Punctuation Perfection

9 Questions

British and American

Open punctuation

In presentations and advertising materials

To mark possession and letters omitted in contractions

For parenthesis, explanation, or comment

To start an enumeration or clarify the first clause

To disambiguate the meaning of sentences

A dash is used to indicate a pause, while a hyphen is used to indicate a range

To mark an exclamation

Study Notes

English Punctuation: A Comprehensive Guide

English punctuation serves two complementary purposes: phonological punctuation and grammatical punctuation.
There are two broad styles of punctuation in English: British and American.
Open and closed punctuation are two variants of English punctuation.
Open punctuation eliminates the need for a period at the end of a stand-alone statement, in an abbreviation or acronym, as well as in components of postal addresses.
Closed punctuation is common in presentations, advertising, marketing materials, news headlines, and signage.
The apostrophe is used to mark possession and to mark letters omitted in contractions.
Brackets are used for parenthesis, explanation, or comment.
The colon is used to start an enumeration and between two clauses when the second clause clarifies the first.
The comma is used to disambiguate the meaning of sentences, by providing boundaries between clauses and phrases.
The dash and hyphen are used to indicate a range, a pause, or a break in thought.
The exclamation mark is used to mark an exclamation.
The full point or full stop is used to mark the end of a sentence and to indicate abbreviation.