Language ArtsThis article discusses punctuation marks their functions, and their proper use. Learn more about punctuation rules and how punctuation is used to make reading and writing clearer and easier to understand.

Punctuation marks are symbols that are used in conjunction with words to make meaning in written documents. In the less formal types of writing used in instant messaging and text messaging - especially given a tendency towards abbreviation - punctuation marks are often omitted (or assumed). This article focuses on punctuation marks as they are used in less abbreviated forms of formal and informal writing.

What Do Punctuation Marks Do?

There are many different kinds of punctuation, but a number of punctuation marks are used fairly often. What kinds of information does punctuation add to the words that make up a text? Here are seven major punctuation functions.

Sentence end punctuation marks - periods, question marks, and exclamation marks - help us in determining if sentences are interrogative, imperative, exclamatory, or declarative.

• . Periods can end imperative or declarative sentences.

Please get the fire extinguisher.                            

I have had enough meatballs.

• ? Question marks can end interrogative sentences and sentences that are framed as interrogative, but ask rhetorical questions, so are actually declarative in meaning.

Would you like to do a jigsaw puzzle?

Is the sky blue?

• ! Exclamation points can end imperative or exclamatory sentences.

This is yummy!

Get the fire extinguisher immediately!

Parenthetical punctuation marks - dashes and parentheses, and sometimes commas - help create hierarchy within the verbal material, setting off parenthetical material, such as appositives and interjections. (For more information, see the article “Interjections.”)

• â"€ One-em dashes can do all of these things.
• ( ) So can parentheses.

Aunt Jean (my father's sister) churns her own butter.

Aunt Sally - my mother's sister - is a beekeeper.

Other internal sentence punctuation marks - commas, semicolons, and colons - helps to show the relationships between the parts of sentences.

• , Commas can show introductory clauses and join two independent clauses.

After the sun had gone down, the bats came out.

He's learning Greek, but she's learning Latin.

• ; Semicolons can join two independent clauses.

Batman is a superhero; Mr. Ed is a talking horse.

• : Colons can also join two independent clauses. Usually they are used when the second independent clause helps to explain or expand upon the first. They can also introduce lists.

I'm hiring Jana: she's the most experienced candidate.

Four areas need review: marketing, accounting, reception, and the stockroom.

Orthographic punctuation marks - apostrophes and hyphens used in spelling - help us to read words clearly.

• ' apostrophes indicate one or more letters left out in an abbreviation and possession.

You don't or you can't?

That's Hilda's computer.

• - Hyphens show the connection between parts of words that make up a hyphenated compound. They also appear at the end of the line when a word is divided to indicate that the two elements that have been separated actually go together.

Did you watch the vice-presidential debate?

Quotation marks - both single and double - help reveal which of the words are to be interpreted as the words of someone other than the writer.

• “ ” Quotation marks are used for people's words: spoken or written.

I think beans are fine for dinner, but Harold told me, “if you serve beans for dinner, I'll never forgive you.”

• ‘' Single quotation marks are used for quotations within quotations.

The exact statement Jay made in court was: “I heard her say, `I don't need any help.'”

Ellipsis points are punctuation marks that indicate incomplete material or removed material.

• … Ellipsis points maintain the integrity of a quotation when only some of a person's words are used. They also indicate pauses or trailing off, which lets the reader know what happened.

Toward the end of the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln encouraged the people of his time to ensure that our nation would have “ . . . a new birth of freedom.”

The lieutenant asked again where Mabel had been the previous evening. “I … I … I know it sounds absurd, but I really can't remember …” she said helplessly.

Series commas or semicolons are punctuation marks that can help show lists of items.

• , ; Usually commas are used to separate items in a series, but if there is internal punctuation, such as commas, within items, then using semicolons will be clearer.

Rats, bats, and cats are mentioned in Alice in Wonderland.

Boise, Idaho; Helena, Montana; and Seattle, Washington were all on Senator Slocum's list.