Play with Punctuation Like a Playdough

Should I put a comma or a full stop? Where to use semi-colon? Now, what is the purpose of brackets and a dash? I'm stuck in the maze of punctuation marks. 😓

Here is how you find the safest track to reach proficiency!

Comma:

A misconception about commas is that it is an alternative to a full stop. Similarly, it is used once in a paragraph. Isn't it weird?

Types of commas:

1. Listing commas

This is the one everyone knows: we use commas to break up items in a list, except for between the last two items where we use the word ‘and’. The comma is correct if it can be replaced with the word ‘and’ or ‘or’.

Example: The four flavours of Starburst are orange, lemon, lime and apple.

2. Commas for compound sentences

Commas are used before a FANBOYS (or co-ordinating) conjunction in a compound sentence:

Example: The boys wanted to stay up and see Santa, but they grew tired and fell asleep.

NOTE: If the sentence is very short, you don’t need to use a comma:

Example: I love you but you’re annoying.

3. Bracketing commas (parenthetical commas)

It is a simple way of making your written work seem very impressive. Use commas instead of brackets:

Brackets

My grandmother (aged 108) lives with her daughter.

Bracketing commas

My grandmother, aged 108, lives with her daughter.

Both sentences make sense if we take the bit out between the bracketing commas, leaving us with:

My grandmother lives with her daughter.

Like brackets, the bracketing commas give us extra, unimportant information about the subject of the sentence—in this case, my grandmother. There is a slight difference in meaning between the two examples, however. With bracketing commas, the extra information is slightly more important.

4. Commas for complex sentences

When we start a complex sentence with a conjunction, we always break up the clauses with a comma:

Example: Because I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning, I am tired. If you eat too quickly, you’ll have stomach cramps.

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