Punctuate Your Writing.

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Semicolon

You always need a verb in the second clause

Something that could stand alone as a sentence

But is related to the first part

Introduce an independent clause

Period

Periods are also used to indicate that a word has been abbreviated

Sentences always end with a period

Colon

To introduce a list of items, or to give a summary

The research team studied a number of different breeds: shorthaired, longhaired and exotic.

Oxford comma

You have two things already connected by “and”

Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and shellfish, and birds.

Sentence string is very long

Use when:

Comma

Replace “and” when you have a string of items

Dogs, cats, snakes, birds and fish.

Represents a pause in the flow of words

It is separated into subject, verb, complement

My uncle Harry, who was a colonel in the army, made the best martinis I’ve ever tasted.

Use to:

Apostrophe

Can’t shows that the “no” of cannot has been removed.

To indicate that the 19 part has been removed

For contractions and possessives, never for plurals.

You can’t write “the 1990’s” but you can write “the ’90s”

Example

Use: