Punctuation marks, such as
commas, period, and quotation marks, help readers interpret sentences. They
determine how a sentence should be read and understand, like most languages, english has certain rules of
punctuation. The guidelines below will help you master some of the most
imprtant ones.
Period
1. Use
a period at the end of a statement :
Argentina’s
economy is a mix of agriculture and indusrty.
2. Use
a period with most abbreviations :
Mr. Mrs.
A.M. P.M.
Question Mark
1. Use
a question mark at the end of a question :
Who is going to
driver me to the airport?
Comma
1. Use
a comma to separate words or phrases in a series :
The sea around
Antarctica is home to dolphins, porpoise,whales, sales, and other sea creatures
2. Use
a comma to separate eities from states :
Billings,
Montana
Tallahassee,
Florida
3. Use
a comma between the day of the month and the year :
August 15, 1983
Colon
1. Use
a colon to introduce a series
The museum
offers daily tours of the following collection: American, Asian, Classical, and
European
2. Yse
a colon to separate hours from minutes :
3:15 6:45
3. Use
a colon after the salutation in a formal letter :
Dear Dr. Brody:
Dear Ms. Rosen:
Quotation Marks
1. Use
quotation marks to enclose a direct quote :
Jorge said,”I
have already finishid my homework
Capitalization
The following rules
summarize the main uses of capitalization in english. If you are not sure when
to capitalize a word, you should use your dictionary as a reference
1. Capitalize
the first word of a sentences :
Fishing is an
important industry in Peru.
2. Capitalize
names, capitalize a title that precedes a name :
Dr. Lourie
Profesor Cantor