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The Period.• Uses:

o At the end of a commando End of an indirect questiono When using abbreviations

• Exceptions:o When beginning the sentence with a

statement and ending it with a question Ex: I wonder, how long is it to Florida?

• Examples:o Go to the store.o Sally asked if we were going to the mall.o A.M. P.M.

The Question Mark?• Uses:

o At the end of a “tag question” Making a statement into a question

o At the end of a direct question Standard question

o At the end of a rhetorical question An answer is not needed or expected

• Exceptions:o At the end of an indirect question

Question Mark, cont’d ?

• Examples:o She colors really well, doesn’t she? (tag)o Are we there yet? (direct)o What would you do if she did that to you?

(rhetorical)

o She asked if we were there yet. (indirect)

:The Colon:• Uses:

o Before a list of people, places or thingso Before an explanationo To show emphasis

• Examples:o Johnny need only wanted one gift for his

birthday: a girl.o I brought many things on my trip: clothes,

sandals, sunscreen, and money.

;The Semicolon;• Uses:

o To connect two sentenceso Two show a connections between two ideaso “Super comma”

To show a break between nouns To show the reader where members of a list begin

and end

• Examples:o Tom is a great basketball player; he makes

at least 15 points a night.o I have traveled to many places: Beijing,

China; New York, New York; Orlando, Florida; and Sydney, Australia.

,The Comma,• Uses:

o Between a list of items 3 or more items

o Between two sentences Must have a CONJUNCTION (but, though, and

o To add words at the front or back of the sentences

• Exceptions:o Conjunction joins two incomplete sentences

Angie just finished the project and is going to turn it in.

,Comma (cont’d),

• Examples:o I need many supplies for school: pens,

paper, erasers and markers.o I knew that I would have a long day, but I

didn’t expect it to be this long.

‘t The Apostrophe ‘s• Uses:

o To make Contractions Forming two words into one

o It is= it’s Cannot= can’to You are= you’re Will not= won’to Do not= don’t you are= you’re

o To make Possessives Show’s that something is owned by something or someone else

• Exceptionso Common mistakes:

Should’nt Cross’s Don’t Class’s

s‘ Apostrophe (cont’d) ‘nt• Examples:

o We will not go to the park today. We won’t go to the park today.

o We can not go to the park today. We can’t go to the park today.

o The store’s prices are outrageous.

o The class’ project turned out well.

-The Dash-• Uses:

o To divide words in the middle of a sentenceo To add words a the end of a sentence

• Exceptions:o Don’t use dashed too mucho Only use dashes when you need to show

emphasis

• Examples:o George Bush’s proposal for lower taxes- to

add “dirty taxes”- has been a complete success.

o I will be going on vacation- unless of course I don’t have enough money.

The Exclamation Mark!

• Exceptions:o Exclamation points are rarely used in

academic and business writing

• Examples:o Wow!o I want to go to the park!

• Uses: o To show emphasis at the end of a sentence

“The Quotation Mark”• Uses:

o Set of material not stated by the author or narrator

o To show a title of a book or piece of work Both usually set off with a comma

• Examples:o “I am tired”, said the little girl.o The little girl said, “I am tired”.o “The Outsiders” is my favorite book”o One of Edward Hooper’s famous paintings is

“Nighthawk”.

(The Parenthesis)• Uses:

o To de-emphasize material

• Examples:o I don’t have any homework today. (but I

won’t let my teacher know that)o It takes us 18 hours to get to Disney World.

(not including rest stops)o It takes us 18 hours (not including rest

stops) to get to Disney World.

…The Ellipse…• Uses:o While eliminating words or phrases in a quote

• Exceptions:o Elimination comes in middle of sentence use

3 dots (…)o Elimination comes at the end of a sentence

use four dots (….)

• Examples:o Sally did good scoring 24 points and 8

rebounds in the basketball game. Sally did good in the basketball game…. Sally did good…in the basketball game.

/ The Slash /• Uses:

o To show a choice between different words or phrases

• Exceptions:o Different names for “slash”

Slant Solidus Virgule

• Examples:o True/False: The sky is blue.o She took Spanish II pass/fail.

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