Other Punctuation Rules

 

 

COLONS(:)

A colon calls for more of a pause than a comma. A colon appears at the end of a main clause and introduces a list, a restatement, or an elaboration of the main clause. It is also used to introduce extended quotations.  

 

Examples:

Get me these things from the store: butter, milk, spaghetti, and cream.

 

I want you to remember one thing: respect yourself.

 

SOURCE: http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~dasulliv/style/colon.htm

 

 

DASHES (-)

Generally speaking, dashes are a more casual form of punctuation. They are most often used in pairs to mark

off information or ideas that are not essential to an understanding of the rest of the sentence:

 

Examples:

Thousands of children – like the girl in this photograph – have been left homeless.

I'm going to London – did I already tell you that? – to visit my mother.

 

SOURCE: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/dash

 

 

ELLIPSES ( . . . )

 

An ellipsis is a set of three periods ( . . . ) indicating an omission. Each period should have a single space on either side, except when adjacent to a quotation mark, in which case there should be no space.

 

In informal writing, an ellipsis can be used to represent a thought that is trailing off.

 

Example: If only she had . . . Oh, it doesn’t matter now.

 

An ellipsis can also indicate hesitation:

 

Example: I wasn’t really . . . well, what I mean . . . see, the thing is . . . I didn’t mean it.

 

In quoted material, ellipses are used to show that parts have been omitted. Do not do this if it changes the overall meaning or intention of the quote.

 

Example:

 

Original text:

I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings. 

 

Shortened quote with ellipses

Thoreau believes that “if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, . . . he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”

 

SOURCE: http://www.thepunctuationguide.com/ellipses.html

 

 

SQUARE BRACKETS (  [  ]  )

 

Often, square brackets are used to replace text in a quote to make the quote clearer for the reader. For example:

 Hedy Lamarr once said: "Most people save all their lives and leave [their money] to somebody else." 

 Alice Cooper famously said that "from the moment [he] leave[s] [his] house or hotel room, the public owns [him]." 

 

SOURCE: http://www.grammar-monster.com/lesson/brackets_round_and_square_brackets.htm#TJFlf9G5t7rrFot0.99