Punctuation rules can confuse the best of us. When do we use semicolons? What are the rules for commas? When do we use apostrophes and quotation marks? Use this guide to help you! But first...why are punctuation rules so confusing? Watch the video to find out!
Comma Rules
Commas show your reader that there is a pause in the sentence they are reading. It seems as if commas have more punctuation rules than any other form of punctuation. I've narrowed it down to eight rules for you.
My sister had a ballet performance, and my brother had an orchestra concert.
8. Commas Setting Off Nonrestrictive (Nonessential) Elements
Nonrestrictive elements add information to the sentence, but they're not essential to the meaning of the sentence. We could remove them, and the sentence would still make sense. I know this sounds a bit confusing, but I have a really good trick that will help you remember this, and you can learn about it on this page that covers commas with appositives.
My sister, a French teacher, lived in France for two years.
There are three ways that I love to relax: reading magazines, practicing yoga, and taking baths.
2. Introducing Single Items
You can use a colon to introduce a single thing when you want to emphasize it.
After shopping for eight hours, I finally found them: the perfect pair of jeans.
3. Between Two Complete Sentences
This is only a legit move if the second sentence states a logical consequence of whatever is stated in the first sentence.
Jim ate brownies constantly: he gained seven pounds.
The punctuation rules for apostrophes are some of the most commonly misused punctuation rules ever. The rules are pretty simple. There are only three times when you should use apostrophes.
1. To Show Possession
When you want to make something possessive (to show ownership), use an apostrophe.
This is Mark's cat. (The cat belongs to Mark.)
That is the television's remote control. (The remote control belongs to the television.)
Don't ever go into the teachers' lounge. (The lounge belongs to the teachers.)
Our homework tonight is to read Chapter 6, "The Lovely Rose Garden."
Sydney sang "The Star Spangled Banner" at the football game.
Hello! I'm Elizabeth, and my goal is to get you jazzed about grammar. Click here to see how I can help you.
I hope this list of punctuation rules was helpful.
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