Punctuation

There are three marks that tell the reader the sentence is over: a period, a question mark, and an exclamation point.

• Periods

Periods come at the end of statements. A statement is a sentence that tells something. Periods can also come at the end of commands. A command is a sentence that gives an order.

For example:

Statement: Eliana enjoyed the salsa class last Tuesday.

Command: Eliana, sign me up for the next dance class.

There are two reasons to use apostrophes: when creating contractions (such as: don't, can't, you're) and when making a noun possessive (such as: Julio's dog or the store's advertisements).

Although many people use apostrophes when they are creating a plural (such as "two dog's") that usage is not correct. An apostrophe on a noun indicates possession.

Colons are not a very commonly used punctuation mark, but they can be very useful!

Colons elaborate or provide details suggested by the first part of the sentence. Think of them as punctation marks that tell you that the answer to an implicit question is coming RIGHT NOW. 

Colons often suggest that a list of items is coming:

Example:

Commas are some of the most common (and most misused) punctuation marks.  Commas often indicate small pauses, or breaks in sentences.  They tend to separate words or clauses, but do not separate sentences (or independent clauses).   In fact, most run-on sentence are “comma splices” – or independent clauses that are joined with commas (instead of conjunctions, semi-colons, or periods).

 Commas have many uses.  They can…