Punctuation is a powerful language tool. While words exist to describe the multi-faceted world, punctuation allows to understand the description. Using this punctuation guide you will become friends with commas, apostrophes, semicolons and other important marks.

NB: If you still believe that punctuation was introduced by aliens to mess human civilization and has no importance, read the famous panda joke from Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss:

A panda comes to a cafe, eats a sandwich, then draws a gun and starts shooting into other patrons.

"Why?!"cried the surviving waiter from behind the counter, as the panda was moving towards the exit. "I’m a panda, said the animal, tossing a badly punctuated wildlife manual over his shoulder. Look it up."

The confused waiter opens the book and reads: "Panda. Large bear-like mammal native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

So, learning punctuation rules you may not only impress your readers but – who knows? – save somebody’s life ;)

Apostrophe

Do use it to form the plurals of lower-case letters for clarity:

* cross your t’s and dot your i’s

Do not use the apostrophe in plurals of capitalized abbreviations and decades:

* DVDs * the 1980s

Brackets

Do use round brackets (parentheses) when you want to give some extra information to your readers. As for square brackets [], they are good in quotations to keep the meaning of the sentence once some words are left out:

* "It [Cleopatra movie] was really my hour of triumph," admitted Elizabeth Taylor (born 27 February 1932).

Do not overuse the parentheses, as they are disruptive to fluent reading. Give preference to commas and dashes, where possible:

* Tomorrow my Bonny, who had been over the ocean, will be brought back to me.

Capital Letters

Do capitalize the word "branch" when it means a specific branch, the words "division" and "grade" when they are followed by a number, and subjects when you refer to specific courses:

* Both Division 3 teachers and Grade 1 students have come to listen to Contemporary Political Studies, a new popular course that the professor of Political Science Branch gave.

Do not capitalize these words when they are in plural:

* Neither divisions 1 and 2 of teachers nor grades 2 and 3 of students attended those scandalous – how do you call it? – political studies that casted a shadow on all branches of our college.

Colon

Do use a colon to introduce an explanation, a list or a quotation:

* Most web masters pay attention to grammar: they want to be treated like pros.

Do not put a dash after a colon:

* So, the Lord said: "Go down, Moses."

Comma

Do use a comma in a list before the final "and" only if the meaning wouldn’t be clear without it:

* His favorite movies are about Indiana Jones, Rocky and Harry Potter. * His favorite movies are about Indiana Jones, Harley Davidson and Cowboy Marlboro, and Harry Potter.

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