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| Writing | Home |
Punctuation is a really important part of writing. It's used to help make your writing easy to understand. It would be really hard to read a story that had no capital letters, periods or commas.
Here are some of the rules for Punctuation:
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Symbol
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Name
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When Used
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Example
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'
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Apostrophe
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1. Used in contractions 2. Used to show possession 3. Used instead of numbers |
1. Can't the pig see me? 2. The pig's food was hot. 3. That pig was born in the summer of '99. |
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:
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Colon
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1. Used to introduce a list 2. Used after a greeting in a letter 3. Used between the numbers showing time |
1. Theses animals live in the barn: the pig, the cow, and the horse. 2. Dear Mr. Farmer: 3. 12:33:30 |
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'
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Commas
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1. Used to separate words in a list 2. Used to separate words and numbers in dates and addresses. 3. To separate thoughts |
1. The pig, cow, dog, and coyote went for a walk. 2. The pig was born in San Diego, CA on Nov. 29, 1999. 3. After he ate, the pig went home. |
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!
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Exclamation point
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1. Used to show excitement or strong feeling | 1. That pig is so great! |
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( )
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Parenthesis
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1. Used to add information | 1. The pig (in the barn) is really loud. |
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.
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Period
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1. Used at the end of a sentence 2. Used in abbreviations |
1. The pig ate. 2. Mr. Pig |
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?
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Question Mark
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1. Use at the end of a sentence that asks a question | 1. What did the pig eat? |
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" "
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Quotation Marks
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1. Used before and after words that show conversation. 2. Used for special words or slang |
1."Oink!" said the pig. 2. Pigs are so "cool!" |
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;
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Semicolon
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1. Used to combine two sentences together without using linking words | 1. The pig has fun in the mud; I wish I could too! |
Another important part of punctuation is capitalization. Here are some of the rules for capitalization.
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Rule
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Example
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| Always capitalize the word "I" | He said I could use the computer! |
| Always capitalize the first word in a sentence | This is a really neat web site! |
| Always capitalize the first word in a quote | "Wow! This is fun." |
| Always capitalize abbreviations | Mr. - mister |
| Always capitalize acronyms | MLB - Major League Baseball |
| Always capitalize names of: | |
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Mr. Buster Book and Ms. Penny Pencil |
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San Diego, California |
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Happy New Year! |
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January, February |
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Sunday, Monday |
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Declaration of Independence |
