PUNCTUATION CHEAT SHEET
How to use your COLON:
Introducing a series/list or appositive (don’t use after “such as” “especially”
“including” and don’t use between a verb and its object) Make sure you have a
complete sentence BEFORE the colon.
o If you are going to live in Steamboat, you need to enjoy a few key things:
snow, snow, snow, and snow.
Introducing a quotation
o Mrs. Bell continually says this to herself: “I feel great; I feel fine; I feel
this way all the time.”
Going from a general statement to a specific statement or introducing an
explanation/example or for emphasis.
o Remember what the old saying prudently advises: Be careful what you
wish for because you may actually get it.
o There is one thing that I like about you: your smile.
Separating elements
o (Salutations) Dear Mrs. Bell:
o (Hours, minutes, seconds) 4:29 p.m.
o (Ratios) a ratio of 5:1
o (Bible chapters and verses) Genesis 3:3
o (Titles and subtitles) The Joy of Insight: Passions of a Physicist
Semicolon (it’s not less than a colon):
Use a semicolon to join two or more closely related independent clauses
(complete sentences) – you don’t usually use a conjunction (FANBOYS) in this
case.
o I did not call myself a poet; I told people I wrote poems
Use before a conjunctive adverb (with a comma after) when the word connects
two independent clauses.
o I am faced with my imminent demise; therefore, life becomes a very
precious thing.
o List of conjunctive adverbs…also, besides, finally, however, indeed,
instead, meanwhile, moreover, next still, then, therefore
To separate groups of words that already contain commas.
o Every night my brother gathers up his things: goggles, shower cap, and
snorkel; bubble bath, soap, and shampoo; tapes, deck, and speakers.
Comma(sutra):
Use a comma to set apart introductory words, phrases, clauses (as in a complex
sentence with the dependent clause first)
o Honestly, it’s cold.
o To win the game, Jenny needed skill and luck.
o Although I love chocolate, I can’t eat any now.
To separate clauses in a compound sentence by using a comma and conjunction
(using a comma without the conjunction is called a comma splice)
o I love chocolate, and I will eat some now.
o Common conjunctions…FANBOYS – for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so
To set off a nonrestrictive (not necessary) element or an appositive (renames the
subject)
o Alicia, my sister, is eighteen.
o The two drivers involved in the accident, who have been convicted of
drunken driving, should lose their license.
Comma continued…
To separate coordinating adjectives that describe the same noun.
o The icy, slick road led to the ski resort.
To separate items in a series/list (comma before the last item is optional)
o I ate pizza, milk, peas, and carrots
To set off most quotations
o “All I know about grammar,” said Joan Didion, “is its infinite power.”
Dash(it-all):
Use a dash to indicate a sudden break or change in the sentence or parenthetical
material.
o Near the semester’s end – and this is not always due to poor planning –
some students may find themselves in a real crunch.
To set off an introductory series/list
o A good book, a cup of tea, a comfortable chair – these things always save
my sanity.
To indicate interrupted speech
o John, why are you –
For emphasis (the colon and dash are interchangeable here)
o After years of trial and error, Belther made history with his invention – the
unicycle.
Use quotes…
to punctuate titles of songs, poems, short stories, one-act plays, lectures, episodes
of radio or tv episodes, chapters of books, song titles, articles from the
newspaper/magazine. (small things)
to emphasize or distinguish a word or a specialized use of a word. (You can also
use italics for this)
o Tom pushed the wheelchair across the street, showed the lady his “honest”
smile, and stole her purse.
to punctuate actual quotations.
o Place commas and periods INSIDE quotes unless you are using MLA
format parenthetical citations
“I am not very good at math” (Bell 27).
o Place exclamation points and question marks inside quotes when they
punctuate the quotation and outside quotes when they punctuate the
sentence
“Am I dreaming?”
Had she heard him say, “Here’s the key to your new car”?
o ALWAYS place semicolons or colons OUTSIDE quotation marks.
I wrote about Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a
Blackbird”; his other poem was too deep for me.
When you have a quote within a quote, use single quotation marks.
o Sue asked, “Did you hear him say, ‘I like snow’?”
For quotes longer than 4 lines, single space, indent whole quotation, and do not
use quotation marks.
Use Italics (or underline)…
to punctuate titles of books, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, full-length plays,
films, radio and TV programs, book-length poems, lengthy musicals/operas, CD
titles, legal cases, ships, aircraft. (Large things)
when you use foreign words that have not been adopted into the English
language; when you use scientific names.
o The explorers, tough men with natural bonhomie, discovered the shy
Castor Canadensis, or North American beaver.
