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Look Better In Writing:
A Quick & Easy Guide to Punctuation Marks
Iacknowledgeeverywriter,author,blogger,copywriter,wordsmith,and
grammarenthusiast.Writingisdefinitelyaskill,andIsaluteyouforhoningyour
craft.
Idedicatethise-booktothosewhoarelessconfidentintheirwritingskills.Your
writingswagisboundtoimproveafterreadingthis.
TableofContents
Introduction.............................................................................................................7
Periods.....................................................................................................................9
QuestionMarks.........................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
ExclamationPoints....................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Commas.....................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Semicolons................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Colons........................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Hyphens....................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Dashes.......................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Apostrophes..............................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Ellipses.......................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Parentheses...............................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Braces........................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Brackets.....................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
QuotationMarks.......................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
References.................................................................Error!Bookmarknotdefined.
Introduction
“Inwriting,punctuationplaystheroleofbodylanguage.Ithelpsreadershearyou
thewayyouwanttobeheard."–RussellBaker
Greetings,goodpeople!Allowmetoformallyintroducemyself.Mynameis
NailahHarvey.I’ma6xpublishedauthorandIteachpeoplehowtolookbetterin
writingbyprovidinggrammarandwritingtipsonallofmysocialmediaplatforms,
aswellasmyblog:www.nharv.com.Nowthattheelevatorpitchisoutofthe
way,let’sgetdowntobusiness.
WhydidIwritethisbook?IwroteLookBetterInWriting:AQuick&Easy
GuidetoPunctuationMarksbecauseIrealizethatwearetransitioningintoatime
wherepeoplearewritingmorebooks,creatingmorewebsites,andengagingin
moresocialmedia.WhileIloveauthorship,technology,andbranding,Ibelieve
thenegativesideeffectsofpublicplatformscanbedamagingtoone’sreputation.
Socialmediaisthenewmarketingtoolandwilldefinitelyexposethegood,the
bad,andtheugly.Socialmediahastaughtmethatsomepeopledonot
understandthepowerofwords.Notonlydowordshavethepoweroflifeand
death(mentally,spiritually,andemotionally),buttheyalsohavethepowerto
giveapositiveornegativefirstimpressionconcerningyourwriting.
Thinkaboutit.Beforeyouareinvitedtoajobinterview,yourfuture
employerreadsyourresume.Beforecustomersdecidetobuyyourbookon
Amazon,theytypicallyreadthebookdescriptionfirsttoseeifthebooksounds
interesting.(Trustme,I’vebeenonbothendsofthespectrum.)Unlessyou’rea
photographer,peopletypicallyreadthe“AboutMe”sectiononyourwebsiteto
feelyouout.PeoplealsooftenreadInstagramcaptions,Tweets,andFacebook
postsofinfluencersbeforetheyfollowthem.WhatI’mtryingtosayis,peoplestill
read;therefore,writingisstillvaluable.Sowhynotdothebestyoucantomake
sureyourwritingisuptoparbeforeexposingittotheworld?!Believeitornot,
peoplejudgeyoubyyourwritingskills.Idon’t,butotherpeopledo.J
Anyway,I’mheretohelpyouputyourbestfootforward(grammatically
speaking).Inthise-book,Iwillbreakdowngrammarintermsofpunctuation
marks.
Butfirst,whatisgrammar?
Grammaristherulesthatmakeupalanguage.Grammaristhefoundation
oflanguagebecauseit'sthefoundationofhowwecommunicatewithone
another.Twoveryimportantelementsofgrammarincludesyntax(arrangement
ofwords)andlinguistics(thestudyoftheformsofwords).Withoutknowinghow
toarrangewordsintogroups,sentences,phrases,questions,expressions,and
paragraphs,wewouldsimplyhavewords,butnocommunication.Punctuation
helpsarrangewordsintounderstandablewrittencommunication.
Likeyou,Isometimesstrugglewiththebasicsofgrammar.I’vebeenoutof
gradeschoolforyearsandthat’stypicallywheremostofuswereintroducedto
grammar.Nevertheless,I’veworkedasanESLteacherforyears(including
teachingoverseasinSouthKorea)soIfindmyselfbeingexposedtothebasicsof
AmericanStandardEnglishquiteoften.
Afterconductingonlinesurveysaboutwritingconcerns,mytargetaudience
revealedthattheyneedthemosthelpwithpunctuatingproperlyandcorrectly.
Well,metoo.That’swhythisparticularbookissuperspecialtome.Itallowedme
tolearnasIteach.
Correctpunctuationisaskillthatcanhelpwritersmakeamorepleasant
readingexperiencefortheiraudience(s).“Punctuationmarksaresymbolsthatare
usedtoaidtheclarityandcomprehensionofwrittenlanguage.”Thereare14
commonlyusedpunctuationmarksin(American)Englishgrammar:periods,
questionmarks,exclamationpoints,commas,semicolons,colons,hyphens,
dashes,apostrophes,ellipses,parentheses,braces,brackets,andquotation
marks.Forthesakeofthise-book,Iwillonlyfocusonthesepunctuationmarks.
Whetheryou’rewritinganemailtoaco-worker,ora4-pagelettertoa
significantother,punctuationmarkscanhelptransformyourwritingfrombland
toflavorful.Nottomention,punctuationmarksshowyourunderstandingofthe
Englishlanguage.Forinstance,asimpleapostrophecanchange“yourwelcome”
to“you’rewelcome.”Yes,thereisadifference!
Remember:Correctgrammarusageallowsustolookbetterinwriting.
Periods
.
Ofthe14commonlyusedpunctuationmarks,threeofthemareusedfor
sentenceendingsandoneofthosesentenceendingsistheperiod.Aperiodisa
punctuationmarkusedattheendofacompletesentence,orclause.(Aclauseisa
grammaticalunit,similartoasentence,includingasubjectandpredicate.
Throughoutthise-book,Iwillusethetermsclauseandsentenceinterchangeably.)
Aperiodindicateswhetherornotasentenceisdeclarative.
Example:
Halianwenttothestore.
Theaboveexampleisadeclarativesentencebecauseit’sstatingsomething.It’s
notaskingaquestion,orexpressingexcitement;therefore,aperiodisthecorrect
punctuationconcludingthissentence.
Iliketothinkofaperiodasanabruptstop.It’saredlight.Whenwriting
sentences,makesureyourgoalistostopwhenyouincludeaperiod.
Otherexamplesentences:
Halianlovestowrite.
Haliandoesnotlikecottagecheese.
HalianisaddictedtoKrispyKremedoughnuts.
Periods
DO:
• Useperiodsinsideparentheseswhenit's
acompleteclause
DON'T:
• Don'tuseperiodsinsideparentheses
whentheparentheticalmaterial(what's
insidetheparentheses)isanincomplete
clause