PUNCTUATION

GRAMMAR

APOSTROPHE '

    I.  CONTRACTION

        I would/I’d it is/it’s

    II. PLURAL LETTERS & NUMBERS

        two A’s, two 100’s, two cat

    III. POSSESSION

        A. SINGULAR NOUNS

            one cat’s bowl

        B. PLURAL NOUNS

            two cats’ bowls

        C. IRREGULAR PLURAL NOUNS

            three children’s toys

QUOTATION MARKS " "

    I. QUOTES

        A. DIRECT QUOTES

            He said, "I ain’t gonna."

        B. INDIRECT QUOTES

            He said that he wasn’t going to.

    II. TITLES quotes/no commas)

        A. MINOR TITLES

            pieces of a work: chapter

            "Using the Dictionary"

        B. MAJOR TITLES

            the whole work: book

            College Writing Skills

    III. WORDS IN A SPECIAL SENSE

        A. UNUSUAL USE: "doctoring"

        B. SARCASM: "love"

        C. LOOKING AT A WORD: "metropolis"

SEMICOLON;

    I.  TWO INDEPENDENT CLAUSES:

        Sentence; sentence.

    II. ADVERBIAL CONJUNCTIONS:

        Sentence; whereas, sentence.

    III. SPECIAL LISTS

        I love my dog, Belazar; my Cat, Kitty;

        and my parakeet, Twitty.

COLON (only at the end of a complete sentence)

    I.  EXPLANATIONS:

        A. ONE WORD:

    II. PREFIXES: Re-write

DASH -- -- (no spaces)

    I. INTERRUPTERS

    II. DRAMATIC TONE (!)

    III. FULL STOP

    IV. We have--although we are not ready--a test 

        next week.

PARENTHESIS ()

    I. INTERRUPTERS

    II. EXPLANATION

    III. "SOFTEST"

    IV. My sister’s birthday (July 19th) will

        be here before I know it.

BRACKETS []

    TO CHANGE OR ADD WORDS WITHIN A DIRECT QUOTE

    The major said, "He [Mr. McAlester] is a

    fine,upstanding citizen."

COMMAS

    I. COORDINATE ELEMENTS

        A. TWO CLAUSES = COMMA

            I love teaching, but I hate grading.

        B. ONE CLAUSE = NO COMMA

            I love teaching but not grading.

        C. LIST

            My favorite colors are red, white,

            and blue.

            My favorite colors are red, green,

            white and blue.

    II. DATES AND ADDRESSES

        Bill was born at 1214 Newton Street,   

        Chicago, Illinois, at 2:40 p.m. on June 12,

        1914, during a thunderstorm.

    III. CONTRASTING ELEMENTS

        I love pizza, not Brussels sprouts.

    IV. INTRODUCTORY ELEMENTS

        A. MODIFIERS

            Crying softly, the baby fell asleep.

        B. PREPOSITIONS

            In the evening after dinner, I grade

            papers.

        C. DEPENDENT CLAUSES

            When it rains, flowers bloom.

        D. MILD INTERJECTIONS

            Oh, I got a C.

        E. DIRECT ADDRESS

            Bob, shut the door.

            Bob shut the door.

    V. INTERRUPTING ELEMENTS

        A. ESSENTIAL = NO COMMAS

            The boy who sits in the front row is

            loud.

        B. NON-ESSENTIAL = TWO COMMAS

            Mr. Smith, who lives next door, just

            turned 93.

    VI. DIRECT QUOTATIONS

        He said, "I’m leaving."

        "I’m leaving," he said.

        "I’m leaving," he said, "but I’ll be back."

        "I’m leaving," he said. "I’ll be back."

    VII. NO COMMAS

        A. SUBJECT-VERB-OBJECT

            WRONG: Pauli, watches TV.

        B. SOME COOR. CONJ.

            WRONG: I went to the store, and bought 

            tomatoes.

        C. ESSENTIAL PHRASES

            WRONG: All students, who fail a test,

            must take the test again.

        D. LIST (BEFORE FIRST WORD/AFTER LAST WORD)

            WRONG: I like bright colors such as,

            WRONG: Red, green, and blue, are my

            favorite colors.