Joking aside, punctuation is a serious matter. It is the tool that allows us to organize our thoughts and make it easier to review and share our ideas.
There are several punctuation marks in English grammar, and a lot of rules to remember, for instance that at least one of them has to appear in every sentence.
But how do we choose the right one, and how do we know if you're using it correctly?
The standard English punctuation is as follows: period, comma, apostrophe, quotation, question, exclamation, brackets, braces, parenthesis, dash, hyphen, ellipsis, colon, semicolon.
Below is an explanation of some punctuation rules to avoid misuse, and write more clearly and effectively.
1. In general, Punctuation Must be Parallel.
If you interrupt a main clause with one type of punctuation mark, such as a dash or a comma, you need to provide the same type of punctuation mark at the end. For example:
Incorrect - The teenagers, students from Mrs. Smith's art class — went on a field trip to the museum.