Punctuation

Play around with punctuation in this sentence to change its meaning A woman without her man is nothing.

A woman, without her man, is nothing. What does this mean? A woman, without her man, is nothing.

A woman: without her, man is nothing. What does this mean? A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Consider the difference. They opened fire with live ammunition. They opened fire, with live ammunition!

The Period, Question Mark and Exclamation Mark All three of these pieces of punctuation supply a sentence with a full stop. The question mark denotes a question and the exclamation mark denotes some sort of stress or excitement.

The Uses of a Comma 1. When you want your readers to pause for a moment I think, therefore I am.

The Uses of a Comma 2. After a short introductory phrase or word that comes before the subject of the sentence, or after a prepositional phrase that begins a sentence. Afterward, we went home. Once upon a time, there lived a princess. In the evening, we take walks.

The Uses of a Comma 3. Before a conjunction that combines two complete sentences. I like to sing, and he likes to play drums. She likes to dance, but I love to sing.

4. Before direct speech He said, "What's up, Sucka!" The Uses of a Comma 4. Before direct speech He said, "What's up, Sucka!"

5. In a sequence of adjectives The dark, wet night was miserable. The Uses of a Comma 5. In a sequence of adjectives The dark, wet night was miserable.

6. In lists of more than two nouns The Uses of a Comma 6. In lists of more than two nouns I ate pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers.

The Uses of a Comma 7. To enclose pieces of information in order to protect the meaning of a sentence The kids, who were the same age, were placed into groups of three. The kids who were the same age were placed into groups of three.

The Uses of the Semicolon 1. Combines two complete sentences We tried to get home; the weather was against it. He loves oysters;he ate them all.

The Uses of the Semicolon 2. Separates a list of things that contain commas We went to Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; and New York, New York.

The Uses of a Colon Goes before a list of things that describe what comes before the colon There were 30 of them: 10 cats, 15 dogs, and 5 turtles.