Common punctuation marks
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.
