Mastering Punctuation Skills

Place 'and' before every item in the list.

Separate items with commas and use 'and' before the last item.

List items without any punctuation.

Use commas only between the first two items.

I bought apples oranges bananas and grapes.

I bought apples, oranges bananas, and grapes.

I bought apples, oranges, and bananas grapes.

I bought apples, oranges, bananas, and grapes.

Quotation marks are only used for titles of books.

Quotation marks are used to indicate spoken dialogue, with punctuation placed appropriately.

Punctuation should always be placed outside of quotation marks.

Dialogue should always be written in italics instead of quotation marks.

She said, 'I will be late'

She said, 'I will be late!'.

She said, 'I will be late.'

She said, "I will be late."

Period

Question mark

Comma

Exclamation mark

;

?

!

...

Use 's for all nouns regardless of number.

Always use 's for plural nouns ending in s.

Use ' only for proper nouns.

Use 's for singular nouns, ' for plural nouns ending in s, and 's for plural nouns not ending in s.

The toys of the cat are missing.

The missing toy is the cat's.

The cat's toy is missing.

The cat toy is missing.

Use a colon to start a new paragraph.

Use a colon to end a sentence.

Use a colon to introduce lists, quotes, explanations, or to separate related independent clauses.

Use a colon to replace commas in a list.

She loves three colors: red, blue, and green.

I have a list of items; milk, bread, and cheese.

The meeting starts at 10 AM; please be on time.

I need to buy the following groceries: apples, bananas, and oranges.