Punctuation Marks
Practice yourself in little things, and thence proceed to greater. - Epictetus
Punctuation marks are symbols that are used in sentences and texts to make the meaning clearer.
English Punctuation Marks
Brackets ( ) [ ] { } < >
Brackets are used in pairs. They separate meaningful elements in texts and sentences.
We usually distinguish four types of brackets:
1. Round Brackets ( )
Synonyms: brackets, oval brackets, curved brackets, parentheses, parens, fingernails.
2. Square Brackets [ ]
Synonym: box brackets.
3. Curly Brackets { }
Synonym: braces.
4. Angle Brackets < >
Synonym: chevrons.
Dashes - – — ~
Four types:
1. Hyphen -
Hyphens join words and parts of words.
2. En dash (half the width of the em dash ) –
En dashes join words and parts of words.
3. Em dash —
Em dashes separate parts of sentences.
4. Swung dash ~
Swung dashes separate inexact or inaccurate quantities, approximates, and alternatives.
Ellipsis ...
Ellipses indicate pauses, omission of words and unfinished thoughts.
Semicolon ;
Semicolons separate similar sentences and groups of words.
Slash /
Slashes separate similar words and phrases; extensively used in computing and mathematics.
Synonyms: stroke, virgule, scratch comma, forward slash, slant bar, slant, oblique dash, diagonal, solidus, separatrix.
Question Mark ?
Synonyms: question point, interrogation point, note of interrogation, query, eroteme.
Exclamation Mark !
Exclamation marks express strong emotions.
Full Stop .
Synonyms: stop, period, full point, decimal point and dot.
Colon :
Colons are used between numbers and after words that give examples or explanations.
Comma ,
Commas separate ideas; they are also used in many other cases.
Quotation Marks ‘ ’, “ ”
Quotation marks are basically used to begin and to end quotations.
Apostrophe ’
Apostrophe indicates possessive case, omission of letters, the plurals of numbers, and abbreviations; it also separates letters from words.
Complete information about English punctuation is available in a number of web sources, grammar textbooks and manuals. You will find useful and reliable information about punctuation, if you click HERE...
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