The (Public) Punctuation Page:
When writing was invented, people puzzled over how to include pauses, anxiety, ends of complete thoughts etc.
Remember: this was before emoticons!
Punctuation was evolved to do this, to help us suggest a pause, or a question, or that part of the writing quoting somebody else.
Knowing how to use punctuation is really knowing how to breathe life into your writing.
Hey!
Before I forget! There exists a wonderful, hilarious, accurate, handsome book about punctuation by Lynne Truss. The title, Eats Shoots and Leaves is itself a demonstration of what happens when you leave out punctuation. Her website: http://eatsshootsandleaves.com/ I dare you, no! I triple dang dare you to read this book without falling on the floor laughing hard enough to make your milk squirt out through your nose.
Here are the punctuation marks covered in this program. Just click on the one you need.
,Commas,
;Semi Colons;
: Colons :
' Apostrophes '
-- Dashes --
( Parentheses )
[ Brackets ]
- Hyphens -
/ \ Slashes / \
"Quotation Marks"
ItalicsItalics UnderlinedUnderlined
. . . Ellipses. . .
?Question Marks?
.Periods.
!Exclamation Points!
Also, you will quiver with delight when you read the dialogue about punctuation between the author and his MOP: Punctuation Dialogue
