Punctuation and Capitalization Rules

 

Punctuation

Punctuation is a collection of marks and signs which break words up into groups and give other useful information to help us understand what we are reading and hearing. When we are reading out loud, the punctuation helps us know when to pause.

 

The most common punctuation marks are:

1. full stop                          .           Shows the end of a sentence

2. comma                           ,          Shows a short pause in a sentence

3. exclamation mark            !           Shows surprise, humour or excitement

4. question mark                 ?          Used to denote a question

5. colon                              :           Used before a list or before giving evidence to prove a point

6. semi-colon                      ;           Shows a longer pause

7. speech mark                   “   ”     Show direct speech/a quotation

8. apostrophe                      ’           Shows a missing letter or possession

9. hyphen and dash             -           Can be used to show a pause, or to link two words

10. parentheses/brackets     (  )        Used around an aside, or less important point

11.Capitalize the first word of a document and the first word after a period. Rule 2. Capitalize proper nouns—and adjectives derived from proper nouns. With the passage of time, some words originally derived from proper nouns have taken on a life, and authority, of their own and no longer require capitalization.