Common punctuation marks

Punctuation is the practice of putting proper stops and marks in writing. Punctuation makes the meaning of a sentence clear. In some cases, a wrongly used punctuation mark can change the entire meaning of the sentence.

In this article, we will review common punctuation marks in English.

Full stop

The full stop is used at the end of a statement, order, request or command. The full stop indicates a complete pause.

Examples:

Look here.
Please help me.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

The full stop is also used in abbreviations. This is common in American English.

Comma

The comma indicates a shorter pause. It is used to separate words in a list.

I have planted roses, jasmines, lilies, dahlias and sunflowers in the garden.

Sometimes we use the comma to separate clauses in a sentence.

After he finished his studies, he went abroad. (Here the comma separates the two clauses.)

Colon

The colon is used to introduce a list of examples:

There are three tenses: the present tense, the past tense and the future tense.
There are three types of rocks: sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic.

Question mark

The question mark is used at the end of questions.

What is your name?
Where does she work?

Exclamation mark

The exclamation mark is used after exclamatory words or sentences.

Alas! We have lost.
What a lovely picture!

Hyphen

The hyphen is used to connect the parts of a compound word.

Examples are: living-room, one-man show etc.

Note that hyphens are disappearing. Many compound words are now written as one word with no hyphen between them.

Dash

The dash is sometimes used instead of a colon.

US CURRENCY - EXPLANATION

US Coins and Currency

Value	Image	Obverse	Reverse
Coins
Penny 1¢		Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S. President	The Lincoln Memorial
Nickel 5¢		Thomas Jefferson 3rd U.S. President	Monticello Jefferson's home
Dime 10¢		Franklin Delano Roosevelt 32nd U.S. President	Olive Branch, Torch, Oak Branch.
Quarter 25¢		George Washington 1st U.S. President	American Bald Eagle
Half-Dollar 50¢		John F. Kennedy 35th U.S. President	The Presidential Seal
Silver Dollar $1		Susan B. Anthony	Apollo 11 Insignia, Eagle
Golden Dollar $1		Sacagawea	Soaring Eagle and 17 Stars
Currency
$1		George Washington 1st U.S. President	The Great Seal of the United States
$2		Thomas Jefferson 3rd U.S. President	Signing of the Declaration of Independence -or- Monticello
$5		Abraham Lincoln 16th U.S. President	Lincoln Memorial
$10		Alexander Hamilton 1st U.S. Treasury Secretary	U.S. Treasury
$20		Andrew Jackson 7th U.S. President	The White House
$50		Ulysses S. Grant 18th U.S. President	U.S. Capitol
$100		Benjamin Franklin	Independence Hall
$500*		William McKinley 25th U.S. President	"Five Hundred Dollars"
$1,000*		Grover Cleveland 22nd/24th U.S. President	"One Thousand Dollars"
$5,000*		James Madison 4th U.S. President	"Five Thousand Dollars"
$10,000*		Salmon P. Chase 25th U.S. Treasury Secretary	"Ten Thousand Dollars"
$100,000*		Woodrow Wilson 28th U.S. President	"One Hundred Thousand Dollars"