Below is a description of some punctuation marks and their proper usage. They are listed in functional order, starting with those that end sentences, followed by those that fall in the middle of sentences, and finally those that fall in the middle of words.
A period looks like this: . It is used to end a sentence. You should not use a period for anything other than ending a sentence. (A period also makes up part of an ellipsis, but that's another story.)
An exclamation point looks like this: ! Like the period, the exclamation point is used to end a sentence, but it also adds emphasis. When you're writing dialogue and a character is shouting, you might want to end the sentence with an exclamation point. Example::
"Gabrielle, look out!" yelled Xena.
A colon looks like this: : It appears at the end of a clause and can do one of three things.
A colon can introduce a list. Be sure that what comes before the colon could stand as a complete sentence on its own.
Correct:
Correct:
Xena has many skills: running, jumping, fighting, and sewing.
Incorrect:
Xena's skills include: running, jumping, fighting, and sewing.
A colon can introduce a restatement of the previous clause.
Xena is a warrior: she spends a lot of her time fighting
battles.
A colon can introduce an elaboration on the previous clause.
Gabrielle was in pain: she had just sprained her ankle.
A semicolon looks like this: ; Semicolons have essentially two uses.
A semicolon separates items in a list when the items themselves have internal punctuation.
Gabrielle likes oranges; cherries; and red, yellow, and green
apples.
A semicolon separates two closely related clauses. In this function, it is slightly stronger than a comma, but weaker than a period. The clause before the semicolon and the clause after the semicolon should be complete sentences on their own; you should be able to replace the semicolon with a period and have two grammatically correct sentences.
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