Punctuation mark

A punctuation mark is one of a set of marks or signs used to clarify meaning by indicating separation of words into sentences and clauses and phrases.

Examples of punctuation marks include:

• Ampersand (&) - Is used to represent conjunction (the use of the word "and").
• Apostrophe (') - Indicates possession, or the omission of one or more letters from a word.
• Colon (:) - Used after a word that introduces a series, or an example, or an explanation.
• Comma (,) - Used to separate words or phrases in a sentence.
• Ellipsis (...) - Used to indicate that part of a sentence or sequence has been omitted.
• Exclamation point (!) - Used to stress the preceding point, or to show feeling.
• Hyphen (or dash) (-) - Used to separate the parts of a compound word or noun, or between the syllables of a word when the word has to be divided at the end of a line of text.
• Period (or full stop) (.) - Used to indicate the end of a declarative sentence to indicate a full stop, or after abbreviations of words.
• Question mark (?) - Used at the end of a sentence to indicate that a question has been asked.
• Quotation mark (or inverted commas) (") - Used to attribute the text enclosed within the commas to someone else.
• Semicolon (;) - Used to connect independent clauses; indicates a closer relation than does a period.
• Separatrix (/) - Used to separate related items of information.
• Tilde (or swung dash) (~) - Used in text to indicate the omission of a word.

See also

• Diacritical mark