Punctuation Marks
Punctuation marks help us organise sentences, show relationships between ideas, and make meaning clear.
- Period / full stop (.) ends a statement.
She lives in London. - Comma (,) separates items or parts of a sentence.
I bought bread, milk and eggs. - Question mark (?) ends a direct question.
Where are you? - Exclamation point / mark (!) shows strong feeling or emphasis.
Be careful! - Colon (:) introduces a list, explanation or example.
We need three things: time, money and patience. - Semicolon (;) joins two closely related independent clauses.
I was tired; I went to bed early. - Apostrophe (') shows possession or missing letters in contractions.
Mike's car is outside. / I'm tired. - Quotation marks (" ") show someone's exact words or a quotation.
She said, "I'll call you later." - Parentheses ( ) add extra information that is not essential to the sentence.
Ann (her aunt) lives nearby. - Dash (—) adds a separate comment or emphasis.
The rule is simple — be quiet! - Hyphen (-) joins words that form a compound expression.
It's a well-known fact. - Slash (/) separates alternatives or parts of an expression.
Please bring your passport/ID. - Ellipsis (...) shows a pause, hesitation, or an unfinished thought.
So... why are you here? - Backslash () is mainly used in computing, not ordinary English writing.
The file is in CUsersMike.
Remember: A hyphen (-) joins words, while a longer dash (—) separates or adds information.
