The Chesterton Punctuation Guide with examples from G.K. Chesterton compiled by Mr. Rose Archbishop Moeller High School

The comma (,) 1. Use commas between all items in a series. Example: Undoubtedly there is much more elaborate equipment and opportunity for golfers to play golf, for bridge-players to play bridge, for jazzers to jazz, or for motorists to motor. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 2. Use a comma between independent clauses in a compound sentence before the conjunction, e.g., and, but, for, nor, or, so, yet. An independent clause is a group of words that could stand alone as a separate sentence. Example: A modern vegetarian is also a teetotaler, yet there is no obvious connection between consuming vegetables and not consuming fermented vegetables. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 3. Use a comma after an introductory word or word group (dependent clause). Example: If there were no God, there would be no atheists. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 4. Use commas around appositives. An appositive comes directly before or after a noun and renames it. Examples: All over the world, the old literature, the popular literature, is the same. Mr. Wells, a very bright gentleman, has an embarrassing blind spot. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 5. Use commas around parenthetical expressions. A parenthetical expression is an aside or transition that interrupts the flow of a sentence and does not affect its meaning. Example: It has been often said, very truly, that religion is the thing that makes the ordinary man feel extraordinary. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 6. Use a comma to set off nonrestrictive elements. A nonrestrictive element is a word group that describes a noun or pronoun whose meaning has already been clearly defined or limited. The nonrestrictive element often begins with who, which, or that. Example: Impartiality is a pompous name for indifference, which is an elegant name for ignorance. Note: The nonrestrictive phrase above does not change the meaning of the word it modifies -- indifference. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 7. Note: A restrictive element defines or limits the meaning of the word it modifies or limits the meaning of the sentence. Because it contains essential information, a restrictive element is not set off with commas. Example: I agree with the realistic Irishman who said he preferred to prophesy after the event. Note: in the example above, the “restrictive element” tells us which Irishman. Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 8. Use a comma to set off direct quotations. Example: "My country, right or wrong," is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, "My mother, drunk or sober." Mr. Rose

The comma (,) 9. Use commas to set off nouns of direct address. Example: "Dr. Bull, would you do me a small favour?” Note: Above, “Dr. Bull” is the noun of direct address. He is the one being spoken to. Mr. Rose

The semicolon (;) 1. Use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses not joined with a conjunction. Example: The whole truth is generally the ally of virtue; a half-truth is always the ally of some vice. Mr. Rose

The semicolon (;) 2. Use a semicolon between independent clauses linked with transitional expressions such as so, accordingly, however, moreover, meanwhile, nevertheless, etc. Example: The Professor made no answer, but gazed in front of him with eyes the colour of a wintry sea; so Syme repeated his question. Mr. Rose

The semicolon (;) 3. Use semicolons to separate items in a list that itself contains commas. Example: When you think about how an orchestra is organized, notice the strings, the violin, the viola, and the cello; the woodwinds, the clarinet, and the oboe; and the horns, the trombone, the French horn, and the trumpet. Mr. Rose

The colon (:) 1. Use a colon after an independent clause to introduce a list. Example: There comes a certain point in such conditions when only three things are possible: first a perpetuation of Satanic pride, secondly tears, and third laughter. Mr. Rose

The colon (:) 2. Use a colon between independent clauses if the second summarizes or explains the first. (If the summary or explanation is an independent clause, capitalize the first letter after the colon.) Example: The verdict is this: Only poor men get hanged. Mr. Rose

The apostrophe (’) 1. Use an apostrophe to indicate that a noun is possessive – that it shows ownership. Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding ‘s. Form the possessive plural by adding (’) if an s is already present. Example: The center of every man’s existence is a dream. Mr. Rose

The apostrophe (’) 2. Use an apostrophe to indicate a contraction. Example: It's not that we don't have enough scoundrels to curse; it's that we don't have enough good men to curse them. Mr. Rose

The apostrophe (’) 3. Use an apostrophe to indicate plural numbers, letters, and abbreviations. Example: Two large J’s were painted on the door. Mr. Rose

Quotation marks (“ ”) 1. Use quotation marks to enclose direct quotations. Example: According to G.K. Chesterton, “You cannot grow a beard in a moment of passion.” Mr. Rose

Quotation marks (“ ”) 2. Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation. Example: “War is not 'the best way of settling differences’; it is the only way of preventing their being settled for you.” Note: the semi-colon and colon come after the quotation mark, but a period and comma normally come before the quotation mark. Mr. Rose

Quotation marks (“ ”) 3. Use quotation marks around the titles of short works: newspaper and magazine articles, poems, short stories, songs, chapters and subdivisions of books. Example: This quote was taken from the essay “How I Met the President,” in Chesterton’s book Tremendous Trifles. Note: The titles of full-length books, movies, and plays are written in italics or underlined – no quotation marks. Mr. Rose

Quotation marks (“ ”) 4. Quotation marks may be used to set off words used as words. Example: The words “accept” and “except” are frequently confused. Mr. Rose

The period (.) 1. Use a period at the end of a declarative statement in a full sentence. Example: A puritan is a person who pours righteous indignation into the wrong things. Mr. Rose

The period (.) 2. Use a period at the end of abbreviations. Example: In that dance of Dickens characters, I trust I need not explain that I do not figure as either Mr. Stiggins the Puritan or Mr. Scrooge the Utilitarian. Mr. Rose

The question mark (?) 1. Use a question mark at the end of a sentence that asks a question. Example: If you like a girl to smoke a cigarette, why can’t you be logical and like her to smoke a cigar? Mr. Rose

Exclamation point (!) 1. Use an exclamation point after involuntary ejaculations. Example: Lord, love a duck! Mr. Rose

Exclamation point (!) 2. Use an exclamation point to salute or invoke. Example: Hey! Mr. Rose

Exclamation point (!) 3. Use an exclamation point to exclaim or admire. Example: What a nice day! Mr. Rose

The double dash (--) 1. Use the double dash to set off additional information within a sentence. Example: Mr. Mencken is content with the bare letter of scripture – the translation of a translation, coming down to him by the tradition of a tradition – without venturing to ask for its original authority. Mr. Rose

The double dash (--) 2. Use the double dash for emphasis at the end of the sentence. Example: If there were a crown, I think I should preserve it -- among the crown jewels. Mr. Rose

The double dash (--) 3. Use a double dash to indicate a long pause, as with a punch-line. Example: Shakespeare probably did conceive Hamlet in modern dress -- in his modern dress. Mr. Rose

Parentheses ( ) 1. Use parentheses to set off information that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. Example: Even Sherlock Holmes (the friend of my childhood to whom I shall always pay a tribute of piety) is described somewhere, I think, as being incapable of falling in love because of his logical nature. Mr. Rose

Brackets [ ] 1. Use brackets to fill in necessary words not included in the excerpted quotation. Example: [Marxism will] in a generation or so [go] into the limbo of most heresies, but meanwhile it will have poisoned the Russian Revolution.” Mr. Rose

The ellipsis (…) 1. Use the ellipsis to indicate words missing from a sentence when quoted. Example: “I still hold. . . that the suburbs ought to be either glorified by romance and religion or else destroyed by fire from heaven, or even by firebrands from the earth.” Mr. Rose

The ellipsis (…) 2. Use the ellipse to trail off a sentence in an intriguing manner… Example: When the survivals of the Swinburnian epoch, imagining themselves to be young, actually come and tell me that the world is on an endless march towards wild liberty and indefinite relaxation of everything, I really do not know how to answer, except with a melancholy smile: “I have lived long enough to have seen one thing…” Mr. Rose