Punctuation rules in English
I am about to take a TOEFL exam in March. In my way to improve my English writing skills, punctuaions in English such as semicolons(;) and hyphen(-) which are not commonly used in my native language have been baffling me. So I spent today learning about punctuation rules in English.
.: period/full stop
Declarative sentence must end with a period/full stop.
- I like jogging.
- We are going to visit Mexico this summer.
': apostrophe
Apostrophes are used for contractions or to show possession.
- You’re kind. (You are kind.)
- Alice’s house is beautiful.
?: question mark
Every question or interrogative sentence must end with a question mark.
- Have you finished your homework?
!: exclamation mark
Use an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence to express excitement, strong emotion, or a sense of urgency.
- That sounds great!
- Watch out!
,: comma
Use commas to separate items in a series of three or more things.
- I have been to Korea, Japan, and China.
- Comma before the last item is called Oxford comma or Serial comma. It is optional. More information
Use a comma to separate independent clauses when they are joined by the following conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet and so.
- I want to eat pizza, but my dad wants to eat hamburgers.
;: semicolon
Use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses.
- I love pizza; you love fried chicken. (I love pizza, and you love fried chicken.)
:: colon
Use a colon to introduce a list of items.
- There are three types of important nutrients: proteins, carbonhydrates, and fats.
-: hyphen
Use a hyphen to join two or more words that serve as a single adjective before a noun.
- brand-new smartphone
- chocolate-covered almonds
Use a hyphen with compound numbers. You should hyphenate compound numbers between 21 and 99.
- twenty-two
- eighty-four
–: en dash
Indicates a period of time, distance or a range of numbers.
- The opening hours are 9:00am–6:00pm.
Can be typed with Alt + 0150 in Windows.
—: em dash
Adds emphasis to the sentence. Can be used instead of parentheses, commas or colons.
- She is scared of two things—spiders and dogs. (She is scared of two things: spiders and dogs.)
- I went to the shop—but it was closed. (I went to the shop, but it was closed.)
- The lion—which had a gigantic body—was staring at me.
Can be typed with Alt + 0151 in Windows.
Summary
This is what I learned about punctuation rules in English. I was quite surprised there were three types of horizontal bar symbol: hyphen, en dash, and em dash. I hope you learned something too. See you in the next article!
References
I have used the following materials to learn this subject.