Punctuation Notes and Exercises

I. Colons Colons set off lists 1. The order is as follows: salad, entrée, dessert. Colons introduce examples or clarifications (often “appositives”: renaming of nouns) 1. I discovered the reason: a leaky faucet. Colons may begin a formal letter 1. Dear Sir or Madam:

II. Dashes Dashes set aside nonessential information, but draw attention to that information (just as parentheses or commas create de-emphasis). 1. Many teens learn the dangers of speeding the hard way—after getting a ticket. Dashes may indicate apprehension or unfinished thoughts in dialogue “I think—no, I know—that this is terrible,” said Gary. Dashes may introduce summary 1. Eat your vegetables, study hard—Sharon had heard these lessons all her life.

III. Hyphens Generally, compound words used as adjectives are hyphenated. The space-age project The government-run program It was a dead-end street This is unnecessary when the adjective follows the noun 1. The program was government run.

C. Prefixes applied to proper nouns take hyphens mid-July post-Bush era D. Some phrases (usually those associated with numbers) ALWAYS receive hyphens 1. Twenty-one 2. The Twenty-First Century 3. Two-thirds vote 4. Two-year-old

IV. APOSTROPHES A. Use apostrophes to express ownership: 1. This is Grandma’s cookbook. B. Use apostrophes even if the possessive noun ends in s 1. This is Chris’s cake. C. Do not add an s for plurals 1. All the kittens’ milk was tasty.

D. Remember that some plural possessive nouns that end in S or Z may need an ES to become plural. 1. The Lopezes’ house is blue. 2. The Joneses’ dog is friendly. E. Plural nouns that do not end in S need to be punctuated as if they were singular. 1. The children’s choir was cute.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post Christmas sales. 3. “Wait are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty five two year olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it a wrench. 6. All of James friends went to see all 50 states capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post Christmas sales. 3. “Wait are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty five two year olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it a wrench. 6. All of James friends went to see all 50 states capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty five two year olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it a wrench. 6. All of James friends went to see all 50 states capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty five two year olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it a wrench. 6. All of James friends went to see all 50 states capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it a wrench. 6. All of James friends went to see all 50 states capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James friends went to see all 50 states capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James’s friends went to see all 50 states’ capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James’s friends went to see all 50 states’ capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out—Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken down cars were parked outside the garage all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James’s friends went to see all 50 states’ capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out—Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken-down cars were parked outside the garage—all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James’s friends went to see all 50 states’ capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out—Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken-down cars were parked outside the garage—all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog: an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure a famous movie star emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James’s friends went to see all 50 states’ capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out—Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken-down cars were parked outside the garage—all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog: an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure—a famous movie star—emerged from the car. 11. His post operative state remained vulnerable.

PUNCTUATION EXERCISES Add a hyphen, dash, apostrophe or colon where necessary. Some sentences need two things! Be sure to write hyphens like this - Dashes like this -- 1. A puppet is brought to life by a blue fairy—everyone knows the story of Pinocchio. 2. I enjoy seeking out post-Christmas sales. 3. “Wait—are you going to leave me here?” asked Julie. 4. Twenty-five two-year-olds crawled across the floor. 5. Below the sink we found it: a wrench. 6. All of James’s friends went to see all 50 states’ capitol buildings. 7. It wasn’t until October that we figured it out—Gary couldn’t read. 8. The broken-down cars were parked outside the garage—all missing tires. 9. Harry decided to buy a dog: an enormous Saint Bernard. 10. A figure—a famous movie star—emerged from the car. 11. His post-operative state remained vulnerable.