What are the different punctuation marks, and how are they used in a sentence?
PUNCTUATION MARKS – These are the different types and a guide on how to correctly use them in sentence construction.
What Is Punctuation? This is a set of symbols that separates and gives meaning to words. These symbols indicate where to pause, what words are quotations, where to make a full stop, and more. It is important to know how to correctly use them in order to relay a message clearly.
Here are the different punctuation marks and their usage
| Punctuation | Usage | Example |
| Period ( . ) | In a declarative sentence, it indicates a full stop. This can also be used to indicate an abbreviation of the word. | I will go to the market. John James Jr. is the youngest. |
| Question Mark (?) | This is used to ask direct questions. | When will you go to the market? |
| Exclamation Point (!) | This is used to depict strong emotions. | The nagging makes me furious! Holy cow! |
| Comma (,) | This is used to separate ideas or elements within a sentence. | I want the black, blue, and red car. |
| Semicolon (;) | This is used to connect independent clauses to show a relationship. This is also used to separate items in a list that already includes commas. | “I wanted to go for a run; however, it started raining heavily.” I’ve visited Cleveland, Ohio; Los Angeles, California; and St. Louis, Missouri. |
| Colon (:) | This is used to introduce a quotation, an explanation, an example, or a series. This also clarifies an important word or phrase. | I am interested in four genres: thriller, romance, and horror. There was one person she loved more than any other: her mother. |
| Em Dash ( — ) | This is used to set off information and emphasize a word or a phrase. | My dog — whom I’ve been with since I was a kid — died yesterday. |
| En Dash (–) | This is used to indicate connection between numbers or words. | When does the Silay–Bacolod flight arrive? |
| Hyphen (-) | This is used to join two or more words together to make compound nouns, compound adjectives, and compound numbers. | My brother-in-law works in a ship. |
| Parentheses ( ) | This is used for further thoughts or qualifying remarks to a sentence. | She finally answered the email (after two days of thinking about it) with a polite decline. |
| Brackets [ ] | This is used to add clarification, modify quotes, and show explanatory notes. | He [the CEO] declined to comment on the merger rumors. |
| Braces { } | This is used in mathematical expression programming or technical writing. | The solution set is {x | x > 0}. |
| Apostrophe ( ‘ ) | This indicates the omission of a letter or letters from a word. This is to form contractions, the possessive cases, and create plurals of lowercase letters. | I’ve read this book many times. Sara’s dog is big. Mind your k’s and j’s. |
| Quotation Marks (“ ”) | The double quotation marks are used at the beginning and end of a quoted passage. | Jose Rizal’s last words were, “Consummatum est.” |
| Single Quotation Marks (‘ ’) | This is used to show quotes within a quotation, and set off quotes in headlines. | She told the teacher, “Jose Rizal’s last words were ‘Consummatum est,’ and it was correct. |
| Ellipsis (…) | This indicates an omission of words or sentences. This is also used for quoting speeches to avoid copying unnecessary, lengthy text. | I was going to tell you something important… but I forgot what it was. |