PUNCTUATION RULES Page 1 of 3
Full stop (.)
Used to mark the end of a sentence that is a statement or a command, or a
question in reported speech.
My uncle is good at geography.
Assign their duties, please.
Comma (,)
To separate items in a list
The shopkeeper is selling books, markers, pens, pencils and copies.
To separate clauses
If you plant and water a tree, it will grow fast.
To emphasize, parenthesis and indicate pauses
The book, sold yesterday l, was not mine.
Now, if you want to help your friend, educate him.
Arshad Nadeem, a Pakistani citizen, won a gold medal in javelin.
Question mark (?)
Used at the end of a question.
Open-ended Question
Questions start with WH-Family (What, where, when, who whom, why,
whose, how).
Who bought this pen?
How can I help you?
Close-ended Question
Questions start with auxiliary verbs.
Have you been to London?
Could you please forward that pen?
Interjection - Exclamation mark (!)
Interjection represents the vocabulary, such as Hurrah, Alas, Wow, etc.
Used at the end of an exclamatory sentence, which expresses a feeling?
Hurrah! We won the match.
What a beautiful car!
Help!
PUNCTUATION RULES Page 2 of 3
Quotation mark (“ ")
Used to quote direct speech
To mention keywords
"To be or not to be that is the question.” William Shakespeare
He says, "I play cricket.”
When she was presenting a topic on productivity she mentioned "Atomic
Habits” written by James Clear.
"My goodness," said my father, “take off your dirty shoes before coming
into the room."
Apostrophe (`)
To mark possession
Those robots in the sand are my sister's.
Those robots in the sand are my sisters’.
Those robots in the sand are my sisters.
Use of ‘s / s’
Lucus’ friend called him yesterday.
Have you seen a children's playground?
To make the plural of letters or numbers.
Your phone number has three 5’s.
You have replaced s’s with c’s in “possession".
PUNCTUATION RULES Page 3 of 3
USED FOR CONTRACTION
I am: I'm
It, she, he is: it's, he's, she's
You, they, we are: you're, they're, we're
Has & Have
It, he, she has: it's, he's, she's
I, we, you, they have: I've, you've, they've, we've
Had: I'd, you'd, we'd, they'd, he'd, she'd, it'd
Would: I'd, you'd, we'd, they'd, he'd, she'd, it'd
Should have: should've
Would have: would've
Could have: could've
Will: I'll, you'll, they'll, we'll, it'll, he'll, she'll
NOT
Do not: don't
Does not: doesn't
Did not: didn't
Will not: won't
Shall not: shan't
Is not: isn't
Were not: weren't
Was not: wasn't
Should not: shouldn't
!! Am not - is not - are not: ain't (informal) !!
