Other Punctuation

This is Unit Eight of College Composition. Unit Seven placed every comma by rule. This unit covers the other marks, each of which makes its own promise to the reader. Carry one idea through this lecture. These marks are not interchangeable decorations: a semicolon promises balance, a colon promises that what follows fulfills what came before, and an apostrophe promises possession or a missing letter. A worked example at the end checks each mark in a short draft against its promise. By the end you will be able to use semicolons and colons. To use apostrophes for possession and contractions, never for plurals. To punctuate quotations. And to choose among dashes, parentheses, brackets, ellipses and hyphens.

Four entries on the semicolon and the colon.

Joining two close clauses.

CMP 0176 Semicolons Between Clauses

A semicolon joins two independent clauses that are closely related in meaning and are not joined by a coordinating conjunction. "The school was remodeled many times; the result was a patchwork." There must be a complete sentence on each side. A semicolon before a dependent clause or a phrase is an error; if one side cannot stand alone, use a comma.

Lists that already contain commas.

CMP 0177 Semicolons in Complex Lists

Use semicolons between items in a series when the items already contain commas. "The finalists are Michael, who won the essay contest; Sasha, the top debater; and Giselle, who directed the play." The semicolons show where each item ends. This is the one place a semicolon separates items that are not independent clauses.

Introducing a list or explanation.

CMP 0178 Colons

A colon introduces a list, a summary, an explanation or a quotation. "Successful athletes share four qualities: ability, toughness, commitment and optimism." "The team had one goal left: to win the championship." Do not put a colon between a verb and its list: "The qualities are ability and toughness" needs no colon.

Subtitles and long quotations.

CMP 0179 Colons With Titles and Quotations

A colon separates a title from its subtitle, and it can introduce a long quotation. Book titles often take this form, as in "Forcing the Spring: Inside the Fight for Marriage Equality." A block quotation is introduced by a signal phrase ending in a colon. Use a capital letter after a colon when a complete sentence follows it.

Five entries on the apostrophe's two jobs, and the job it never does.

Showing possession.

CMP 0180 Apostrophes for Possession

An apostrophe has two jobs: it shows possession, and it forms contractions. For a singular noun or an indefinite pronoun, add apostrophe s: "my sister's coworker," "everyone's favorite," "the company's policy." Apostrophes never form plurals and never appear in possessive pronouns such as its, yours or whose.

Possessives of plurals.

CMP 0181 Plural Possessives

For a plural noun ending in s, put the apostrophe after the s; for a plural noun not ending in s, add apostrophe s. "The families' expenses rose"; "the children's schooling"; "parents' stress." Form the plural first, then make it possessive; families becomes families', not family's.

Singular nouns ending in s.

CMP 0182 Possessive Nouns Ending in S

A singular noun ending in s usually takes apostrophe s when the extra syllable is pronounced. "The business's hours"; "Los Angeles's airport." For names like Myers, some writers add only an apostrophe, but MLA, APA and Chicago use apostrophe s: "Myers's book." Follow the style guide your paper uses, and be consistent.

Letters left out.

CMP 0183 Apostrophes in Contractions

In a contraction, the apostrophe marks where letters were left out. Can't stands for cannot, it's stands for it is, and they're stands for they are; the apostrophe sits exactly where the missing letters were. Contractions are common in speech and informal writing; many instructors prefer the full forms in formal academic papers.

Plurals without apostrophes.

CMP 0184 No Apostrophe for Plurals

Apostrophes are not used to form plural nouns or verbs ending in s. "How many hotel rooms," not room's; "The Lewises have confirmed," not Lewis's; "She runs every day," not run's. The plural of a family name adds s or e s, with no apostrophe unless the family owns something.

Three entries on quotation marks: what they enclose, where other marks go, and quotations inside quotations.

Enclosing exact words.

CMP 0185 Quotation Marks

Quotation marks enclose the exact words of a speaker or a written source. Introduce a quotation with a signal phrase so readers know who is speaking; in dialogue, start a new paragraph for each speaker. A paraphrase in your own words takes no quotation marks, though it still needs a citation.

Periods inside, colons outside.

CMP 0186 Punctuation Inside and Outside Quotation Marks

In American usage, periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks; colons and semicolons go outside. Question marks and exclamation points go inside only if they belong to the quotation: "She asked, “What time is it?”" but "Have you read “The Lottery”?" With a parenthetical citation, the period follows the citation, after the closing quotation mark.

Quoting a quotation.

CMP 0187 Quotations Within Quotations

Use single quotation marks for a quotation inside another quotation. "Staff morale “improved from ‘average’ to ‘excellent,’” the report noted." The outer marks are double, the inner single. Swapping single and double marks is a common error in passages that quote a source quoting someone else.

Seven entries on dashes, parentheses, brackets and ellipses, hyphens and end marks, then choosing among marks and a worked example. The opening idea is paid off at the last two.

Setting off with emphasis.

CMP 0188 Dashes

A dash sets off nonessential information with emphasis, or marks a contrast, a pause or a change of direction. "We did not notice the rain at first, it began so softly, but soon we were soaked" works better with dashes in place of the inner commas. Used too often, dashes make prose feel breathless; save them for real interruptions.

Enclosing a quiet aside.

CMP 0189 Parentheses

Parentheses enclose nonessential information such as explanations, asides, examples and dates. "He graduated with high honors (magna cum laude) and found a job." Parentheses quiet the information; dashes emphasize it. A sentence should still read correctly if the parenthetical words are removed, so never put a required part of the sentence inside them.

Changes and omissions in quotations.

CMP 0190 Brackets and Ellipses

Brackets mark a change you make inside a quotation, and an ellipsis, three spaced periods, marks words you left out. "The results provide hope to patients [with muscular dystrophy]" adds a clarifying word; an ellipsis drops words from the middle of a quoted sentence. Neither may change the source's meaning; an omission that reverses the author's point is a misquotation.

Words working together.

CMP 0191 Hyphens

Hyphenate two or more words that work together to describe a noun that follows them. "A two-dollar haircut" and "a well-known author" are hyphenated before the noun; "the author is well known" needs no hyphen after it. A missing hyphen can change meaning, as in a small-business owner versus a small business owner.

How a sentence ends.

CMP 0192 Question Marks and Exclamation Points

A sentence ends with a period, a question mark or an exclamation point, depending on what it does. A question mark ends a direct question; an indirect question, such as "She asked what time it was," ends with a period. Exclamation points are rare in academic writing; let the content carry the emphasis.

Three marks, three relationships.

CMP 0193 Choosing Among Semicolon, Colon and Dash

The semicolon, colon and dash can each join material to a sentence, and the relationship decides. If both sides are equal, closely related independent clauses, a semicolon fits. If the second part explains, lists or summarizes what the first announces, use a colon after a complete sentence. If the second part interrupts, emphasizes or turns, a dash fits. A quiet aside may suit parentheses. If none of these relationships holds, a period or a comma with a conjunction may be better. A colon promises fulfillment; a semicolon promises balance.

Four errors, four marks.

CMP 0194 A Paragraph to Punctuate

A worked example, constructed for this course, pays off the opening idea. In a draft about a committee's report, a comma after a complete clause that announces three findings should be a colon. In "the chairs recommendation was clear;" chair's needs an apostrophe, and the semicolon becomes a colon, because the words that follow explain the recommendation and are not a clause. A period outside a closing quotation mark, with no citation after it, moves inside. And an apostrophe used to form a plural, employees', is removed. Two of the errors are tempting because the mark appears in the right neighborhood; check each against its rule.

Look at what you can now do. You can use a semicolon between related clauses and in lists whose items contain commas, and a colon after a complete sentence. You can form singular and plural possessives and contractions, and keep apostrophes out of plurals and possessive pronouns. You can punctuate quotations, placing periods and commas inside and colons and semicolons outside, with single marks for a quotation inside a quotation. And you can choose among dashes, parentheses, brackets, ellipses and hyphens by the promise each makes. Unit Nine turns to mechanics: capitalization, italics and spelling.