14 Punctuation Marks Everyone Needs to

Master
There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar. Master them all and… well, you’ve
mastered punctuation!

1. The Semi-Colon

The semi-colon is an immensely useful punctuation mark for those who are looking to slam two
slightly related clauses together into a single triumphant sentence.

Semi-colons are most commonly used to merge two independent clauses. For example:

There’s a crocodile in the toilet. He has a lot of hair growing out of his
ears.
At present, the two sentences are separated by a full stop / period. If you were to read them aloud
they would sound like this:

There’s a crocodile in the toilet. *Pause*

He has hair growing out of his ears.
If you were to insert a semi-colon in place of the full stop / period, the pause would be much
shorter and the sentence would look like this:

There’s a crocodile in the toilet; he has a lot of hair growing out of his ears.
The semi-colon serves to eliminate the pause between the two independent clauses and is
therefore used instead of a conjunction, such as and, yet, but, or, nor, for and so.
 OR
A semi-colon can also be used as a super-comma, to separate items in a long list. For example:

At the chocolate factory, I scoffed acid balls, they were super sour;
everlasting gob stoppers, I spat mine out after an hour; curly toffees, rather
yummy; and iced fancies, they made me sick.
 

2. The Comma

Everyone loves the comma. The problem is that quite a lot of people love it TOO MUCH.
Commas are great for inserting pauses into sentences and breaking them up into manageable
chunks. However, quite often, a lot of people, like us, tend to overuse them, placing them
throughout a sentence, at regular intervals, until the text turns into a comma-strewn shadow of
what it could have been. Did we just do that?

There are a large number of complicated rules governing comma usage (oh joy) but luckily for
you we have already covered them in great detail in our super free punctuation guide. There’s
efficiency for you.

3. The Full Stop / Period

 The period, or full stop as the British call it, is never going to
set any hearts on fire, but it’s pretty much one of the most important punctuation marks we have.
It tells you when the sentence is complete and you can take a breath. Period usage is second
nature for most people and our brains don’t really even register them most of the time. We do
tend to notice if they’re missing though

4. The Colon

There are plenty of jokes that can be made regarding the name of this punctuation mark but
we’re far too sophisticated for that (you’ve no idea how much restraint that took). The colon is
most commonly used to introduce  and can be used to introduce anything: words, phrases, lists,
names or quotations. For example:

 The hungry buffoon only had one thing on his mind: peanut butter cupcakes.
 The hungry buffoon was thinking of lots of things: peanut butter cupcakes, chocolate
donuts, crispy duck and pig’s trotters.
 The buffoon finished his feast in seconds: “I’ll never eat again,” he said.

5. The Quotation Mark

We’ve all “seen” them. They seem to show up “everywhere” these days, more often than not
when they shouldn’t—like in this sentence! To stay on the safe side, quotation marks should
really only be used to show that you’ve stolen the words of someone else.

The use of quotation marks is complicated by the fact that there are two types in use: double
quotation marks and single quotation marks. Confuse the two at your peril.

Double quotation marks are used to directly and exactly quote the words of someone:

“I was absolutely amazed to find a crocodile in the bathroom brushing his teeth,” Mother said.

Single quotation marks are used to quote someone who is quoting someone else:

“I could not believe my ears when the crocodile said, ‘Can I have some privacy here?'” Mother
exclaimed.

Quotation marks are not valid substitutes for italics and should not be used as such. To you and
me, it’s Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, NOT “Romeo and Juliet”.

Incidentally, punctuating your spoken English with air quotes is also just plain wrong.

6. Ellipsis
Th What is an Ellipsis?
An ellipsis is not what happens when the moon moves in front of the sun; that’s an
eclipse!  An ellipsis is a punctuation mark that is used to indicate that some text has
been omitted from a sentence, to indicate a pause in the sentence, or to represent the
fact that an idea is trailing off into silence.  The plural of ellipsis is ellipses.  It consists
of three, yes THREE, evenly spaced dots . . . not five dots, three!  The ellipsis punctuation
method is often referred to as “dot, dot, dot.”

Let’s have a look at a few examples when to use the dot, dot, dot:

To Indicate The Omission of Text

This is one of the more common uses of the ellipsis and is often used by people when
they want to quote something but wish to shorten the quote by leaving some of the text
out.

For example, take a look at the following paragraph from Romeo and Juliet:

Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied,

And vice sometimes by action dignified.
If I wished to shorten it, I may insert an ellipsis as follows:

Virtue itself turns vice . . . And vice sometimes by action dignified.

 

To Indicate a Pause in The Sentence

The ellipsis is useful if you want to denote a pause in a sentence:
Sarah had a wakeboarding accident . . . the outcome was not attractive!
 

To Indicate an Idea is Trailing Off Into Silence

This is commonly used in informal communications, such as text messages and
email . . . and on Mariah Carey’s shirt:

I love you but  . . .

Looking for more advice and assistance with punctuation?  If so, please check out
our free punctuation guides.

7. The Exclamation Mark

Once a highly respected serious punctuation mark, the exclamation mark is in serious
threat of becoming nothing more than a glorified emoticon. The exclamation point is
used to add an air of emotion to a sentence:

I can’t believe it! I think I have fallen in love with a hairy-knuckled oath!
Note the use of just one exclamation mark in the above sentence. Not two, not three,
not four… just one. Despite the modern day mentality of heightening emotion by adding
numerous exclamation marks at the end of a sentence, you really do only need one.

A second potential use of an exclamation mark is to accompany mimetically produced

sounds:
Ha! I knew it; you just can’t resist hairy knuckles on a man. Does he comb
them?
 

8. The Question Mark

The question mark is probably one of the most important punctuation marks because it
has an amazing ability to completely change the meaning of a sentence simply by
appearing at its close:

You are so amazingly clever.

The above flattering phrase becomes drenched in an air of sarcasm when you add the
all important question mark:

You are so amazingly clever?

 

 
9. Brackets

Parentheses are used to set aside messages that are not really essential to the meaning
of the text. They are always used in pairs and can contain one or more sentences that
may include references, definitions, further information or editorial comments. There are
three main rules governing the use of parentheses:

1) Use parentheses to enclose words that are included as an aside.

There were one hundred (100) gremlins banging at the door demanding ice
cream.
2) To enclose words or figures that clarify the existing sentence.

I refused to answer the door because (1) I am not particularly fond of

gremlins, (2) I had just got out of the shower, and (3) I had no ice cream in
the freezer.
3) The period or full stop should appear inside the parenthesis if it contains a full
sentence.

I have enclosed a picture of the damage the gremlins have done to my

property (attachment A).
I have enclosed a picture of the damage the gremlins done to my property.
(Please see attachment A.)
It is grammatically acceptable to use commas instead of parentheses but, because the
parenthesis have the effect of acting as an aside, they are generally used to denote that
the information is less important.
 

10. The Hyphen

The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a
single word. It can be produced by pressing the key that appears on the top right of a
computer keyboard and should never have spaces before or after it. Neither should a
hyphen ever be confused with a dash–we’ll cover that one next.

The most popular use of a hyphen is to join two compound adjectives e.g. hairy-handed.
However, many people claim that you don’t really need to use a hyphen if the use of the
two words together is not ambiguous. We won’t enter in to a debate on the usage of the
hyphen here, we’re quite partial to a compound word or two ourselves.

11. Dashes
There are two types of dashes: the en dash and the em dash.

En Dash (–)

The en dash gets its name from its length as it is one ‘N’ long. The en dash is used to
express a range of values or a distance:

The gremlin was around 50–60 years old, we could tell this from the state
of his teeth.
The Timbuktu–Bolton flight was delayed by 6 hours and we missed the
World Twister Championships.
Em Dash (—)

The em dash also gets its name from its width, which is roughly one ‘M’ long. It is used
in a similar fashion to the parenthesis: to indicate added emphasis, an interruption or an
immediate change of thought. If you are confused as to when to use the em dash
versus when you should use parenthesis, semicolons or colons, you should be—it’s a
minefield out there! We suggest that you use the em dash sparingly and when you wish
to express something in an abrupt manner.

The crocodile—who knows what he was doing in the bathroom in the first
place—used all my shower gel.
It took several people to lift the enormous pumpkin—John, Graham, Tim
and Edward.
Make sure you don’t use spaces around the em dash, although some people say it’s
acceptable, we don’t.

12. The Apostrophe

Another punctuation mark that people get wrong all the time—we’re spotting a trend
here. It has so many specific rules governing its usage that we have given it a guide all
of its own. If you don’t know the difference between “its” and “it’s” and just don’t grasp
how possessive the apostrophe can be, then take a look at our free punctuation guide.

13. Braces
No, we’re not referring to the devices dentists torture your teeth with, we’re talking about
the punctuation marks that are used to put parenthesis within parenthesis:

She is going to marry the hairy-knuckled guy (she loves him [of course]).
Square braces are not really all that common in most writing so don’t get too worried by
the whole parenthesis within parenthesis thing if it’s giving you a headache. You do
need to know them if you’re a computer programmer or mathematician, but that’s for a
whole different blog.

14. Slash

Slashes are most often used to distinguish between two terms such as

“he/she”, “period/full-stop”. They are usually used in place of the words “or” or “and.”
They can also used in abbreviations (i.e., w/, w/out, and/or). One final use of the slash is
to separate lines of poetry when they are reproduced in a solid block of text:

I have a spelling checker,/It came with my PC./It plane lee marks four my
revue/Miss steaks aye can knot sea.
 
 

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Em Dash vs. En Dash: A Quick and Simple

Guide

In the battle of the em dash vs. the en dash it is critical that writers are aware of the major
differences between the two punctuation marks and that they ensure they use them correctly and
in the appropriate format in their written documents. Otherwise, you may find yourself guilty of
making funny punctuation mistakes.

The first basic concept to get your head around concerns the length of the punctuation mark. The
em dash is the length of a lower case letter “m” and the en dash is the length of the letter “n.”
When using the em dash and the en dash you should not leave any spaces between the
punctuation and the next word.

Not exactly rocket science is it? However, it’s really their basic usage that you really need to get
to grips with when revising your writing.

 
Uses of the En Dash
One of the biggest uses of an en dash is between periods of time where otherwise you may use
the word “to”:

The job is suitable for people who already have some experience in
marketing and the ideal candidate will be aged 30–40.
It is sunny all year round in Singapore, but the rain is heaviest November–
January.
 

The en dash is also often used in the place of a hyphen to combine open compounds:

The award-winning lake is situated on the England–Scotland border.

I’m not really sure how old she is. I think she’s of college–university age.
 

Uses of the Em Dash

Em dashes can be used in the place of a number of punctuation marks including commas,
parenthesis, semi-colons and colons and—although many people do use them in formal writing
—they are mostly suited to informal documents. Their main use is to convey an abrupt change of
topic or thought and they should be used sparingly.

The Octopus—who was really quite ugly—swam under the boat and
escaped the net.
It took a large number of people to push the car up the hill—Katy, James,
Joe and Brenda, to name a few.
 

Keyboard Shortcuts for the En Dash and Em

Dash:
 
en-dash (–) : option+hyphen

em-dash (—) : shift+option+hyphen

op Ten Punctuation Tips

 
 
1. Use apostrophes correctly
 
Maybe it’s because of its diminutive size, but the apostrophe tends to be neglected and
misused in equal measure.
 
The apostrophe is used to form possessives (e.g., the school’s faculty, our family’s crest, the
shirt’s collar, Bill Thomas’s house) and certain contractions (e.g., it’s, let’s, she’s, they’re, I’ve, don’t).
 
The apostrophe is not used to form most plurals (e.g., she is looking at several schools, the
families have similar crests, these shirts are on sale, we are dining with the Thomases ). There are
three exceptions: plurals of lowercase letters (e.g., dot your i’s and cross your t’s); plurals of
certain words used as words (e.g., we need to tally the yes’s, no’s, and maybe’s); and plurals of
certain abbreviations (e.g., the staff includes a dozen Ph.D.’s and four M.D.’s).
 
2. Know where to place quotation marks
 
Periods and commas go inside quotation marks, even if they aren’t part of the material
being quoted. All other punctuation marks go outside the quotation marks, unless they are
part of the material being quoted.
 
“Any further delay,” she said, “would result in a lawsuit.”
 
His latest story is titled “The Beginning of the End”; wouldn't a better title be “The End
of the Beginning”?
 
3. Know how to punctuate with parentheses
 
When a parenthetical element is included at the end of a larger sentence, the terminal
punctuation for the larger sentence goes outside the closing parenthesis.
 
When a parenthetical sentence exists on its own, the terminal punctuation goes inside the
closing parenthesis.
 
She nonchalantly told us she would be spending her birthday in Venice (Italy, not
California). (Unfortunately, we weren’t invited.)
 
4. Use a hyphen for compound adjectives
 
When two or more words collectively serve as an adjective before the word they are
modifying, those words should normally be hyphenated. The major exception is when the
first such word is an adverb ending in -ly.
 
The hastily arranged meeting came on the heels of less-than-stellar earnings.
 
5. Distinguish between the colon and the semicolon
 
The colon and the semicolon can both be used to connect two independent clauses.
 
When the second clause expands on or explains the first, use a colon. When the clauses are
merely related, but the second does not follow from the first, use a semicolon.
 
Semicolon: Only a third of Americans have a passport; the majority of Canadians have a
passport.
 
Colon: Only a third of Americans have a passport: for most, foreign travel is either
undesirable or unaffordable.
 
6. Avoid multiple punctuation at the end of a sentence
 
Never end a sentence with a question mark or exclamation point followed by a period. If a
sentence ends with a period that is part of an abbreviation, do not add a second period.
 
I don’t particularly like the play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I didn’t like it even when
I worked at Yahoo! I especially didn’t like it when I saw it at 5:00 a.m.
 
7. Use a colon to introduce a list only when the introductory text is a complete
sentence
 
Not all lists should be introduced with a colon. The general rule is that if the introductory
text can stand as a grammatically complete sentence, use a colon; otherwise, do not.
 
Correct: Please bring the following items: a flashlight, a comfortable pair of hiking boots,
and a jacket.
 
Incorrect: Please bring: a flashlight, a comfortable pair of hiking boots, and a jacket.
 
Correct: Please bring a flashlight, a comfortable pair of hiking boots, and a jacket.
 
Correct: Please bring the typical evening hiking gear: a flashlight, a comfortable pair of
hiking boots, and a jacket.
 
8. Use commas to indicate nonessential information
 
If explanatory matter can be omitted without changing the general meaning of the sentence,
it should be set off with commas. If the explanatory matter is essential to the meaning of the
sentence, do not set it off with commas.
 
Correct: The novelist Don DeLillo seldom gives interviews.
 
Incorrect: The novelist, Don DeLillo, seldom gives interviews.
 
Explanation: The identity of the specific novelist is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
Otherwise, there is nothing to indicate which of the multitude of novelists is being referred
to.
 
Correct: America’s first president, George Washington, served from 1789 to 1797.
 
Incorrect: America’s first president George Washington served from 1789 to 1797.
 
Explanation: America has only one first president. Identifying him by name is not essential
to the meaning of the sentence.
 
9. Use a dictionary
 
Is it U.S.A. or USA? Co-worker or coworker? Lets or let’s? Teachers’ college or teachers
college? Though these examples implicate punctuation marks (the use or omission of
periods, hyphens, or apostrophes), the correct form can be easily determined with a good
dictionary.
 
10. If in doubt, rewrite
 
The easiest way to solve a vexing punctuation problem is to avoid it. If you aren’t sure how
to properly punctuate a sentence—or if the proper punctuation results in a convoluted,
confusing, or inelegant sentence—rewrite it. Perhaps as more than one sentence.
 The Comma (,)
The comma is useful in a sentence when the writer wishes to:

 pause before proceeding

 add a phrase that does not contain any new subject
 separate items on a list
 use more than one adjective (a describing word, like beautiful)
For example, in the following sentence the phrase or clause between the commas gives us more
information behind the actions of the boy, the subject of the sentence:

The boy, who knew that his mother was about to arrive, ran quickly towards the opening door.
Note that if the phrase or clause were to be removed, the sentence would still make sense although
there would be a loss of information.  Alternatively, two sentences could be used:

The boy ran quickly towards the opening door.  He knew that his mother was about to arrive.

Commas are also used to separate items in a list.

For example:

The shopping trolley was loaded high with bottles of beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals
and cartons of milk.
Note that in a list, the final two items are linked by the word ‘and’ rather than by a comma.

Commas are used to separate adjectives.

For example:

The boy was happy, eager and full of anticipation at the start of his summer holiday.
As commas represent a pause, it is good practice to read your writing out loud and listen to
where you make natural pauses as you read it.  More often than not, you will indicate where a
comma should be placed by a natural pause. Although, the ‘rules’ of where a comma needs to
be placed should also be followed.

For example:

However, it has been suggested that some bees prefer tree pollen.
 Full Stop (.)
A full stop should always be used to end a sentence.  The full stop indicates
that a point has been made and that you are about to move on to further
explanations or a related point.

Less frequently, a series of three full stops (an ellipsis) can be used to indicate where a section
of a quotation has been omitted when it is not relevant to the text, for example:

“The boy was happy… at the start of his summer holiday.”

A single full stop may also be used to indicate the abbreviation of commonly used words as in
the following examples:

 Telephone Number = Tel. No.

 September = Sept.
 Pages = pp.

Exclamation Mark (!)

An exclamation mark indicates strong feeling within a sentence, such as fear,
anger or love. It is also used to accentuate feeling within the written spoken
word.

For example:

“Help! I love you!”

In this way, it can also be used to indicate a sharp instruction

 “Stop! Police!”
or to indicate humour

 “Ha! Ha! Ha!” 

The exclamation mark at the end of a sentence means that you do not need a full stop.

Exclamation marks are a poor way of emphasising what you think are important points in your
written assignments; the importance of the point will emphasise itself without a sequence of !!!
in the text. An exclamation mark should only be used when absolutely essential, or when taken
from a direct quote.

The exclamation mark should be used sparingly in formal and semi-formal writing.
Question Mark (?)
The question mark simply indicates that a sentence is asking a question.  It
always comes at the end of a sentence:

For example:

Are we at the end?

Note that the question mark also serves as a full stop.

Semi-colon (;)
The semi-colon is perhaps the most difficult sign of punctuation to use
accurately.  If in doubt, avoid using it and convert the added material into a
new sentence.

As a general rule, the semi-colon is used in the following ways:

When joining two connected sentences.

For example:

We set out at dawn; the weather looked promising.

or

Assertive behaviour concerns being able to express feelings, wants and desires appropriately; passive
behaviour means complying with the wishes of others.
The semi-colon can also be used to assemble detailed lists.

For example:

The conference was attended by delegates from Paris, France; Paris, Texas; London, UK; Stockholm,
Sweden; Colombo, Sri Lanka; and Mumbai, India.
Colon (:)
The colon within a sentence makes a very pointed pause between two
phrases.  There are two main uses of the colon:

It is most commonly used when listing.

For example:

She placed the following items into the trolley: beer, fruit, vegetables, toilet rolls, cereals and cartons
of milk.
Or it can be used within a heading, or descriptive title.

For example:

Human Resource Management: Guidelines for Telephone Advisers

Apostrophe (’)
The apostrophe, sometimes called an inverted comma has two main uses.

The apostrophe indicates possession or ownership.

For example:

The girl's hat was green,  (girl is in the singular).

This shows the reader that the hat belongs to the girl.

The girls' hats were green,  (girls in this instance are plural, i.e. more than one girl, more than one
hat).
This indicates that the hats belong to the girls.

Another use of the apostrophe is to indicate where a letter is omitted:

For example:

We're going to do this course.  (We are going to do this course.)

Isn’t this a fine example of punctuation?    (Is not this a fine example of punctuation?)
The time is now 7 o’ clock.  (The time is now 7 of the clock)
Note that a common mistake is to confuse its  with it’s.

It’s indicates to the reader that a letter has been omitted.

For example:
 It’s  a lovely day is an abbreviated way of saying:  It is  a lovely day.
Note that in most formal writing, the practice of using abbreviated words is inappropriate.

See also: Common Mistakes in Writing for more on using apostrophes

correctly.

Quotation or Speech Marks (“….”)

Quotation or speech marks are used to:

1. To mark out speech

2. When quoting someone else's speech

For example:

My grandpa said, "Share your chocolates with your friends."

"George, don't do that!"
"Will you get your books out please?” said Mrs Jones, the teacher, “and quieten down!"
It is worth noting that to report an event back does not require speech or quotation marks.

For example:

Mrs Jones told the pupils to take out their books and to quieten down.

Hyphen (-)
The hyphen is used to link words together.

For example:

 sub-part
 eighteenth-century people
 week-end
 second-class post
 gender-neutral
 non-verbal
 The hyphen is also used when a word is split between two lines. The hyphen should be placed
between syllables at the end of the upper line and indicates to the reader that the word will be
completed on the next line.

Computer applications such as Word Processors can be set to automatically hyphenate words
for you, although it is more common to use extra spacing to avoid hyphenation.

Brackets (   )
Brackets always come in pairs (  ) and are used to make an aside, or a point
which is not part of the main flow of a sentence.  If you remove the words
between the brackets, the sentence should still make sense.

For example:

“The strategy (or strategies) chosen to meet the objectives may need to change as the intervention
continues.”
Another example is as follows:

“We can define class as a large-scale grouping of people who share common economic resources,
that strongly influence the types of lifestyle they are able to lead.  Ownership of wealth, together with
occupation, are the chief basis of class differences.  The major classes that exist in Western societies
are an upper class (the wealthy, employers and industrialists, plus tops executives – those who own
or directly control productive resources); a middle class (which includes most white-collar workers
and professionals); and a working class (those in blue-collar or manual jobs).”    (Giddens, 1997,
p.243)

Square Brackets […]

A different set of square brackets [   ] can be used:

 to abbreviate lengthy quotations

 to correct the tense of a quotation to suit the tense of your own sentence
 to add your own words to sections of an abbreviated quotation.

To abbreviate lengthy quotations in an essay or report

“We can define class as a large-scale grouping of people who share common economic resources,
that strongly influence the types of lifestyle they are able to lead.  Ownership of wealth, together with
occupation, are the chief basis of class differences.  The major classes that exist in Western societies
are an upper class […]; a middle class […] and a working class […].”
(Giddens, 1997, p.243)
To adjust a quotation to suit your own sentence
For example, if you were writing about class structure, you might use the following:

According to Giddens, (1997, p.243) the “[o]wnership of wealth, together with occupation, are
the chief basis of class differences”.
Note, that when using square brackets, only the occasional letter as in the above example or
the occasional word (for example when changing the tense of the sentence) would be placed in
square brackets in this way.

Slash  (/)
Many people use the slash instead of or, and etc., but this is not always
helpful to the reader. There is, however, a modern convention in gender-
neutral writing to use ‘s/he’.

Use appropriate punctuation marks in the following sentences.

1. We had a great time in France  the kids really enjoyed it

2. Some people work best in the mornings others do better in the evenings
3. What are you doing next weekend
4. Mother had to go into hospital she had heart problems
5. Did you understand why I was upset
6. It is a fine idea let us hope that it is going to work
7. We will be arriving on Monday morning  at least I think so
8. A textbook can be a wall between teacher and class
9. The girls father sat in a corner
10. In the words of Murphys Law Anything that can go wrong will go wrong

Answers

1. We had a great time in France – the kids really enjoyed it.

2. Some people work best in the mornings; others do better in the evenings.
3. What are you doing next weekend?
4. Mother had to go into hospital: she had heart problems.
5. Did you understand why I was upset?
6. It is a fine idea; let us hope that it is going to work.
7. We will be arriving on Monday morning – at least, I think so.
8. A textbook can be a ‘wall’ between teacher and class.
9. The girl’s father sat in a corner.
10. In the words of Murphy’s Law: ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’
INDEPENDENT & DEPENDENT CLAUSES: COORDINATION & SUBORDINATION

An independent person is one who can solve problems on his own, take care of his own needs,
stand on his own two feet, so to speak. An independent clause (a clause is a group of words
that contains at least one subject and one verb) is one that can stand on its own two feet--
independently. You can join independent clauses if you want to. This is called coordination.

A dependent person is one who needs help from another, more independent person. A
dependent person needs to lean on someone stronger. A dependent clause is one that cannot
stand on its own two feet--it needs an independent clause to lean on. You must join a
dependent clause to an independent one. This is called subordination.

Independent clauses are strong

Compare an independent clause to the ideal roommate: She cleans up after herself, pays her
share of the bills, never forgets to turn off the iron, and can fix a leaky faucet. Like the ideal
roommate, an independent clause lacks nothing to stand on its own. For example, each of the
following independent clauses can stand alone:

Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet before leaving for the party.
Mai figured out how to fix the garbage disposal.

The clauses above contain a subject and a verb, and they finish the thought they have started;
they are complete simple sentences. For the sake of variety, however, you will often want to
combine simple sentences using coordination to create compound sentences. You can choose
one of two methods:

 Join two independent clauses with a semicolon.

 Join two independent clauses with a comma and coordinating conjunction.
The most used coordinating conjunctions are often referred to as the FANBOYS
(for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so). When you use one of the FANBOYS between independent
clauses, you signal that the clauses are equal (sort of like how two independent roommates are
equals). These two methods of coordination are demonstrated below:

Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet before leaving for the party; Mai figured out
how to fix the garbage disposal.

Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet before leaving for the party, and Mai figured
out how to fix the garbage disposal.
If you choose to coordinate two independent clauses using a semicolon, you have another
option. You may choose to add a conjunctive adverb (followed by a comma-the adverb acts
rather like an introductory phrase) after the semicolon:

Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet before leaving for the party; moreover, Mai
figured out how to fix the garbage disposal.

A conjunctive adverb adds meaning or clarifies the relationship between the two clauses. See
how choosing a different conjunctive adverb subtly changes the meaning of the pair:

Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet before leaving for the party; however, Mai
figured out how to fix the garbage disposal.

The pattern, with appropriate punctuation (and yes, the punctuation counts) is as follows:

Coordinating Independent Clauses

Method 1 Independen Independen
;
Semicolon t clause t clause
;moreover,
Semicolon ;however,
with ;consequently
Independen Independen
conjunctive ,
t clause t clause
adverb and ;indeed,
comma ;nevertheless,
;therefore,
Method 2 , for
Comma and , and
coordinatin , nor
Independen Independen
g , but
t clause t clause
conjunction , or
, yet
, so
 

(Note: Do not  try to join two independent clauses with a simple comma. This error is called
a comma splice. Furthermore, do not try to join two independent clauses with a coordinating
conjunction alone, omitting the comma. This error is called a  run-on. For more on these errors,
see the TIP Sheet Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences.)

Dependent clauses are needy

In contrast to an independent clause, a dependent clause is incomplete; it is a type of sentence
fragment. (For more information, see the TIP Sheet Fragments.) A dependent clause may
contain a subject and a verb, but it begins a thought that it doesn't finish:

Because Amy left the iron on.

When the firemen arrived at the dorm.

The words that are to blame for making the above dependent clauses dependent are the
words because and when. Inquiring minds want to know-what happened as a result of the iron
being left on? What happened when the fire department reached the dorm? Like a needy
roommate, these dependent clauses need to lean on something stronger. In the following
examples we have added independent clauses for the dependent clauses to lean on:

The dorm's obsolete wiring melted and started a fire because Amy left the iron on.
Jennifer and Mai had already put out the fire when the firemen arrive at the dorm.

When you join a dependent clause to an independent clause, you are not joining equals. One
side of the resulting sentence (the independent clause) is stronger, and the other side (the
dependent clause) is weaker, or subordinate. (If you are a subordinate at work, you do as
you're told.) The words used to join unequal pairs of clauses are called subordinating
conjunctions.

But even here you have choices. Just because the independent clause is stronger, it doesn't
have to always go first. (Sometimes the stronger person holds the door open to allow the
person on crutches to enter first.) You could just as well write the following:

Because Amy left the iron on, the dorm's obsolete wiring melted and started a fire.
When the firemen arrived at the dorm, Jennifer and Mai had already put out the fire.

The important thing to remember about subordination is that the punctuationdiffers depending
on whether the independent or the dependent clause "enters" first. If the dependent clause is
first (again, rather like an introduction to the main clause), it is followed by a comma (like in
this sentence and the next). If the independent clause comes first, no punctuation separates
the two.

The pattern, with appropriate punctuation, is as follows:

Subordinating Dependent Clauses

Method 1 (No
Independen Dependent
Independen punctuation
t clause Clause
t clause first )
Method 2 Dependent , (comma) Independen
Dependent
clause t Clause
clause first

For variety or to fine-tune meaning, you may choose to combine two independent clauses,
making one of the clauses subordinate to the other with the addition of a subordinating
conjunction:

While  Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet, Mai figured out how to fix the
garbage disposal.

Jennifer put a new washer in the bathroom faucet  since  Mai was figuring out how to fix the
garbage disposal.

Here is a partial list of subordinating conjunctions. (Some textbooks call them "dependent-
making words," or "dependent marker words.")

Common Subordinating Conjunctions

after in order that unless
although rather than until
as (as if) since when
because so that whenever
before than whereas
even though that whether
if though while

While other punctuation rules apply to particular kinds of clauses (for example, see the TIP
Sheet Relative Pronouns: Restrictive and Nonrestrictive Clauses), if you learn to distinguish
independent from dependent clauses and recognize subordinating conjunctions you will be
more apt to avoid some common fragment and punctuation errors in your writing.