Punctuation marks
Punctuation
marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of
written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when
reading aloud.
The
rules of punctuation vary with language, location, register and time
and are constantly evolving. Certain aspects of punctuation are
stylistic and are thus the author's (or editor's) choice. Tachygraphic
language forms, such as those used in online chat and text messages, may
have wildly different rules.
The apostrophe ( ’ , often rendered as '
) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages
that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets. In English, it
serves two main purposes: the omission of one or more letters (as in the
contraction of does not to doesn't), and the marking of possessive
cases (as in the cat's whiskers).
Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text.
In British usage it normally refers to the "round" type, which is called a parenthesis mark in American usage.
The colon (:) is a punctuation mark consisting of two equally sized dots centered on the same vertical line.
As
with many other punctuation marks, the usage of colon varies among
languages and, within a given language, across historical periods. As a
rule, however, a colon informs the reader that the following proves,
explains or simply provides elements of what is referred to before.
The comma ( , )
is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single
closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in
being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a
small line, slightly curved or straight, or with the appearance of a
small filled-in number 9.
The comma is used in many contexts and languages, principally for separating things.
The
comma may be used to perform a number of functions in English writing.
It is used in generally similar ways in other languages, particularly
European ones, although the rules on comma usage – and their rigidity –
vary from language to language.
A dash
is a punctuation mark. It is similar in appearance to a hyphen, but a
dash is longer and it is used differently. The most common versions of
the dash are the en dash (–) and them dash (—).
An exclamation mark,
exclamation point, or bang (!) is a punctuation mark usually used after
an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or high
volume, and often marks the end of a sentence. Example: "Watch out!"
A
sentence ending in an exclamation point is an actual exclamation
("Wow!", "Boo!"), a command ("Stop!"), or intended to be astonishing or
show astonishment: "They were the footprints of a gigantic hound!"
exclamation points can also be placed mid-sentence with a function
similar to a comma's: "On the walk, oh! there was a frightful noise."
A full stop (British English) or period (American English) is the punctuation mark commonly placed at the end of sentences.
Usage: Abbreviations, Titles, Acronyms and Initialisms
Quotation marks or inverted commas (informally referred to as quotes and speech marks)
are punctuation marks used in pairs to set off speech, a quotation, a
phrase, or a word. They come as a pair of opening and closing marks in
either of two styles: single ('…') or double ("…").