Punctuation

There are 13 different marks that can be used in the English language.
Symbols we use to clarify meaning.

1) What is an Full Stop .
Also known as a period.
Place a full stop at the end of a sentence.

2) What is an Question Mark ?
This is a sentence ending
Eg: The teacher asked his pupils "Is Marcus ill today?"

3) What is an Exclamation Mark !
This is a sentence ending

4) What is a Comma ,
These are needed when there is a slight pause in the sentence or to separate items in a list.
Insert a comma to indicate a natural pause in a sentence.
Eg: Yes, I am going to the shops
Eg: Sarah placed sweets, candy and cards on the shelf

5) What is a Colon :
can be used to introduce something, such as a quote, example, series, explanation
can be used to link two independent clauses if the second clause clarifies or completes the first clause.
Eg: I follow several sports: rugby, football and tennis

6) What is a Semicolon ;
This is often used to separate 2 main clauses that are closely related to each other
Can be used to connect independent caluses in a compound sentence
Eg: Sarah came home from work; The house was in darkness.

7) What is a Hyphen -
Also known as Minus Sign.
A hyphen is used to make the meaning of a sentence clear (less ambiguous)
Numbers between twenty-one and ninety-nine should also be hyphenated when they're spelled out.
A hyphen can be used to compound words when two or more words are connected.
Eg: a dog-friendly hotel
Hyphenated Words

8) What is a Dash –
Also known as Em-Dash
A dash is longer than a hyphen and is used to indicate a range or a pause.
It can be used to add an extra thought or piece of information to the end of a sentence
It helps link the two clauses, but the pause creates a greater sense of cause and effect.
useful if you want to create an exciting or humorous pause.
Eg: Theo was as rich as the king himself - maybe richer !
Eg: If you're writing something informal–like a blog post–using em dashes can create a more conversational tone.

There is also the en-dash.
en-dash -

9) What is the difference between a Hyphen and a Dash ?
A hyphen joins two or more words together.
A dash is longer than a hyphen and is used to indicate a range or a pause.

10) What are Brackets ( ) [ ]
Also known as parentheses
Used to supply further details or information or as an aside
can be used to clarify something or for a technical term of explanation
can sometimes be replaced with commas and the sentence would still have the same meaning.
Eg: Three colours are used for traffic lights: red (stop), amber (caution) and green (go)

11) What are Braces { }
Also known as curly brackets
these are often used for mathematical or technical text

12) What is an Apostrophe '
This is a punctuation mark (') used to indicate either possession or the omission of letters or numbers
Eg: Harry's book, boys' coats
Eg: can't, he's, 1 Jan ' 99

13) What are Speech Marks "
Also known as Quotation Marks or Inverted Commas.
These are used to indicate direct speech,
Eg: "I am really looking forward to the weekend," said Tommy.
Eg: He yelled, "Hurry up."
Eg: Alberta asked, "Will you still be my friend?"
Eg: The sign read, "Walk." Then it said, "Don't Walk."

14) What is an Ellipsis ...
Also known as Dot Dot Dot
The ellipsis is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.