A PRIMER

 An English professor wrote the words, “ A woman without her man is nothing" on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly.  The men wrote: “ A woman, without her man, is nothing."  The women wrote: “ A woman. Without her, man is nothing."

 SET OFF INTRODUCTORY MATERIAL IN A SENTENCE:  After taking the last cupcake on the plate, Henry scooted outside to avoid the fury of his sister.

 SET OFF ITEMS IN A LIST  Lions, tigers, and bears were the featured animals at the Cincinnati Zoo last weekend.  ****Note: The comma in front of the “and” matters. Consider the next slide!

DIVIDE TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES  Commas team up with conjunctions to separate two full sentences.  The girls won the game, and they celebrated with chicken tenders at Applebee’s.

 SET OFF A SIDE NOTE:  Lisa’s father, who is known to be protective, will not allow her to work after nine.  Note: If the phrase is left out it would not change the sense of the sentence.

 WHEN ADDRESSING SOMEONE:  Mr. Carson, did you assign chapter seven for homework yesterday?  Students, put your homework on the front table!  This matters! Commas can save lives! Look what can happen when you forget a comma:  “Let’s eat Grandma!”  “Let’s eat, Grandma!”

 SEPARATE DIALOGUE FROM THE SPEAKER  I began to cry, “ It was an accident; the roads were covered with ice.”

 SEPARATE TWO COMPLETE SENTENCES THAT HAVE NO CONJUNCTION BETWEEN THEM.  The girls won the game; they celebrated with chicken tenders at Applebees.  The SUV flipped over and rolled down the embankment; it was totaled.

Colons set up the reader for whatever follows: a list, a long quote, or an explanation.  The directions say: go west on vine, turn left on east main, and then left again on 4 th street.  The message here is: “Stay on your toes; it’s coming at you.”  He tried out for several teams: the Wildcats, the Cardinals, and the Hilltoppers.

 Use apostrophe marks for possessive nouns, both singular and plural.  Those are the players’ shoes. (plural noun and possessive)  That is Susan’s cell phone. (single noun and possessive)  John Stamos’s three fouls placed him on the bench until the half. (nouns that end in s also have ’s endings.)

1.Write a sentence that uses a comma to set off introductory material. 2.Write a sentence that uses commas to set off a side note. 3.Write a sentence that contains a semicolon. 4.Write a sentence that contains a colon. 5.Write a sentence that contains an apostrophe.