Punctuation

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Punctuation

Apostrophe

An apostrophe is used to show that a word has been shortened or to show the idea of 'belonging to', ie possession.

Brackets

Brackets are used to separate phrases that have been inserted into a sentence to explain, comment on, or give some more information about something.

Colon

A colon is used in several ways to introduce things within a sentence.

Comma

A comma is used to separate words and phrases within a sentence in a number of ways.

Dash

One dash is used to replace a colon or semi-colon. Two dashes are used in place of brackets.

Ellipsis

An ellipsis is used to show that a word or words have been left out.

Exclamation mark

An exclamation mark is used when the writer wants to give added force to what he or she is saying.

Full stop

A full stop is used to mark the end of a sentence and for certain abbreviations.

Hyphen

A hyphen is used to connect two words to make them into a new word or to connect two parts of a word when part of it is split between two lines or page.

Question mark

A question mark is used at the end of interrogative sentences.

Semi-colon

A semi-colon is used mainly to separate certain kinds of information in a sentence or to introduce additional information that expands on what has been said.