punctuation

commas Separate adjectives that come before a noun “They were attacked by a gigantic, ferocious shark”

Commas continued - Set off a speaker from a quotation Jason said, “Those clowns look like they’re up to no good.” Set off phrases and words that introduce a sentence Even though he’s smart, he’s very lazy.

Commas continued Set off words that are not necessary for the basic meaning of the sentence “Calgary, the 1989 Stanley Cup champion, has only one championship in their history.”

PUNCTUATION Period: indicates a declarative sentence and an even tone of voice. Question mark: indicates an interrogative sentence and a questioning tone of voice. Exclamation mark: indicates an exclamatory or imperative sentence and an excited or passionate tone of voice.

Apostrophes Used for contractions (word shortening) “He’s (He is) a great player.” “I wouldn’t (would not) do that if I were you.” - Used for possessives (shows ownership) “ Jason’s sword has gone missing.”

Apostrophes continued Exception to this rule: ITS – is a possessive (The dog wagged its tail.) IT’s – is a contraction (It’s (It is) a beautiful day.)

Colons - introduce a list The following students come to the office: Jason, Michael, Robert, and Harry. -Introduce a formal quotation The king leapt to his feet and said: “All of my people must obey!”

Colons continued - After the salutation of a formal letter (used to address people in an official manner): Dear Sir: I am writing to request information about...

Semi-colons To separate items in a list that already use commas The hockey tournament will take place in St. John’s, Newfoundland; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Moncton, New Brunswick. -Act as a period but show a greater connection between sentences than a period does. Most of the students are here now; the rest are coming in the afternoon.

Dashes (—) 1. Show a change in thought: “He went this way–no, that way.” 2. Show an interruption to the main idea “The Super Bowl—remember last year’s game?—is the most exciting part of January.”

Dashes (—) 3. Sets off a summary of what came before as a list. “Campfires, dirtbiking and swimming—all part of a great summer.”

Hyphens (-) Half as long as dashes 1.Used in some names: Terri-Lynn, Jean- Jacques, etc. 2. Used in some adjectives when they come before the noun A twenty-year-old man

Quotation marks (“ ” or ‘ ’) Double or single 1.Used to show someone is speaking “Hold on,” said Mark. 2. Used to show sarcasm or insincerity. He burned down my house and killed my dog! Some “friend” he turned out to be!

Quotation marks continued 3. Use single quotation marks inside of double quotation marks to prevent confusion Mark said, “Some ‘friend’ he turned out to be!”

parentheses () Not to be called “brackets”! 1.Enclose extra material in a sentence. John (if that’s his real name) seems to be a nice guy. 2. Around letters or numbers in labelling. For this assignment you will need (1) a sledgehammer, (2) a cabbage, and (3) all of Elmer’s School Glue you can find.

ellipses (…) Three dots... not two, not four, not twelve, not a hundred. THREE 1.Show an interruption in dialogue. “I don’t know if we can trust him if he’s... wait, is that him coming now?”

Ellipses continued 2. Identify incomplete thoughts “He had to do something... but what?” 3. Indicate that words have been left out of a quotation. Original: “Someday, we, along with our fathers, mothers and children, will be free.” With ellipses: “Someday, we... will be free.”