10 Common Punctuation Marks with Examples American vs British English Though British and American English have lots of similarities, when it comes to punctuation styles, there are some differences. Punctuation symbols British English American English  .  a full stop a period !  an exclamation mark an exclamation point ( ) brackets parentheses [ ] square…

A slash, which is also known as a forward slash, a virgule, or even an oblique dash, has a number of uses. The slash can be used to separate lines in a song or poem when they are written in a continuous line. The slash (/) is also used in place of the word or. The…

Brackets are squared off quotations ([]) that are used to show information of a technical nature. Even if this information is omitted entirely, the sentence would still make sense. For example: Was he [the defendant] there when you arrived?

A semicolon (;) is used to separate two independent clauses while still demonstrating that a close relationship exists between them. The semicolon does a better job of showing the connection between two statements than a full stop would. Examples:

A colon (:) is a fairly common punctuation mark with a varied number of uses. It can be used to introduce a quotation, an example, a series, or even an explanation. Secondly, it can be used to separate two independent clauses. Finally, a colon can be used to show emphasis. Examples:

An exclamation mark is used to show emphasis. It can be used in the middle of a sentence or at the end of a sentence. When used at the end of a sentence, it also takes on the role of a full stop or a period. We often use an exclamation mark (!) to show strong emotion…

The dash is used to separate words into statements. There are two kinds of dashes, the en dash, and the em dash. The en dash shows range or connections. On the other hand, the em dash is used in places where a comma could also be used. The dash can also be used to mark off words…

A hyphen (–) is a punctuation mark with three main uses. Many people confuse this punctuation mark with the dash, but the two are quite different. The hyphen can be used in compound words, to link words to prefixes, and also as a way to show word breaks. The hyphen rules and examples: (1) Use a hyphen to…

An apostrophe (‘) is used to show that certain letters have been omitted from a word. The punctuation symbol can also be used to show the possessive form of a noun, in addition to indicating the plural form of lowercase letters. The apostrophe rules: (1) Use an apostrophe in contractions  (2) Use an apostrophe to indicate possession…

We use a question mark (?) after an interrogative sentence in English. Examples: