Grammar

Used to recognize words that were said by someone else, quotation marks mean different things in different types of writing. In fiction or creative writing, it is used to identify dialogues. In newspapers or nonfiction writing, it is used to identify direct quotes. When writing formal or academic papers, it is used to identify someone […]

Quite commonly used, the rules regarding question marks are very little and very easy to use.

Used for a multitude of purposes, prepositions can be troublesome simply because in many instances there is no logic, or pattern, to their use. Often used to express the relationship between words, prepositions can in fact be split into definable categories to assist in their understanding and use. Prepositions of time Prepositions of time may […]

Called a full stop in British English and a period in American English, periods are among the easiest punctuations to use. While interrogative sentences end with a question mark, periods are used to end declarative sentences or statements. Example: I would love to go on a hike.                 Don’t forget to bring back my book tomorrow. […]

Enclosing single words, phrases or even sentences, parentheses are punctuation marks that add extra information in a sentence. Always written in pairs, they are always written within a text or paragraph.

Nouns are usually things, people, names or places, but do not have to be tangible, and can be abstract in nature (such as a concept). Examples: sea (a common noun), brother (a common noun), Sarah (a proper noun), New York (a proper noun), honesty (a common noun) Proper nouns (as opposed to common nouns) are […]

An interjection simply expresses an emotion as a reaction to something. Example: Wow! That’s amazing. Ouch! That hurt. In the above examples, the words wow and ouch express the speaker’s reaction to an event, the first offering surprise, the second representing pain. How to use interjections As interjections are spoken, they are inherently informal, so […]

Used to combine words or parts of words, hyphens are unique dashes that cannot be interchanged with other dashes. When a modifier is placed before the modified word, use a hyphen in the compound modifier. To ensure if a compound word contains a hyphen, it’s best to refer to the dictionary of your choice.

There are two kinds of slashes: backslashes (\) and forward slashes (/). While backslashes are only used in computer codes, forward slashes are used as an English punctuation mark. Also known as a slash, forward slashes followed by commas is acceptable only to denote line breaks in poetry, songs, or plays.

Ellipsis… What Are They? Originating from the Greek word that meant “omission”, an ellipsis (plural: ellipses) is used to show that something has been omitted in a sentence. Ellipsis is useful in showing omission when you are quoting someone. The reasons for using ellipsis ranges from bringing clarity to a sentence, to removing irrelevant words […]