Guide to developing your punctuation skills.

I created this topic to talk about punctuation in your grammar and everything else. And if English isn't your first language it's acceptable, there's no reason to be ashamed or whatsoever. I'm not sit here and point my finger at somebody that doesn't know a certain word and laugh at him. English isn't my first language either, if you're feeling lost or you don't know a certain word please do not hesitate to PM me or other members of this faction, we're willing to help.

About punctuation, I did my research and I gathered a handful of information that I thought it would be useful, and so I decided to share it with you guys.

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Apostrophes
Use an apostrophe...

to indicate possession
1) With nouns (plural and singular) not ending in an s add 's.
the children's books, the people's parliament, a Mother's pride

2) With plural nouns ending in an s, add only the apostrophe.
the guards' duties, the Nuns' habits, the Joneses' house

3) With singular nouns ending in an s, you can add either 's or an apostrophe alone.
the witness's lie or the witness' lie (be consistent)
Exception: ancient or religious names.
Jesus' strength, Achilles' heel

4a) For common possession, only add 's to the last name.
Janet and Jane's house

4b) Where possession is not common, add to each.
Janet's and Jane's homes

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Colons
Use a colon...

before a list, summary or quote
1) Before a list.
I could only find three of the ingredients: sugar, flour and coconut.

2) Before a summary.
To summarise: we found the camp, set up our tent and then the bears attacked.

3) Before a quote.
As Jane Austen wrote: it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

to complete a statement of fact
Where the colon is used in place of the following or thus.
There are only three kinds of people: the good, the bad and the ugly.



Use a semi-colon...

to link two separate sentences that are closely related
The children came home today; they had been away for a week.

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Commas 1
Use a comma...

between a list of three or more words
To replace the word and for all but the last instance.
Up, down, left and right.

before a conjunction
1) When but or for are used.
I did my best to protect the camp, but the bears were too aggressive.

2) When and or or are used the comma is optional.
The flag is red, white, and blue. [known as the Oxford comma]
The sizes are small, medium or large.

to give additional information
1) To indicate contrast.
The snake was brown, not green, and it was quite small.

2) Where the phrase could be in brackets.
The recipe, which we hadn't tried before, is very easy to follow.

3) Where the phrase adds relevant information.
Mr Hardy, 68, ran his first marathon five years ago.

4) Where the addition is not necessary to the meaning of the sentence.
Mr Hardy, who enjoys bird watching, ran his first marathon five years ago.

5) Where the main clause of the sentence is dependent on the preceding clause.
If at first you don't succeed, give up.
Though the snake was small, I still feared for my life.

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Commas 2
Use a comma (cont)...

for opening phrases, conjunctive verbs, etc.
1) Introductory or opening phrases.
In general, sixty-eight is quite old to run a marathon.
On the whole, snakes only attack when riled.

2) Conjunctive verbs.
Unfortunately, the bear was already in a bad mood
and, furthermore, pink wasn't its colour.

3) Following for example, that is, etc
You should use commas, for example, around 'for example'.
There are some exceptions: namely, when using abbreviations.

where a pause is required
1) To make the reading more natural.
Whatever happens, don't panic.

2) To avoid confusion.
To Margaret, Jenny left her favourite book.

in address or quotation
1) When addressing someone by name.
So, Murray, I'm sending you to Outer Mongolia.

2) When quoting direct speech.
And then the boss said, "I'm sending you to Outer Mongolia."

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Hyphens
Use a hyphen...

with some prefixes and suffixes
1) To avoid multiple letters.
re-evaluate [reevaluate]

2) If the root word is capitalised.
pre-Christmas, anti-European

3) With specific prefixes and suffixes.
self-sacrificing, all-seeing, ex-wife, vice-chairman, president-elect

4) To avoid ambiguity or awkward pronunciation.
un-ionised [unionised], re-read

5) Where a list of words each have the same prefix or suffix. pre- and post-recession, over- and under-weight

to form compound words
1) For clarity.
sit-in, stand-out, Mother-In-Law

2) In compound adjectives that modify what they precede.
blue-chip company, devil-may-care attitude, up-to-the-minute news

with fractions, numbers and initial letters
1) With fractions and numbers between 21 and 99.
one-half, sixty-four, twenty-eight and three-quarters

2) Words that start with a capital letter
X-ray, T-shirt, U-Turn

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Other Marks
Use a dash...

for emphasis
The book was great — a really good read.

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Quotation Marks
Use quotation marks...

for direct speech
Janet asked, "Why can't we go today?"

For quotes inside quotes, use single quotation marks.
Billy said, "So then John told her 'I don't want to go today' and Janet cried."

for words that are defined, that follow certain phrases or that have special meaning
1) Stating a definition.
'Buch' is German for book.

2) Following phrases such as entitled, marked and the term.
The book was signed 'Terry Pratchett'.

3) Special meanings, noting inaccuracies or misnomers, etc.
The 'free gift' actually cost us forty pounds.

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I hope you guys found this helpful. Here's the source:

http://correctpunctuation.explicatus.info/index.php