A conjunction is a word that connects words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence. A coordinating conjunction is used connect similar words or groups of words. Some example of coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, or, nor, and yet. CONJUNCTIONS

An interjection is a word or phrase that expresses a strong sudden emotion such as happiness, disgust, pain, amazement, sadness and so on. They are usually set off in a sentence with an exclamation point. Some common interjections are: Oops!, Wow!, Hooray!, Yikes! INTERJECTIONS

Exclamation points are used after exclamatory words and interjections that express strong emotion. A question mark is used at the end of a question. EXCLAMATION POINTS AND QUESTION MARKS

Periods are used at the end of declarative and imperative sentences. They are used with abbreviations of names, titles, addresses, time and units of measure. Periods are NOT used in metric measures or in postal abbreviations for states. PERIODS

Commas are used to separate words or groups of words in a series. We study math, science, geography, and social studies. To set off parts of dates, addresses, and geographic locations. To set off appositive phrases. John, our neighbor, has moved to Phoenix, Arizona. To separate clauses of a compound sentence connected by coordinating conjunctions. To set off direct quotations. “Marcos took my paper,” said Tim. COMMAS

Semicolons are used to separate the clauses of compound sentences when they are not separated by coordinating conjunctions. To separate items in a series when the items themselves contain commas. We visited Phoenix, Arizona; San Diego, California; and Albuquerque, New Mexico. SEMICOLONS

A colon is used for the salutation of a business letter. Dear Professor Reed: Before a list of items. Please pack the following: sleeping bag, pillow, toothbrush and toothpaste. A colon is never used after a verb. COLONS

Quotation marks are placed before and after every complete quotation, and every part of a divided quotation. “I am going to the mall after school today.” Arianna said. “ I am going to the mall,” Arianna said, “I need to finish my Christmas shopping.” A question mark or exclamation point is placed outside of an end quotation mark when it is part of the entire sentence. Who said, “I’ll be back in a minute”? Quotation marks are used to set off titles of songs, poems, articles and T.V. series. “The Walking Dead” Titles of books, movies, plays, and operas are printed in italics and when hand- written are underlined. QUOTATION MARKS

Apostrophes are used to show possession In contractions To show the plural of lowercase letters APOSTROPHES

Hyphens are used in compound numbers from twenty-one and ninety-nine when they are written out. In compound terms: sister-in-law, drive-in To break words into syllables. Lo-co-mo-tive HYPHENS

Capital letters are used as the first letter in a sentence and the pronoun I. First letter of a direct quotation With a proper noun or proper adjective Principal words in a title First words in poems and songs CAPITALIZATION