets
arecalled brackets

Thepositionof Joymeans Joymeans

quotationmarks happiness. happiness.

Thepunctuationfor Dr,Mr,Mrs,St, Dr.,Mr.,Mrs.,

abbreviations Rd,Ct St.,Rd.,Ct.

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/punctuation/what/FourteenPunctuationMarks.html 5/5