The full stop: –
- The full stop is used to mark the end of a sentence.
- A common mistake is to join two sentences with a comma instead of separating them with a full stop.
The question mark: –
- The question mark is used for a direct question.
- Would you wait for me?
The exclamation mark: –
- The exclamation mark comes at the end of a sentence to replace the full stop when there is a need to indicate surprise or any strong emotion.
- I have won it!
- I did it!
- Good grief!
- Get out!
- Shut up!
The comma: –
- To separate items in a list.
- To clarify the meaning of a sentence.
- To separate the clauses in a sentence.
- To separate the non-defining clause from the main clause
- Bryan, who has a pleasant smile, is my neighbour.
- To start off replies to questions, for question tags, and direct speech.
- Yes, please.
- No, thank you.
- To separate the phrase in a sentence
- The postman, a really friendly person, was attacked by a savage dog.
- The boy, running desperately away from the bully, fell into a drain.
- Before but, nor and or
- (This is optional depending on the length of the sentence.)
- It was not a difficult decision for him to make, but he had no choice.
- It was not my decision to dismiss the worker, nor was it the Manager’s.
- Hew knew he had to confront the bully, or face the embarrassment of being frequently insulted.
- (This is optional depending on the length of the sentence.)
The semicolon: –
The colon: –
The dash and dashes: –
Dot: –
Inverted commas: –
The hyphen: –
The apostrophe: –
Brackets: –