Punctuation Marks in English

A colon is used before a list or quote.

A colon is used to separate hours and minutes.

A colon is used to separate elements of a mathematical ratio.

As James used to say: "Post hoc ergo propter hoc.”

There are so many countries I want to visit: China, New Zealand, Nigeria, Argentina, to name just a few.

The raid on the compound began at 2:15 a.m.

There are eight lemons and six oranges in the bowl, so the ratio of lemons to oranges is 8:6.

A semicolon separates two independent clauses in a compound sentence.

A semicolon is also used to separate items in a series (where commas are already in use).

I slept soundly all night; my husband did not sleep a wink.

Present in the meeting was the CEO, Mr. Harris; the secretary, Mr. Langhorne; and the builder, Mr. Brown.

A dash is used to separate parts of a sentence. It can be used instead of other punctuation marks, like a comma or colon, to create better flow in a sentence.

A dash is also used to indicate a period of time, or a range of numbers.

He loves three things in life – his hair, his shoes, and his car.

The maths teacher assigned pages 56–100 for tomorrow’s test.

Mark Twain (1835–1910), was born in Missouri.

A hyphen is used between parts of a compound word or name. It is also used to split a word by syllables to fit on a line of text.

A hyphen is shorter than a dash.

1, 2,3, …, 100.

We will fight them on the beaches …. We will never surrender!

We use the apostrophe to indicate that letters have been left out, for example in contractions such as do not = don’t. We also use apostrophes to show that something belongs to someone (possessive case), as in Henry’s room. An apostrophe is used in the plural of letters, some numbers, and abbreviations.

In the past, an apostrophe was also used for groups of years but that is no longer required. (1940s, or the 80s).

I can’t see Henry’s boat anywhere.

You have to dot your i’s and cross your t’s.

“ ”

‘’

Quotation marks are used at the beginning and end of a phrase to show that something has been written exactly as it was originally said or written.

Quotation marks are also used with titles of certain works, a style guide will tell you which works.

When to use double quotation marks and when to use single quotation marks is not the same in British-English as in American-English so look up the guidelines for the variant you use.

Winston Churchill once said: “Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”

The article “How to Win at Scrabble” was the most read in the magazine’s short-lived history.

Braces are used to mark pauses and represent choices.

Braces are extensively used in mathematics to denote numerical sets of numbers

Choose your material {cloth, thread, needle, scissors} and move to step B.

Odd numbers {1, 3, 5, 7, 9….}