Punctuation Rules

Here is a summary of punctuation and capitalization rules, organized to help you organize and

remember them. There are highlighted words to help you recall each rule. Five End-Mark Rules
1. A statement is followed by a period. 2. A question is followed by a question mark. 3. An exclamation is followed by an exclamation point. 4. An imperative sentence is followed by either a period or an exclamation point. 5. An a reviation is followed by a period.

Four Rules !or "rre#ular $

reviations

1. A t%o-letter state abbreviation, used only before a zip code, has no periods and has both letters of the abbreviation in upper case e.g! "#$%& 'A( 2. Abbreviations for #overnment a#encies and some other widely used abbreviations again use all capital letters and no periods. )'*A, +AA',3. Abbreviations for metric units of measure generally use no periods e.g! cc, ml, km4. .hen an a reviation %it& a period ends a sentence, the second period is not necessary, but a question mark or exclamation point would follow the period required by the abbreviation. This is /am, 0r. but( *s this /am, 0r.1 ( 'even (apitali)ation Rules 1. 'apitalize the !irst %ord in every sentence. 2. 'apitalize the pronoun I. 3. 'apitalize the inter2ection O. 4. 'apitalize proper nouns. 3 people4s names 3 geographical names 3 special events 3 historical events5periods 3 nationalities, races, religions 3 brand names 3 ships, planets, awards, specific places, things, events 5. 'apitalize proper ad*ectives. +. 6o not capitalize the names of school sub2ects except languages and course names followed by a number. ,. 'apitalize titles. 3 title before a name 3 title of high official 3 family relationship when used with or in place of person4s name

3 first and all important words of publication titles, movies, songs, works of art 3 words referring to the 6eity other than those of ancient mythology(

-&ree (olon Rules

1. 7se a colon before a list of items, especially after expressions like as follows or the following. A colon says 8note what follows.8 2. 7se a colon before a statement that expands or clarifies a preceding statement. 3. 7se a colon in conventional situations, between hours and minutes in time after the salutation of a business letter.

Rules !or "talics./nderlinin#

1. 7se underlining italics( for titles of books, periodicals, works of art, films, record albums, television series, trains, ships, aircraft, spacecraft, and so on. Titles of ma2or works(. 2. *talicize foreign words. 9enerally, we italicize the titles of things that can stand by themselves. Thus we differentiate between the titles of novels and 2ournals, say, and the titles of poems, short stories, articles, and episodes for television shows(. The titles of these shorter pieces would be surrounded with double quotation marks. *n writing the titles of newspapers, do not italicize the word the, even when it is part of the title the New York Times(, and do not italicize the name of the city in which the newspaper is published unless that name is part of the title! the Hartford Courant, but the :ondon Times. 3ther titles that we would italicize include the following!
0ournals and Ma#a)ines1 Time, U.S. News and World Report, Crazyhorse, Pla2s1 Waitin! for

eor!ia Re"iew

odot, #on! $ay%s &ourney 'nto Ni!ht

3on# Musical Pieces1 ,uccini4s (adama )utterfly, Tchaikovsky4s Nut*ra*ker Suite but 8.altz of the ;lowers8(, /chubert4s Winterreise but 8Ave <aria8(. ;or musical pieces named by type, number and key = <ozart4s 6ivertimento in 6 ma2or, >arber4s 'ello /onata 3p. & = we use neither italics nor quotation marks. (inema1 Slin!+lade, Shine, The 'n"isi+le (an -elevision and Radio Pro#rams1 $ateline, Seinfeld, ,resh -ir, Car Talk $rt%orks1 the .enus de (ilo, .histler4s The -rtist%s (other Famous 'peec&es1 :incoln4s ettys+ur! -ddress, .ashington4s Se*ond 'nau!ural -ddress when that is the actual title of the speech( 3on# Poems that are extensive enough to appear in a book by themselves(! :ongfellow4s /"an!eline, <ilton4s 0aradise #ost, .hitman4s #ea"es of rass Pamp&lets1 New $e"elopments in -'$S Resear*h

.e do not italicize the titles of long sacred works! the >ible, the ?oran. +or do we italicize the titles of books of the >ible! 9enesis, @evelation, A 'orinthians. .hen an exclamation mark or question mark is part of a title, make sure that that mark is italicized along with the title,
<y favorite book is Where Ha"e -ll the ,lowers * love 6r. /uess4s 2h, the 0la*es You%ll

one1

o3

6o not add an additional period to end such sentences.( *f the end mark is not part of the title, but is added to indicate a question or exclamation, do not italicize that mark.
6id you en2oy 'harles ;razier4s Cold (ountain1

4ames o! 5e&icles
Challen!er Titani* 2rient /4press 7././. /isenhower 6on4t italicize the 7././.( H.<./. 0inafore 6on4t italicize the H.<./. when you4re talking about the ship. *f you4re talking

about the light opera, then it4s part of the title, H.(.S. 0inafore.( .e don4t italicize names of vehicles that are brand names! ;ord Bxplorer, 'orvette, +issan ,athfinder, >oeing C$C. Forei#n 6ords or P&rases
*f a word or phrase has become so widely used and understood that it has become part of the Bnglish language = such as the ;rench 8bon voyage8 or the abbreviation for the latin et *etera, 8etc.8 = we would not italicize it. 3ften this becomes a matter of private 2udgment and context. ;or instance, whether you italicize the *talian sotto "o*e depends largely on your audience and your sub2ect matter.

6ords as 6ords Examples1

The word +asi*ally is often unnecessary and should be removed. There were four and4s and one therefore in that last sentence. +otice that the apostropheDs, used to create the plural of the wordDasDword and, is not italicized. /ee the section on Plurals for additional help.( /he defines am+i!uity in a positive way, as the ability of a word to mean more than one thing at the same time.

For Emp&asis 4ote1 *t is important not to overdo the use of italics to emphasize words. After a while, it loses its effect and the language starts to sound like something out of a comic book.
* really don4t care what you thinkE +otice that 2ust about any word in that sentence could have been italicized, depending on how the person said the sentence.( These rules do not apply to newspaper writing.

6ords as Reproduced 'ounds

rrr3 went the bear. >ut you would say 8the bear growled8 because growled reports the nature of the sound but doesn4t try to reproduce it. Thus the bees buzz but go +zzzz and dogs bark woof3( His head hit the stairs, kathunk3

;requently, mimetically produced sounds are also accompanied by exclamation marks.

Four 'emicolon Rules

1. 7se a semicolon between independent clauses in a sentence if they are not 2oined by and, but, or, nor, for, yet. 2. 7se a semicolon between independent clauses 2oined by such words as for example, for instance, that is, besides, accordingly, moreover, nevertheless, furthermore, otherwise, therefore, however, consequently, instead, hence. *n other words, between independent clauses 2oined by transitional words that are not con2unctions.( 3. 7se a semicolon to separate the independent clauses of a compound sentence if either of the independent clauses contains potentially confusing commas. 4. 7se semicolons instead of commas to separate a list of items which themselves contain commas. The 87pgrade @ule8(

Four 72p&en Rules

1. 7se a hyphen to divide a word at the end of a line. 6ivide words only between syllables, and make sure at least two syllables end up on the second line. 2. 7se a hyphen with compound numbers from twentyDone to ninetyDnine. 3. 7se a hyphen with fractions used as ad2ectives. 4. 7se a hyphen with the prefixes exD, selfD, and allD and with the suffix Delect.

-en 8uotation Rules

1. 7se quotation marks to enclose a direct quotationDa person4s exact words. How to punctuate and capitalize a quotation 2. A direct quotation begins with a capital letter. 3. .hen a quoted sentence is divided into two parts by an interrupting expression such as he said or <other asked, the second part begins )read that as continues- with a small letter. /plit quotation( 4. A direct quotation is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas or by a question mark or exclamation point. .here to place end marks in a quote 5. A period or comma following a quotation should be placed inside the closing quotation marks. +. A question mark or an exclamation point should be placed inside the closing quotation marks if the quotation is a question or exclamation. 3therwise it should be placed outside. /pecial placement of quotes ,. .hen you write dialogue two or more persons having a conversation(, begin a new paragraph each time you change speakers. 9. .hen a quotation consists of several sentences, put quotation marks only at the beginning and at the end of the whole quotation, not around each sentence in the quotation. :. 7se single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation. 'onventional uses 1;. 7se quotation marks to enclose titles of chapters, articles, short stories, poems, songs, and other parts of books or magazines. <inor works or parts of works( Ei#&t (omma Rules (ultiple items to separate or 2oin(

1. 7se commas to separate items in a series. 2. 7se a comma to separate t%o or more ad*ectives that come before a noun. 3. 7se a comma before and, +ut, or, nor, for, so, or yet when it 2oins independent clauses. 0arentheti*al and interrupter words 4. 7se commas to set off an expression that interrupts a sentence. a. nonDessential participle phrases or subordinate clauses . nonDessential appositives or appositive phrases c. words used in direct address d. parenthetical expressions 5. 7se a comma after yes, no, or any mild exclamation such as well or why at the beginning of a sentence. +. 7se a comma after an introductor2 p&rase or clause. a. Always follow an introductory participle phrase with a comma . Always follow an introductory adverb clause with a comma c. ,ut a comma after multiple prepositional phrases that begin a sentenceF do not put a comma after a single introductory prepositional phrase unless to omit the comma would cause confusion. Conventional situations ,. 7se commas in certain conventional situations. a. items in dates and addresses . after the salutation of a friendly letter and the closing of any letter 9. 6o not use unnecessary commas.

Parent&eses < =as&es Rules

1. 7se parent&eses to enclose material added to a sentence but not of ma2or importance. An understated interruption( ,lace a space outside the parentheses before the first unless it begins a sentence and after the last unless it ends a sentence(, but do not place a space after the opening parenthesis or before the closing parenthesis. 2. 7se a das& to indicate an a+rupt break in thought or speech. 7se dashes to enclose an o"erstated interruption1( a. 6o not put a space on either side of an emDdash the type of dash we are discussing here(. . To type an emDdash on a <acintosh computer, hold down the 3ption and /hift keys and press the Hyphen key. *f your typewriter or printer cannot make an emDdash, use two hyphens in a row without spaces( to indicate an emDdash.