Punctuation, Part 2

As I did in an earlier post, I will be looking at different aspects of punctuation requirements and descriptions. Below I will describe three different types of punctuation.

Gopal Vijayaraghavan. "Unexpecto Apostrophum." Sep 6, 2007 via Flickr.
Public Domain

1. The Apostrophe
Apostrophes are typically used when marking a possessive, like when someone or something owns or has an object, for example. They are also used in contractions, such as "don't." There are some exceptions to these basic rules, but most of the time this is the only time to use an apostrophe.

2. Quotation Marks
The basic rules for quotation marks are to use them on direct quotes, not paraphrase or summary. Otherwise, there are just different conventions for types of quotes when using quotation marks. For example, when quoting in a quote, use apostrophes to mark the inside quote. Also, there are different instances when using certain punctuation at the end of a quote. Most of the time, use a comma or whatever punctuation the quote ends with, and always inside the quote.

3. End Punctuation
Here, the main aspect is choosing between a period, a question mark, and an exclamation point to end sentences. Most of the time it should be a period, even when there is a questions within the statement. One of the other big things to take from this section is not to overuse the exclamation point, as it can be very easy to do and make the text not as effective.