Punctuation marks

Punctuation marks 
 are used to make the meaning of writen words clear to the reader.They tell you when to pause or stop,when to read in a questioning manner,and when to read with excitement.

Most commonly used punctuation marks are:

Apostrophe is used:

1. to indicate the possessive case of nouns.
              Raquel's                        Mr. Graham's
2. to show a contraction or omission of letters
              It's(it is)                       haven't(have not)

3. to form the plural of letters and symbols.
              w's                                    *'s
4. to indicate the plural of a word referred to as a word,without regard to its meaning.
              There are four but's in the phrase.
5. to denote the plural or some other form of an abbreviation.
              V.I.P.'s                          O.K.'d

Comma

1. to set off an appositive,that is , an expression that explains or gives additional information about a preceding expression.
   example     The film's lead actor,Bruce Less will arrive tomorrow.
2. to separate the name of a city from the name or a province or state,or to separate the name of the province or state from the rest of the sentence.
    example             Seoul,South Korea
3. to separate the independent clauses of a compound sentence.
     example           I'am thankful for God given me you,even though for a short period of time.
4.to separate the day of the month from the year.
example               april 05,2011

5.to indicate that one or more words,easily understood, have been omitted.
   The elected candidate got 50,000 votes in Visayas;in Luzon,103,000
6. to separate an introductory word from the rest of the sentence.
   example      NO, I can't control this.
7.between a name and Inc,.Sr.,Jr.,etc.
   example          Carlo Mallari, Jr.
8. when writing figures in thousands,but not in street,room,post office box,and telephone numbers.
    example      $5,000                          1205 Horna St.
9.to set off parenthetical words or pharases.
 example The terrorism situation is,I believe,getting worse.
10. before a word or words that are common to two or more pharses but are expressed only after the last phrase.
      example The books contained many,if not all,of the ideas presented by charle sheen.
11.to set off direct quotations.
    example "There's one thing I have to tell you,"the  grandfather  said
12. to separate word and phrases in a series.
     example   Rona brought over his laptop,hardisk,camera,and battery.


Colon   is used:
1.after a word,phrase or sentence or sentence that introduces list,a series,tabulations,extracts,texts and explanations to the introductory words.
example     These requisites must be present:case study closed.
2. to idicate clock time,unless the time indicated is exactly on the hour.
     example            10:59 a.m.                       12 p.m.

3.in a footnote or bibliography,to separate the name of the city of publication from the name of the publisher.
example              raquel horna   1st book. Basic Korean Language 2007
4.in biblical references,to separate the verse and chapter.
   example       john 3:16
5. after a salutation in a business letter.
  example    Dear President qhueng:
                    To whom it may concern:

Dash 

1. to set off explanatory clauses and to indicate abrupt changes in the continuity of expression.
    example       The last time i visited a friend - it must have been one month ago-i was already missed them.
2.before or after a clause that summarizes a series of words or phrases,instead of a colon
example           Theories and case study resulting to have a high grade-these requisites must be present.
3.to give emphasis.
example     She donate the blood - my blood - to the red cross.

Ellipsis

The ellipsis is used when you are quoting and want to omit words.
example     the program  conducted  was part of the agreement...duly signed by the governments.

Exclamation Point

1. after a sentence expressing strong emotion.
              Help! Help!
2.after exclamatory words or interjections.
             Jackpot!
3. after a command,for emphasis.
              act now!

Hyphen

1.to join words combined into a single adjective.
              need-to-do               part-time
2.in writing numbers from twenty-one to ninety-nine.

Parenthesis

 1.to enclose explanatory expressions that are outside the general structure of the sentence.
   example           The movie(I think its title is "Titanic")was shown in the theaters ten years age.


2.to enclose a figure when it follows an amount written out in words.
   example             Two million five hundred a year(P2,500,000,00 )
3. to enclose letters or numbers is enumerations in the text.                    
  example        they publish two kinds of literature:
                       (1) fiction and (2) non-fiction.

Period

1 at the end of declarative or imperative sentences.
   example               We went to the Namsan Park last month.
2.after initials and abbreviations.
                              Mon.    Ph.D.     U.N.

Question Mark

1. at the end of a direct question.
        example                 Will you go in my hometown next semeester?
2. to indicate that the accuracy of a fact or figure is uncertain.
        example                 The agreement was signed on November 17,(?)2008

A question mark is not used:

1. after an indirect question.
     example               Mr. de Leon asked where my classmate was.
2.  after a polite request.
     example         Will you please lend me some cash.

Quotation Mark

1. to enclose the exact words of a speaker or writer.
   example                "will you take charge?")the lady asked.
2.to enclosed an unusual word or phrase.

3.to enclose the titles of essays,stories,films,etc.
    example       Steven Spielberg directed "Jurassic Park".

Semicolon

1. to separate two long clause that are punctuated by commas.
2. where two sentences are closely connected in meaning.
     example       the sky is dark and the breeze is cool looks like it's going to rain today.