Punctuation Workshop


In this Lesson, you will look at


  • commas
  • apostrophes
  • question marks
  • exclamation marks
  • hyphens

  • periods
  • colons
  • semicolons
  • parentheses
  • dashes





You are expected to understand and be able to identify these concepts when reading and use them correctly in your own writing.


Did you know...


Printed text has visual cues. When you read, you are guided subtly by embedded visual signals — punctuation. In this lesson, you will learn about punctuation and its visual importance to understanding what you read. You will learn also about visual elements of motion or film. 

Punctuation, including commas, apostrophes, semi-colons, and periods, are visual symbols that help guide you through text. They tell you when to pause, when to add another thought, and what ideas are complete or incomplete. If not for visual symbols, our brains would have difficulty understanding information.


Your use of punctuation reflects how your work should be paced or how you want your work to sound when it is read aloud.

If punctuation marks were road signs, they would have the following meanings: 
  • Comma (,)  Pause and apply brakes slowly.  "You may be required to bring many things: sleeping bags, utensils, and clothing."
  • Semicolon (;)  Pause for a long rolling stop. "We can go to the museum to do some research; Mondays are pretty quiet there."
  • Dash (–)  Pause to view something incidental such as a billboard. "He's afraid of two things - spiders and senior prom. "
  • Ellipsis (...)  Halt to gawk at an accident. "Today ... we vetoed the bill."
  • Parentheses egg  Drive beyond your destination. "He finally answered (after taking 5 minutes to think) that he did not understand the question."
  • Exclamation (!)  Yell, “Stop!” "Yes! I will marry you!"
  • Period (.)  Stop. "He asked me to marry him."
  • Colon (smile  Stop to connect the trailer. "You may be required to bring many things: sleeping bags, utensils, and clothing."



To learn more about definitions and purpose of the visual symbols of punctuation, read  "Punctuation" on pages 336 - 342 in ResourceLines 7/8.


Click on each tab to view more information.




Commas are vital to clear communication. Sometimes people neglect to use them, a costly mistake.

Which sentence is correct?
  1. We pack and ship students.
  2. We pack and ship, students.


One of the above sounds like we are packing and shipping students...can you identify which one? (#1)


Apostrophes have a few different uses.

You can use an apostrophe and an s to form possessive nouns.
Keiko's first date.
Mr. Jones's book.

You can use an apostrophe and an s to form the plural of a letter, number, symbol, or word.
several A's            some 9's
no #'s                   too many the's

You can use an apostrophe to stand for the missing letters in a contraction.
do not = don't         let us = let's
it is = it's                 they will = they'll


In this course, correct use of quotation marks is expected. Quotation marks are used:
  • to identify specific words that someone said or wrote
  • for titles of short works, such as songs, chapters, poems and articles
  • to identify ironic phrases
  • for words used as examples

Quote a passage from one of your sources if
  • the language is particularly powerful or memorable
  • you wish to supplement your argument with information from an outside source
  • you wish to state someone else’s opinion on your topic

For more information about how to use quotation marks go pages 341-342 in your ResourceLines 7/8 textbook.
Inside punctuation includes:
  • semicolon
  • dash
  • ellipsis
  • parentheses
  • colon

For more clarification on the use of inside punctuation, watch the following videos:

Click each tab to view a video on the use of inside punctuation.



   Contact your teacher if you have any questions.