Punctuation Overview
Correct punctuation improves clarity and helps readers understand your writing.
Common mistakes include not capitalizing “I,” misusing commas, and adding
apostrophes to plurals.
Capital Letters:
Use capital letters for:
1. Sentence beginnings
2. Names, places, countries, nationalities, languages
3. Titles (e.g., His Majesty), but not when no name follows (e.g., the king)
4. The pronoun "I"
5. Nicknames or ideologies (e.g., Thatcherism)
6. Organizations, institutions, religions
7. Abbreviations (e.g., BBC)
8. Titles of books, shows, newspapers
9. Brand names
[Link], months
[Link]
[Link] events
[Link] features
[Link], continents, regions
[Link]
[Link]
Commas:
Used to:
1. Separate items in a list
(British English usually avoids a comma before "and")
2. Separate clauses in long or compound sentences
3. Avoid confusion
o E.g., "Based on the document you have sent, the instructions..."
4. After introductory phrases
o E.g., "Unfortunately, we cannot help."
5. Set off interruptions
o E.g., "She is, however, the best person..."
6. Set off non-defining relative clauses
o E.g., "The children, who were in class,..."
7. Separate large numbers (e.g., 1,000,000)
8. In letter/email greetings and endings (increasingly optional)
9. Before/after quoted speech
o E.g., John said, "I'm not going."
Avoid commas:
Before brackets/dashes or after question marks.
Full Stops / Periods:
1. Used at end of a sentence
2. In abbreviations (mainly in American English)
o E.g., "Mr. Smith"
3. As a decimal point
o E.g., "$5.75"
4. Not needed after quotations already ending in ., ?, or !
o E.g., He said "Wow!"
1. Colon (:)
Introduces a list: “We ordered the following items: …”
Introduces explanations or clarifications: “The notice was clear: …”
Introduces quotations: “Margaret Thatcher said: …”
Used in time: “18:36 train”
Separates titles and subtitles: Shakespeare: The Complete Works
2. Semi-colon (;)
Shows a stronger pause than a comma
Separates long/complex list items
Links parallel or balanced sentences
Can introduce explanations (like colons)
3. Apostrophe (’)
Common mistakes include: “photo’s”, “who’s pen”, “it’s raining”
Shows possession: “James’s desk”, “children’s shoes”, “companies’ profits”
Shortens words: “It’s” = it is, “don’t” = do not
Sometimes used in time phrases: “three years’ experience”
Not used in possessive pronouns: “its”, “hers”, “ours”
4. Hyphen (-)
Joins compound words: “step-mother”, “double-edged”
Avoids ambiguity: “little-known criminal”
Used in ranges: “pages 30–35”, “2002–05”
5. Dash (—)
Adds extra info or emphasis in place of commas or brackets
Avoid overuse
6. Brackets ( )
Adds extra/explanatory info: “Boxing Day”
Not used after commas
7. Quotation Marks (" " / ' ')
Used for direct speech, short quotes, special words
Long quotes (>100 words): use colon + indent
Punctuation placement depends on whether it belongs to the quote
8. Question Mark (?)
Used at end of direct questions
Not used for indirect questions
9. Exclamation Mark (!)
Shows emotion/emphasis
Use sparingly for formal style
10. Ellipsis (…)
Shows omitted text
Invites imagination or suspense
11. Slash (/)
Used in web addresses, dates, or to mean "or"
12. Ditto Marks (" ")
Used in lists to avoid repetition
13. Underscore (_)
Used in email addresses
Sometimes used for emphasis (but bold/italics are preferred)
14. At Sign (@)
Used in emails
Also means “about” or “approximately”
15. Bullet Points (•)
Used for clear listing
Follow punctuation rules based on sentence structure
16. Asterisk (*)
Used for footnotes
Censors letters in offensive words