Punctuation in English serves to clarify meaning, indicate pauses, and structure sentences.
Period (.) is used to end declarative sentences, imperative sentences, and abbreviations.
She went to the store.
Please bring me some milk.
Dr. Smith is my doctor.
Comma (,) is used to indicate a pause in a sentence, separate items in a list, set off introductory phrases or clauses, and separate coordinate adjectives.
I like apples, bananas, and oranges.
After the meeting, we went for lunch.
However, she decided not to go.
It was a long, tiring day.
Semicolon (;) is used to join closely related independent clauses not connected by a coordinating conjunction, to separate items in a list when the items contain commas, and to separate closely related independent clauses.
She is studying; he is sleeping.
The team included Sarah, the manager; John, the assistant manager; and Tim, the coach.
Colon (:) is used to introduce a list, explanation, example, or quotation.
There are three things I want to discuss: money, health, and relationships.
Remember: Practice makes perfect.
Question Mark (?) is used to end direct questions.
Where are you going?
Are you coming with us?
Exclamation Mark (!) is used to indicate strong feelings or emotions, surprise, emphasis, or to end exclamatory sentences.
Wow! That's amazing!
Stop!
Quotation Marks (" ") is used to enclose direct speech, quotations, titles of short works, and to indicate irony or sarcasm.
She said, "I'll be there at 5 o'clock."
The article titled "The Importance of Education" was insightful.
He called it his "lucky charm."
Apostrophe (') is used to indicate possession, contraction, or to form plurals of letters, symbols, and words used as words.
Sarah's car is parked outside.
It's raining outside. (Contraction of "it is")
Mind your p's and q's.
Parentheses ( ) is used to enclose additional information or an aside within a sentence.
The conference (which was held online) was well-attended.
She bought groceries (milk, bread, eggs) on her way home.
Brackets [ ] is used to enclose editorial comments or additions within quotations, to clarify or provide context.
He said, "I am [feeling] fine."
The original text read, "The capital of France is [Paris]."
Ellipsis (...) is used to indicate omitted words in a quotation, indicate a pause or trailing off in thought, or create suspense.
"To be or not to be, that is the question..." (Omitted part from Hamlet by William Shakespeare)
She hesitated, then said, "I'm not sure..."
Hyphen (-) is used to join words to indicate they have a combined meaning, to separate syllables in words at the end of lines, and to form compound words.
High-powered
Twenty-five
Editor-in-chief
En Dash (–) is used to indicate a range of values, such as dates, times, or scores, and to show a connection or contrast between two items.
January–March
Pages 10–20
New York–London flight
Em Dash (—) is used to indicate an abrupt change in thought, to set off parenthetical information, or to emphasize a point.
She finally decided—after much deliberation—to quit her job.
The key components of the project—teamwork, communication, and dedication—are crucial.
He saw her point—and it resonated with him deeply.