Punctuation: Symbol: Uses: Examples:
I like to ski.
Placed at the end of a sentence.
Mr. Mrs. Ph.D.
In abbreviations to indicate
M.D.
Periods . shortened forms.
She knocked on
In an ellipsis to show missing
the door… but no
words.
one was home.
I like rice, eggs,
chicken, and ham.
Separating lists of items.
Commas , Although he
Used to indicate breaks within a
enjoyed the movie,
sentence.
he didn’t want to
watch it again.
Used to indicate that the phrase
Question Do you like
? is a question and requires an
marks carrots?
answer.
Exclamation Used to indicate heightened
! I hate you!
marks emotions.
To renew your
Used to add additional passport you’ll
information to a sentence, to need: 2 passport
Colons :
introduce a quote, or to photos, your old
introduce a list. passport, and an
envelope.
I’m tired today; it
Used to connect two
Semicolons ; was too hot to
independent clauses.
sleep last night.
Apostrophes ‘ Used to indicate words that are It’s hot today.
contracted, standing in the
The dog’s bed.
place of removed letters, and
are also added onto the end of
words with an ‘s’ to indicate
Punctuation: Symbol: Uses: Examples:
possession.
Used to surround speech in
Quotation “What are you
“” creative writing, or to indicate
marks doing?” He asked.
direct quotes.
Used to link words or parts of
Hyphens – Sugar-free soda
words to give new meanings.
En dash is primarily used to
The material is in
indicate a span of time between
chapters 7-9.
– numbers or dates.
Dashes The day was finally
– Em dash indicates a break in
over – or so she
speech or thought, used for
thought.
extra emphasis.
Someone had left
Used primarily to indicate the
Slashes / his/her phone in
word ‘or’ without writing it.
the room.
The party (which
Often used to add additional
was usually held
information that isn’t really vital
Parentheses () every year) was
for the sentence to be
canceled because
understandable.
of the storm.
It was the last time
Usually used in technical writing
their parents saw
Brackets: [] or to add extra information that
them [the missing
clarifies the situation.
girls].
