Cookies on our website We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We'd like to set additional cookies to understand how you use our site so we can improve it for everyone. Also, we'd like to serve you some cookies set by other services to show you relevant content. External website Schools & services Professional services Guide to Punctuation Guide to Punctuation Why Learn to Punctuate? The Full Stop, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark The Colon and the Semicolon The Hyphen and the Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Punctuating Essays and Letters Larry Trask University of Sussex Introduction Why Learn to Punctuate? The Full Stop, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark The Full Stop The Question Mark The Exclamation Mark A Final Point Fragments The Comma The Listing Comma The Joining Comma The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas The Colon and the Semicolon The Colon The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Apostrophe Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Why Learn to Punctuate? The Full Stop, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark The Full Stop The Question Mark The Exclamation Mark A Final Point Fragments The Comma The Listing Comma The Joining Comma The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas The Colon and the Semicolon The Colon The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Apostrophe Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography The Full Stop, the Question Mark and the Exclamation Mark The Full Stop The Question Mark The Exclamation Mark A Final Point Fragments The Comma The Listing Comma The Joining Comma The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas The Colon and the Semicolon The Colon The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Apostrophe Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography The Full Stop The Question Mark The Exclamation Mark A Final Point Fragments The Question Mark The Exclamation Mark A Final Point Fragments The Exclamation Mark A Final Point Fragments A Final Point Fragments The Comma The Listing Comma The Joining Comma The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas The Colon and the Semicolon The Colon The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Apostrophe Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography The Listing Comma The Joining Comma The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas The Joining Comma The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas The Gapping Comma Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas Bracketing Commas Summary of Commas Summary of Commas The Colon and the Semicolon The Colon The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Apostrophe Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography The Colon The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Semicolon The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Colon and the Semicolon Compared The Apostrophe Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Contractions Unusual plurals Possessives

Unusual plurals Possessives The Hyphen and the Dash The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography The Hyphen The Dash Capital Letters and Abbreviations Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Capital Letters Abbreviations Quotations Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Quotation Marks and Direct Quotations Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Scare Quotes Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Quotation Marks in Titles Talking About Words Talking About Words Miscellaneous Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Italics Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Boldface Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Small Capitals Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Parentheses Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Square Brackets The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks The Ellipsis The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks The Slash Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Numerals, Fractions and Dates Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Diacritics The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks The Other Marks on Your Keyboard Priority Among Punctuation Marks Priority Among Punctuation Marks Punctuating Essays and Letters Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Titles and Section Headings Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Footnotes References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters References to Published Work Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Bibliography Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Paragraphing Punctuating Letters Punctuating Letters Copyright © Larry Trask, 1997 HTML conversion for COGSWEB by Gerald Gazdar, March 1997 Integrated with CMS by Thomas Harvey, October 2013 Maintained by the Department of Informatics , University of Sussex Maintained by the Department of Informatics , University of Sussex External website Copyright © 2026, University of Sussex