About this page . . .

This page is for students who want to learn a little bit about basic punctuation in English. It does not present every possibility — there are many possible ways to punctuate a sentence, and many of the decisions you make will depend on what you want to say.

Things to keep in mind:

1) I believe that there are no "rules" in English punctuation — I think it is better to think in terms of guidelines, as there are many exceptions to the standard rules. Good punctuation is really a matter of clarity, style, and convention. There are, however, generally accepted ideas about punctuation, so following these ideas can help you punctuate your sentences naturally.

Note: There are some conventions that are strictly followed, so not following these same guidelines may cause some readers to focus not on your message but on how you have punctuated your sentence.

2) Punctuation is for written English, not spoken English. That means that the purpose of punctuation is to make your sentences easier to read. Making your writing easy to read should be your main concern when you decide how you will construct and punctuate your sentences.

3) Even though punctuation is for written English, it very often follows how we speak. For example, if you naturally pause at a particular place in a sentence, you can be fairly sure that you would put a comma in that same place if you were to write that sentence.

Punctuation: A Basic Order

The following devices are listed in the approximate order of how much they set off one idea from another. (Parentheses are usually the lightest way of setting off additional information, and starting a new paragraph is the strongest.) Note that this is an approximate list — each of these items can be used in different ways in writing.

1) parentheses 2) comma 3) dash 4) colon 5) semicolon 6) period 7) starting a new paragraph

　

Exercise Pages　

The Comma: Clauses

The Comma: Multiple Modifiers

The Colon: Basic Usage

The Semicolon: Basic Usage

The Dash: How to Type the En Dash and Em Dash on Your Computer