Punctuation marks are signals to readers. When you speak, you can pause, stop, or change your tone of voice to make your meaning clear. You cannot do this when you write. When writing, you must use punctuation marks such as commas and question marks to make your meaning clear.

When should we use punctuation?

Punctuation fills our writing with silent intonation. We pause, stop, emphasize, or question using a comma, a period, an exclamation point or a question mark. Correct punctuation adds clarity and precision to writing; it allows the writer to stop, pause, or give emphasis to certain parts of the sentence.

How do you use punctuation in a sentence?

The period, question mark, and exclamation point are used to end sentences. The comma, semicolon, colon, and dash indicate a pause or break. Parentheses contain words, while hyphens combine them. Apostrophes show the omission of letters, and also show possession.