A Guide to Practical Punctuation for Everyday Writers

Introduction

This article is a simple and practical guide to punctuation for everyday writers. By everyday writers, I mean those of us who engage in written communication at work and simple everyday writing in the personal space like social media messages, etc.

Written communication has always been important, but the pandemic and the work-from-home trend that came with it, has made it even more important. They've nudged us to engage in more asynchronous modes of communication than we did earlier.

I'm sure you've experienced in your own work how difficult it is to get multiple people on a video call at the same time. This problem becomes even more complicated if the participants live in different time zones. It's far easier to send an email describing the problem and the help you seek to a list of multiple recipients. However, this style of communication also has its own set of unique challenges. If your email is not clearly written, then there will be multiple back-and-forth email exchanges that end up wasting everyone's time. Not only that, you will get your reply that much later.

Therefore, it's very important to draft emails in a clear and comprehensible manner. There are many factors that make writing clear, correct, and comprehensible. Punctuation is one of them. It is also the subject of this article.

My goal is not to make you punctuation aficionados. That would be too tedious and chances are that you don't have the time to invest in perfecting these skills. Rather, my goal is to make you aware of some basic punctuation rules that will make your writing clearer and make you a better communicator.

Each section in this article describes one or more punctuation symbols, their purpose, and how to use them.

The first section explains the punctuation marks that are used to end a sentence.

Three Punctuation Marks That End a Sentence

The most basic unit of writing that needs punctuation is the sentence. Let’s start there.

We all know that a sentence begins with an uppercase (capital) letter and ends with a full stop (period). However, there are two more ways to end a sentence: the question mark and the exclamation mark.

In this article, I'll explain the conditions under which each of these is used and the edge cases when it feels correct to use them but is not.

Full Stop

The full stop (also known as the period) is the simplest punctuation mark. Every sentence that is not a question ends with a full stop. It’s the dot that marks the end of a sentence, as shown in the example below.

I woke up very early this morning.

The sentence above ends with a full stop because it is not a question. However, if the sentence is a direct question, then it should end with a question mark and not a full stop. The question mark is discussed in the next section.

Question Mark

The question mark is used to end a sentence that is a direct question. However, it is never used for indirect questions. Let's see examples of direct and indirect questions to understand where exactly you need to use the question mark.

Here’s an example of a direct question:

Is it cold outside?

The next two examples are not direct questions, which is why they don’t end with a question mark.

He asked if it was cold outside.

He wondered if it was cold outside.

The sentences above can be misconstrued as questions, but they are not. A direct question is always a statement where A asks something directly.

The first example above is not a question because it tells the reader that someone asked something, it does not show the subject directly asking the question. Similarly, the second sentence tells us that someone is wondering if it’s cold outside. However, just like in the example before, no one is directly asking anything. Therefore, both the examples above end with a full stop instead of a question mark.

However, the next example is a direct question because someone is directly asking the question.

What time should we leave for dinner?

Exclamation Mark

An exclamation mark is used to end a sentence that has a strong underlying emotion to it. Here are some examples of sentences that end with an exclamation mark because they have a strong underlying emotion.

In each of the examples above, you can replace the exclamation mark with a full stop. It won’t make the sentence wrong, but using an exclamation clarifies the intent, and it adds that extra punch of emotion, which is often lost in textual communication.

Having said that, exclamations are most commonly used in personal essays, fiction, blogs, letters to friends, and other forms of informal writing. They are never used in professional and journalistic writing.

Comma

A comma is used to indicate a pause.

The common advice to figure out where to place commas usually goes like this: "Read the sentence aloud, as if to a child, and put commas when you pause."

Even though this advice sounds very practical, in reality, it is very problematic. It would have worked if we all paused in the same places, but the fact that we often pause in different places makes it difficult to use this advice to place the commas.

What we really want is a set of simple, clear, and objective rules that we can understand and apply consistently. What follows is a set of such rules to help you with the comma.

Use a comma to separate items in a list

I walked out of the grocery store with a bag full of oranges, bananas, tomatoes, and carrots.

Notice how the comma is used to separate the list of items placed in the bag. This is the most frequent reason to use a comma.

The comma after the last item, “tomatoes”, is optional. It is known as the Oxford Comma. Some people use it while others don’t. You can decide your usage style, but either way, it is important to be consistent.

Here are a few more examples of using a comma to separate items in a list.

1. I binge-watched three movies yesterday: Star Trek: The First Contact, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
2. Harry, Sally, and Mike are all coming to the movie tonight.
3. I don’t mind insects and animals cohabiting my house, but I simply can’t stand cockroaches, mice, and fleas.

Use a comma to tack words at the beginning or the end of the sentence

It was hot and sunny at nine in the morning. However, the looming clouds on the horizon portended a wet evening.

Notice how the comma is used in the second sentence after “however”. Tacking “however” at the beginning of a sentence is a very common pattern. A comma follows it because the word is related but slightly tangential to the main idea of the sentence, which is the fact that the looming clouds on the horizon portended rain in the evening.

It was most unbecoming for a gentleman to eat so loudly on such a solemn occasion, he thought.

In the example above, the main idea is how unbecoming it is for a gentleman to eat loudly on a solemn occasion. However, we tack the words “he thought” at the end of the sentence. Therefore, the words "he thought" are preceded by a comma.

Use a comma to sandwich words in-between a sentence

In the previous example, we saw how to use a comma when words are tacked at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.

However, we also use a comma when words are sandwiched in the middle of a sentence. Let’s understand what it means to sandwich words in the middle of a sentence.

My new pet, a magnificent boxer, has a goofy and charming personality.

Consider the flow of the example shown above. The speaker wants to say that their new pet has a goofy and charming personality. In its simplest form, this sentence would have been written like this:

My new pet has a goofy and magnificent personality.

This sentence above flows with just one thought — someone describing the personality of their new pet. However, the writer wanted to add more information to the sentence. He wanted to tell the reader that his pet was “a magnificent boxer.” Therefore, he sandwiched the breed of the pet in between and the sentence.

My new pet, a magnificent boxer, has a goofy and charming personality.

The sandwiched part, “a magnificent boxer” is put between commas. The part that is sandwiched is usually related, but slightly tangential to the main thought being expressed in the sentence.

Here are a few more examples where a comma is used to sandwich a related but slightly tangential fact in a sentence:

1. His wife, Emma, has a generous nature.
2. Why should he, at the age of ninety-one, have to run from hospital to hospital in search of the covid vaccine? It is his right to have it administered to him at his house.
3. She was a high-born lady, who, despite her status, preferred to travel in the economy class with common people.

Use a comma for disambiguation

A sentence is ambiguous when it could have more than one meaning. Let us look at one such sentence:

Let's eat Roger.

This sentence can be interpreted in two ways:

1. The speaker is inviting Roger to eat with them.
2. The speaker is inviting someone else to eat Roger.

Assuming that the speaker is not a cannibal, what it really means is that the speaker is inviting Roger to eat. However, making such an assumption is problematic. Especially when you are writing in a legal or business context. Fortunately, the comma can be used to clear the confusion and disambiguate such sentences.

The above sentence should be re-written like this:

Let's eat, Roger.

Placing the comma after "eat" makes the meaning absolutely clear.

Apostrophe

Consider this sign I once saw on a small roadside shop:

Classic Fashion’s

What do you think about the name? Is the apostrophe correctly used? The answer is no, it's not!

The word “Fashion’s” should not have an apostrophe.

Before I understood how to use the apostrophe, I had a temptation to randomly put apostrophes before an ‘s’ and I suspect there are many others who share that temptation. If you do this, like I did, without knowing the rules, you will be wrong half the time, like I was.

If you find yourself nodding, then it’s time to change this situation because the rules for using an apostrophe are fairly simple.

For all practical purposes, an apostrophe is used only for two reasons:

1. To combine two words to create a shorter word.
2. To denote ownership.

I will explain how to use both these rules, but before that, I want to point out one case where the apostrophe is never used.

An Apostrophe is Never Used to Indicate Plurals

Let’s look at the example I mentioned above.

Classic Fashion’s

The word Fashions, as used above, is a plural word. Therefore, it should not have an apostrophe. The correct way to write the name of the shop is:

Classic Fashions

You will eliminate half of your apostrophe mistakes if you remember this rule: “An apostrophe is never used before the ‘s’ in plurals.”

With that out of our way, let’s now take a look at the rules that show us when to use an apostrophe.

To Combine Two Words to Create a Shorter Word

I’m sure you’ve noticed how writers combine two long words to create a shorter word. Here are some examples:

I am becomes I’m.

We have, becomes we’ve.

Could have becomes could’ve.

Combining two words to create a shorter word makes your text more conversational and easier to understand.

Notice where the apostrophe is placed. It's placed in the location where alphabets are dropped to combine two words into one.

Here are a few more examples:

It is becomes It’s.

Do not becomes don’t.

I will, becomes I’ll.

Let us, becomes let’s.

In all the examples above, the apostrophe is placed where the characters are removed to create the shorter word.

So this is the first rule: use an apostrophe to create a short word from two longer words.

To Indicate Ownership

The second rule for using an apostrophe is to use it when indicating ownership. Here are a few examples:

1. John’s bat.
2. The girl’s book.
3. The man’s hat.
4. He is the country’s leader.

In all the cases above, there is an owner and an object that is being owned. Notice how we append an 's' to the owner to indicate ownership: Susan's book.

The reason why we need an apostrophe is to distinguish ownership from plurals because we append an 's' in the case of plurals also. For example, "There are four Susans in this room."

Since we append an 's' to a word in the case of plurals and to indicate ownership, we use an apostrophe for the latter to clearly distinguish between both cases.

Removing confusion is a big part of why we use punctuation.

Dealing with plural ownership

The above examples are fairly clear, but things get a little complex when ownership and plurality are used together. For example, how we write a sentence when the same book is owned by multiple people? In this case, there’s ownership and plurality. Let’s understand the usage with an example.

This is the girls’ book.

Dealing with ownership words

As shown above, when a plural word does the owning, we put the apostrophe after the ‘s instead of before the ‘s’. However, this rule comes into effect only when the plural word ends with an ‘s’. If, however, the plural word does not end with an ‘s’ then we add an apostrophe followed by an ‘s’, as shown in the example below:

The people’s village.

Differentiating between its and it’s

Here's one more edge case that's often punctuated incorrectly.

Consider the two sentences below:

In the first example, we used the apostrophe to combine two words into one.

It is a sunny day, became it's a sunny day.

However, in the second example, ‘its’ is used to indicate ownership. But ‘its’ is already an ownership word so we do not use an apostrophe.

If all this sounds very confusing, then speak the sentence aloud by separating the abbreviated words. If the sentence still sounds good then use the apostrophe.

So, for the first example, if you aren’t certain about using an apostrophe, then use it anyway and then speak the sentence out aloud by separating the abbreviated words.

For it’s a sunny day, speak aloud: it is a sunny day. That sounds correct. Therefore, we can use an apostrophe in this case.

In the second example, let's say, we add the apostrophe and try the test.

"India has an abundance of solar energy because it's climate is very sunny for at least nine months a year" when read aloud after separating the abbreviated words will read as: "India has an abundance of solar energy because it is climate is very sunny for at least nine months a year."

The sentence after separating the abbreviated words is clearly incorrect. Therefore, we should not use an apostrophe in this case. The correct sentence is:

"India has an abundance of solar energy because its climate is very sunny for at least nine months a year."

A few words in conclusion for the apostrophe

In conclusion, an apostrophe is never used to indicate plurals. It is always used to combine two words to make one short word. And except certain corner cases, the apostrophe is also used to indicate ownership.

The only complexity in the usage of apostrophes is identifying the corner cases in regard to ownership. These are the times when we either do not use an apostrophe or we use it in a slightly different way.

Quotation Marks

To Highlight Direct Speech

“It’s raining outside,” he said with a sigh.

See how the sentence above uses quotation marks to indicate words that are quoted verbatim. Highlighting direct speech is the most common use of quotation marks in English. However, there are a few other reasons to use them as well. In this chapter, we will discuss the most common scenarios in which an everyday writer would use quotation marks.

Use single or double quotes to highlight direct speech

Quotation marks are most often used to highlight direct speech. You can use single or double quotes. Using double quotes is preferred because they can nest single quotes if you happen to have a quotation within a quotation.

Here's a simple example of highlighting direct speech with quotation marks.

"I am very happy with the industrial growth," the finance minister said.

This sentence can also be written with single quotes as shown below:

'I am very happy with the industrial growth,' the finance minister said.

Notice how the finance minister's spoken words are put within quotes. Also, note that the comma after growth goes inside the quotes.

Double quotes are preferred

The next example highlights why double quotes are a better choice. Let's look at an example where a quoted text nests another chunk of quoted text.

After everyone had settled around the fireplace, Jack said, "Do you guys know what happened this morning? I heard someone cry out, 'Help, please help,' but I couldn't figure out where the sound came from."

See how easy it is to embed quoted text inside another quoted text.

Only quote direct text

An important point to remember while quoting what someone said is that we only quote direct speech. We **never** quote indirect speech, as shown in the example below:

John said he was going to town.

In the sentence above, even though we inform the reader about what John said, we are not quoting his exact words. That is why the sentence does not contain quotation marks. If the sentence is rephrased to mention the exact words spoken by John, then we would surround the spoken part with quotation marks.

John said, "I am going to town."

Quoting multiple sentences

Quotes that span multiple lines or multiple paragraphs should have a quote at the beginning before starting the quoted passage and at the end after the quoted text ends.

Here is an improvised example from one of my journal entries:

A few weeks back, after having written non-fiction for a few months, I decided to try my hands on fiction. But there was a bit of an issue. Even though I had several ideas that could serve as promising premises for stories, I did not have the skills to take a premise and weave a plot around it to create a compelling narrative. It’s around that time that I read about the concept of ‘beat sheets’. A beat sheet is an outline of a story that lists all the important events. That’s exactly what I wanted. Studying beat sheets, I hoped, would help me understand how good authors weave their stories. What follows are the first three paragraphs of the beat sheet of one of my favorite books, 'The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society'.

"Opening Image (pages 1 – 4): Comedic writer and Englishwoman Juliet Ashton sends a letter to her editor/publisher Sidney Stark, telling him that she’s no longer motivated to write her current manuscript or continue penning humorous stories under her pseudonym. She was glad to make readers laugh during the war years, but now she wants to write something more substantial and to be taken seriously.

Set-Up (pages 4 – 23): We’re introduced to Sidney by his amusing yet genuinely affectionate responses to Juliet. We also meet via letter Juliet’s best friend Sophie—who’s also Sidney’s sister, obnoxious gossip journalist Gilly Gilbert (“a twisted weasel,” according to Sidney), Juliet’s wealthy suitor Markham Reynolds, and Dawsey Adams, a man who writes to Juliet from the island of Guernsey regarding a book by Charles Lamb that once belonged to her. Dawsey discovers Juliet’s former address in the book and wishes to obtain more copies of Lamb’s work. Thus, an offbeat but earnest correspondence begins between the two of them, piquing Juliet’s interest in the island and, through Dawsey, introducing her to Elizabeth McKenna and the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Theme Stated (page 23): There are multiple themes in the novel revolving around loyalty to others while still remaining true to oneself, war/humanity, honesty/integrity, and connection to other people via literature. However, the concept of what makes a family—biology versus choice—runs deep throughout the story. Sidney demonstrates this early, and Juliet comes to fully embrace it as the novel progresses.

In his latest letter, Sidney has just fired his secretary for lack of confidentiality regarding Juliet’s home address and book tour itinerary, which leads to Markham knowing where she lives. Sidney also defended Juliet’s actions against Gilly (she threw a teapot at him) because of the deceitful journalist’s behavior.

Sidney Stark is protective and treats Juliet as a valued sibling, not merely as a writer at his publishing house. He writes, “My dear, I can’t promise you plenty or prosperity or even butter, but you do know that you’re Stephens & Stark’s—especially Stark’s—most beloved author, don’t you?” She’s more than a professional colleague to him; she’s like family."

To Highlight Book or Movie/Show Titles

In any piece of writing, if we mention the name of a book, movie, or a similar mention, it is always a good idea to highlight that name. There are two ways of highlighting: one is by surrounding it in quotes and the other is by italicizing it. Let's look at an example:

Charles Dickens first published his novel "Bleak House" in twenty monthly installments.

Notice how the name of the novel is highlighted by placing it in quotes. It would have been equally correct to italicize it.

To Highlight Technical Terms

Use quotes to highlight technical terms that may not be very well known to the user. For example:

Separating liquids from each other by vaporizing and condensation is known as "Distillation".

Punctuation With Quotation Marks

The final topic with respect to quotation marks is punctuation. Let me show you what I mean, with an example.

From the chapter on commas, we know that commas are used to separate items in a list. Nothing very complicated about that, but what if each item in the list is surrounded by quotation marks? Should the commas be placed inside or outside the quotation marks?

Here are the opening words from famous speeches by Swami Vivekananda, Martin Luther King, and Abraham Lincoln, respectively: "Sisters and Brothers of America," "I have a dream today," "Four score and seven years ago."

Notice how the commas and the last full-stop go within the quotes. That's the rule for American English. When commas and periods are used with quoted text, they go within the quotes, whereas all other punctuation marks go outside the quotes.

Colon

The colon (":") is mostly used in two cases.

To Introduce a List of Items

This is the most common use for a colon. Here's a simple example:

These are my all-time favorite books: The Fountainhead, The Mahabharata, and The Village by the Sea.

See how the colon introduces the list of books. This is where you'd most likely use the colon. However, do keep in mind that a colon is used to introduce a simple list. If your list is complex, then you're better off using bullet points.

To Precede Further Elaboration

A colon can also be used to precede further elaboration. For example:

Pinnocchio had a strange physical condition: his nose would elongate every time he told a lie.

In the example above, we make a statement that Pinnocchio had a strange physical condition and use the colon to indicate that what follows is an elaboration of that condition.

Here’s a simple test to check if you can use a colon in a particular instance. Speak the sentence aloud and replace the colon with ‘namely’. If the sentence still sounds correct, then you can use the colon.

And that’s all you need to know about using the colon for everyday writing.

Semi-Colon

The semi-colon (‘;’) has several uses but only one that’s useful in everyday writing. The most common use, and I’ve explained it with an example below, is to use a semi-colon to separate complex items into a list.

To Separate Complex Items in a List

As we saw earlier, a comma is used to separate simple items in a list but if the items are complex (meaning they take up a lot of words and they even have commas as part of them) then using a semi-colon makes the text more comprehensible. For example:

It’s impossible! The bill says I ate all these items at the cafe*: a black forest pastry with extra cherries, pineapple, and cream; a cheese veg pizza with toppings of mushrooms, olives, and onion; and a filter coffee.*

Notice how some of the items in the list themselves have a sub-list of items, which would make it confusing to use a comma to separate the list items. Therefore, we use a semi-colon to separate items in such complex lists.

Hyphens

A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that's used to join two or more words to create a compound word. The compound word usually represents a complex concept.

For example, if we want to write about someone who's running a business from Mumbai, we might write, *Mumbai-based business*. The hyphenated word Mumbai-based is a complex word made up of two words that represent a compound idea.

The rules for when to use hyphens are rather complex and it would be counter-productive to include all of them here because the goal of this little book is not to make your punctuation impeccable but to rather help you know enough to be able to use punctuation to enhance the clarity and comprehensibility of your text.

Keeping that goal in mind, I will cover the few rules that are most often used for hyphenation.

Hyphenate spans of numbers

The parcel arrived at my doorstep sometime between 4:30-5:00 p.m.

That monkey ate about 8-10 bananas!

This hall can accommodate about 400-450 people.

See how the hyphen is used to connect to numbers to create a single span word.

Use a hyphen with quantities

Use the hyphen to combine the number that denotes a quantity with the item that is being quantified. For example:

There's the 200-pound gorilla.

She won the 100-meter dash.

Here's your twelve-inch pizza.

As shown in the last example, you use a hyphen even when the number is written in words.

Hyphenate double last names

Hillary Rodham-Clinton studied law at Yale.

Olivia Newton-John was a popular singer in the 70s and 80s.

See how the double last name is hyphenated.

Hyphenate all words that begin with the prefixes: self, all, and ex

self-critical

all-knowing

ex-chairman

Conclusion

In this guide, we first learned about how to end sentences. We learned that by default all sentences end with a period. However, a sentence that is a direct question ends with a question mark, and a sentence that has a strong emotional component to it ends with an exclamation.

Then we learned that commas are used to seperate items in a list, to tack words at the beginning or end of a sentence, to sandwich words in between a sentence, and disambiguation.

In the section on apostrophes, we learned that it is used to combine two words into a shorter word and to indicate ownership. An apostrophe is never used to indicate a plural.

Further, we learned that quotation marks are used to highlight direct speech, book/movie titles, and technical terms.

In the section on how to colons, we learned that it a colon is used to introduce a list and precede further elaboration.

Semi-colons are used to seperate complex items in a list.

Finally, we learned that the rules which govern the usage of hyphens are rather complicated, however, they are most commonly used in these four cases: spans of numbers, quantities, double last names, and with certain prefixes.