| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Period . | Use at the end of a sentence that makes a statement. |
| Question Mark ? | Use at the end of a direct question. |
| Exclamation Mark ! | Use at the end of an emphatic declaration, interjection, or command. |
| Colon : | Use before a list or an explanation that is preceded by a clause that can stand by itself. |
| Semi Colon ; | Use to help sort out a monster list or to separate closely related independent clauses. |
| Hyphen - | Use to create compound words or when writing numbers twenty-one to ninety-nine and fractions (five-eighths, one-fourth). |
| Dash – | Use as a super-comma or set of super-commas to set off parenthetical elements, especially when those elements contain internal forms of punctuation |
| Parentheses ( ) | Use to include material that you want to de-emphasize or that wouldn't normally fit into the flow of your text but you want to include nonetheless. |
| Brackets [ ] | Use to include explanatory words or phrases within quoted language. |
| Ellipsis ... | Use when you're quoting material and you want to omit some words. |
| Apostrophe ' | Use to create possessive forms, contractions, and some plurals. |
| Quotation Marks " " | Use to set off material that represents quoted or spoken language. |
| Slash or Slant / | Use to indicate a choice between the words it separates. |
| Comma , | Use to separate the elements in a series (three or more things), to connect two independent clauses, and to set off introductory elements. |
Combine with other sets
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