ow how to properly use a semicolon! We’ll share some resources on the usage of the semicolon below, but remember this: If you’re not sure, just don’t use it. You can always rephrase the sentence, or break it apart into two sentences.
Apostrophe ( ‘ ) — The apostrophe helps mark the possessive. In other words, it’s used to show when one thing belongs to something else. It’s also used to form contractions, which are shortenings of common phrases, like “it is” (it’s), and “they are” (they’re).
Quotation marks ( ” ) — These marks show that someone is speaking, or that you’re quoting someone.
Parentheses ( ( ) ) — Parentheses are used to add details or mention things that are not essential (important) to the sentence.
Hyphen ( – ) — The hyphen is used to connect words to form adjective phrases, like in “my 3-year-old cousin.” It also connects commonly-used two-part words, like “well-being.”
Dash ( — ) — The dash has two main forms, the em-dash and the en-dash. The em-dash is a double dash ( — ) that’s used to interrupt sentences to include a list or an aside. For example: “I told her to take a pen—a green one, not a red one—back to her desk.” An en-dash ( – ) is longer than a hyphen, and is used to connect values, like “pages 3–15.”
Don’t worry if the list seems long—you probably already know most of these punctuation marks. And if you don’t, well…
Learn More About Punctuation Marks
There are tons of online resources for learning about punctuation marks. Some of them are straightforward, while others are a bit more… fun. Here are a few of our favorite resources for learning about punctuation:
- The Oatmeal’s guides to semicolons and apostrophes are very fun and sometimes odd ways to learn about these two often confusing punctuation marks.
- There’s an entire website, The Punctuation Guide, dedicated to punctuation marks and their many uses.
- If you’re looking for something a bit more ordinary, you can find a good guide to the basics of punctuation at Skills You Need.
- Want to know more about the different kinds of dashes and hyphens? Check out this short guide.
- Ready to test yourself? Purdue OWL has some punctuation exercises to test how much you learned.
All of the punctuation marks in the above list and resources are an extremely important part of English. They’re so important that some of the most common writing errors in English can be fixed just by correcting the punctuation.
Below, we’ll look at five of the most common errors, so you don’t have to make them anymore!
5 Common English Writing Errors You Don’t Have to Make!
1. Using quotation marks for emphasis.
Quotation marks are used to show something that someone has already said or written, to set titles apart and to refer to specific words and letters (if you look carefully, you’ll find examples of that in this article).
They are not used to emphasize (stress) a word.
In fact, one final use for quotation marks turns this usage of quotation marks into a pretty funny mistake.
To understand this, let’s first learn about the wonderful “air quotes.” (The quotes around “air quotes” are being used to refer to a specific phrase. Slang, expressions and other commonly-spoken language sometimes appear in quotes when written.) Here’s Joey from “Friends” adorably misusing them.
“Air quotes” are quote-like gestures that you make in the air with your fingers when speaking. They’re a way of putting quotation marks around words without writing them down. Air quotes are often used to show that you don’t actually mean what you’re saying, or to indicate sarcasm. This is a use of quotation marks that can appear in written language, too.
For example, if you say or write that someone “accidentally” took something, you’re saying they really took it on purpose.
That’s why, if you write to beware of the “dog,” it’s similar to including a wink. The “dog” might really be 20 years old and can barely stand up, or it might actually be a cat! Likewise, “cheese” burgers definitely don’t have cheese (and we don’t want to know what they really contain).
To emphasize a word, you can italicize it, o