A comma should be used to separate short noun phrases that directly follow a noun, are the grammatical equivalent of a noun they follow, and are not essential to the meaning of the sentence:
A comma should be used to separate two or more adjectives modifying the same noun, unless all the adjectives are joined by conjunctions:
A comma should be used to set off dates with years; place a comma before and after the year if the month and day precede the year:
A comma should be used to set off names and titles of persons that are parenthetical to the description of that person within the sentence:
A direct quote structure is any structure which shows that you are reporting what someone said or wrote (or sometimes thought) as if you were using their own words:
A question mark is used at the end of an interrogative sentence:
A question mark should be used to set off a direct quotation from the the rest the sentence:
An ellipsis a series of three periods, with spaces between, before, and after, that is used to show an omission of a word, words, or sentences from within a quoted passage:
An excplamation point is used in excplamatory sentences to show strong feelings, surprise, or emotion:
An indirect report structure is used to show that you are reporting what someone said or wrote in your own words rather than in the words they actually used:
Apostrophes have two primary functions: to form contractions and to show possession:
Colons are used to join words when we want the words to be either a compound noun or a compound adjective:
Punctuation shows how words and strings of words are related, separated and emphasized, its main purpose should be to help the reader understand the construction of the sentence:
The basic purpose of parentheses is to present explanatory material in a way that does not disturb the flow of the sentence:
The period is used with two types of sentences: declarative and imperative:
To use merely commas as dividers would produce chaos because commas already exist within some of the listed items:
When an abbreviation falls at the end of an excplamatory sentence, both the period and excplamation point are used:
While the semicolon and colon noticeably indicate that the reader should pause, the dash does so more forcefully and draws great attention to what follows in the sentence: