Download Handout T: Punctuation Rules

T-1
PUNCTUATION RULES
PERIODS ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. At the end of a ____________ sentence. (statement of fact—She is a junior.)
B. At the end of an ____________ sentence. (statement of command—Shut the door.)
C. Following most ____________. (Ph.D., M.D., A.M.)
D. Following the omission of words (Maranatha He cometh . . . A shout!)
* If your omission is at the END of a sentence, use 4 periods—one to show a
terminal mark and three to show omission of words.
E. After an ________ question. (She asked whether her grade was passing.)
QUESTION MARKS ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATION:
Following a direct question—Did Sue win the election?
EXCLAMATION MARKS ARE USEDIN THE FOLLOWING SITUATION:
After expressions of strong feelings and interjections.
COMMAS ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. To separate independent clauses when they are joined by coordinating
conjunctions (____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____, ____).
i.e.: I will go to the store, and I will buy eggs.
*You must have a subject and a verb on both sides of the conjunction to have two clauses.
B. To separate items in a __________.
i.e.: A trio composed of Mary, Ellen, and Sue sang on Sunday.
C. To separate a series of three short __________ which are inter-related.
i.e.: The lights were darkened, the curtain rose, and the play began.
D. To separate two or more coordinate adjectives that modify the ________ noun.
*Remember: A test for coordinate adjectives—(a) Can they switch places? (b) Can you place the
word "and" between them?
i.e.: The tall, thin man walked briskly.
i.e.: The old swimming pool was demolished.
E. To offset ____________ phrases and clauses.
*Remember: If the information within the phrase is important, don't take it out!
i.e.: "The man with the red cap on is the robber," yelled the witness.
i.e.: The man, with the red cap on, talking to Dr. Jaspers is my pastor.
T-2
PUNCTUATION RULES (cont.)
F. To offset ____________ adverbial clauses, verbal phrases, or absolute phrases.
i.e.: When going to the store, please remember to take money. (adverbial
clause)
i.e.: To pass the test, one needs to study hard. (introductory infinitive
phrase)
i.e.: Singing loudly, she was terribly off key. (introductory participial
phrase)
G. To offset ____________ appositives.
*As a test, an appositive should be able to "replace" the subject (or object) and not alter the meaning of the
sentence.
i.e.: Sue, my older sister, is a brilliant pianist.
*Remember: Do not use commas if the information is necessary.
i.e.: The Watertown physician Turke correctly diagnosed the problem.
H. To offset items in dates, ____________________, addresses, and titles.
i.e. July 4, 1776, is critical in American history.
i.e. Watertown, Wisconsin, is where Maranatha is located.
i.e. Thomas Brown, M.D., will be the principal speaker.
i.e. Do you know who lives at 12200 Caty Street, Watertown, Wisconsin?
I. To offset a __________ interjection.
i.e. Oh, I guess you can go.
i.e. Well, maybe she is right.
J. To offset expressions like he said or she said ________ ____ ________.
i.e. "I think," she said, "that you are tardy."
i.e. "I was able," he replied, "to pay off my school bill."
K. To offset __________ elements.
i.e.: I was, however, too exhausted to work.
i.e.: My desire for more work, to tell the truth, is gone.
L. To prevent a __________ of a sentence (typically a prepositional phrase)
i.e.: Above, the mountains rose like shadows.
i.e.: To Jed, George was an incredible villain.
SEMICOLONS ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. To separate independent clauses _____ joined by coordinating conjunctions.
i.e.: You may take your test; then you may leave.
B. To separate coordinate elements that are joined by a coordinating conjunction but are
heavily __________ punctuated.
i.e.: We went to Muncie, Indiana; Gary, Indiana; Watertown, Wisconsin; and Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, on our trip.
T-3
PUNCTUATION RULES (cont.)
C. To separate independent clauses joined by coordinating conjunctions, but are heavily _________
punctuated.
i.e.: Having notified Sara, George, and Harry of the plan, I thought, at last, that it
would be necessary to invite Sally; so I called her.
THE COLON IS USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. Before a ________ of people or things.
i.e.: The poets I like best are these: Keats, Yeats, and Eliot.
***NEVER place a colon after a VERB and prior to a list.
i.e.: I enjoy: ice cream, brownies, and cookies. (incorrect)
B. After a statement that ________ further explanation.
i.e.: He had one major character flaw which affected his leadership: dishonesty.
C. Before LONG formal quotations.
i.e.: The teacher said: "Students, it is well known to the faculty that there has
been a tremendous amount of gum chewing occurring. Therefore . . . ."
D. After formal salutations of a letter, between the ________ ____ ________, between chapter and
verse of the Bible, and between titles and subtitles of books.
i.e.: Dear Sir: 6:13 p.m. John 3:16 The Titanic: A Disaster at Sea
THE DASH IS USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. To indicate an ______ ______ or break in the thought of a sentence.
i.e.: I was wondering if you could go and—Oh my! That house is on fire.
B. To set off parenthetical expressions that are __________ punctuated.
i.e.: The sponsors—Jan, Sally, and Sue—decided a small fee would be necessary.
BRACKETS ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATION:
To enclose any _______ that _____ _____ _____ may be adding directly to quoted material.
i.e.: "Four score and seven years ago [87 years] our fathers brought forth . . .”
i.e.: "Please keep the Constitushun [sic] close to your heart."
PARENTHESES ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. To enclose information that is __________ or explanatory.
i.e.: The distinction to this piece (see Appendix 8) is quite obvious.
B. To enclose repeated figures used for ________ or ________.
i.e.: Please send forty-eight dollars ($48) with your insurance application.
i.e.: You will need to bring (1) a pencil, (2) paper, and (3) a checkbook.
QUOTATION MARKS ARE USED IN THE FOLLOWING SITUATIONS:
A. To set off ________ quotations.
i.e.: She said, "I wish that you would have a kinder attitude."
i.e.: "I will not," he retorted, "if you don't shape up your own attitude."
T-4
PUNCTUATION RULES (cont.)
***Do NOT use quotations around indirect quotations
i.e.: Are you sure John said that we should leave tomorrow?
***Place the comma and period INSIDE quotation marks. Place the semi-colon and the colon
OUTSIDE. Place the question mark INSIDE only if the quotation itself is a question. If
the entire sentence is a question and not the quote, place the question mark outside.
i.e.: Several times the witness responded, "I'm not sure"; consequently,
the jury doubted his credibility.
i.e.: Tom responded, "I don't know if I can trust you."
i.e.: He asked, "Where are you going?"
i.e.: Are you sure he said, "Bring a covered dish to the party"?
B. To enclose the titles of______ ______ (poems, articles, one act plays, songs, speeches,
television programs) and smaller units of a book (chapters)
i.e.: The kindergarten class sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" for us.
i.e.: "The Covered Glass" is the best chapter in the new book.
C. To enclose words taken from _______ vocabularies or used for special use.
i.e.: My cousin, who never stops eating, is known as "Starvin Marvin."
i.e.: All his financial funds were placed in "blue chips."
Brief Review of Verbals
PARTICIPLES: VERBS THAT FUNCTION AS ADJECTIVES.
*Always end in -d, -ed, -t, -en, -n, -ing.
i.e.: The burnt toast and the fried eggs were not very good. (Burn is a verb ending in T"
functioning as an adjective—what kind of toast? burnt.)
GERUNDS: VERBS THAT FUNCTION AS NOUNS.
*Always ends in -ing.
i.e.: Running is a good source of exercise. (Run is a verb ending in "ing" functioning
as the Subject.)
i.e.: She enjoyed knitting. (Knit is a verb ending in "ing" functioning as Direct Object)
INFINITIVES: "To + a Verb"
*Can function as Nouns, Adjectives, and Adverbs.
i.e.: To witness is a command of the Bible. (To Witness is functioning as the
Subject)
i.e.: She walked quickly to get out of the rain. (Why did she walk quickly?
Adverb)
i.e.: His goal was to pass the test. (infinitive as a predicate nominative)