Lesson 12 — Activity 5:

Punctuation within Sentences



In the previous activity, you looked at the forms of punctuation that can be used at the end of sentences to make your message easier to understand. In this activity, you will review the ways that punctuation can be used within sentences to help make the information in your sentences as clear as possible to the reader.

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You probably know that three types of punctuation commonly used within a sentence are the comma (,), the semicolon (;), and the colon (smile.


When you are writing, choosing your punctuation within your sentences correctly helps your reader understand your purpose.

Your knowledge of the types of sentences (a simple sentence, a compound sentence, a complex sentence, and a compound-complex sentence) will help you to use the correct form of punctuation.



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There are several circumstances where you can use commas.

  • Commas are used to separate items in a list.

    The students collected mittens, gloves, toques, and wool socks for the homeless shelter.

  • Commas are used before conjunctions that join two simple sentences.

    The students worked to raise enough money to buy wool blankets for the homeless shelter, and the residents were very glad to have their help.

  • Commas are used to separate the dependent clause (the additional information) from the independent clause in a complex sentence.

    Because the weather was very cold, the need for warm winter clothes was very great.

  • Commas are used to separate additional information from the main idea of a sentence.

    The homeless shelter, which has beds for fifty people, has been full for most of the winter.



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There are two ways that semicolons are used most often.

  • Semicolons join two separate sentences.

    The students worked hard to raise enough money to buy wool blankets for the homeless shelter; the residents were very glad to have their help.

  • Semicolons are used to separate items in a list when the list already contains commas and needs to be made clearer.

    The students were part of a national program in cities including Fredericton, New Brunswick; Ottawa, Ontario ; Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan; Edmonton, Alberta; and Victoria, British Columbia.



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Although the words semicolon and colon are similar, the use of the colon is very different from the use of the semicolon.

  • Colons are used at the end of a sentence to introduce some important information for the reader. Consider this example:

    The program to assist the homeless ran in several cities nationwide: Fredericton, Ottawa, Moose Jaw, Edmonton, and Victoria.


Using correct punctuation in your writing helps your reader to understand your message clearly.