Punctuation Conventions Alignment Tool
Grade 6, 7, 8 and English I
Sixth
Period  Abbreviation  Initial  Inside quotation marks Question mark  Inside/outside quotation marks Exclamation mark  Inside/outside quotation marks Comma  Compound sentence  Quotation in middle of sentence  Quotation at the beginning of sentence  Inside quotation marks Quotation marks  Direct quotation  Divided quotation  Quotations at the beginning, middle, and end of sentences  No space between quotation marks and word Colon  Outside quotation marks ©2013, TCMPC
Seventh
Eighth
English I
Period and comma  Academic degrees (e.g., McKnight, Ph. D) Comma  Set off words at the beginning of a sentence (e.g., also, yes, no, well  Set off transitional words  Set off expressions  Separate two adjectives that modify the same noun  Separate phrases  Set off nominative/direct address Comma  After long introductory prepositional phrase  After introductory dependent adverbial phrase  After a conjunctive adverb used to connect independent clauses Colon  After the salutation in a Colon  After the salutation in a 08/01/13
Comma  Non‐restrictive phrase, clause, and contrasting expressions  Set off words, phrases, clauses that would otherwise be unclear Quotation mark  Indicate sarcasm or irony  Two or more paragraphs in one quote Indenting long quotes and omitting quotation marks Page 1 of 3 Punctuation Conventions Alignment Tool
Grade 6, 7, 8 and English I
Sixth
Parentheses, brackets, and ellipses  Indicate omission  Indicate interruption  Indicate incomplete sentence  Parenthetical documentation (parentheses) ©2013, TCMPC
Seventh
Eighth
business letter  Introduction of a formal or long quotation Hyphen Hyphen  Compound adjective before  Compound adjective before a noun a noun  Compound numerals with  Compound numerals with other words other words  Fractions  Fractions  Compounds made up of  Compounds made up of nouns and prepositional nouns and prepositional phrases phrases  Titles compounded with ex  Titles compounded with ex and elect and elect  Other compound words Apostrophe Apostrophe  Noun modifying a gerund  Noun modifying a gerund  Possessive in compound  Possessive in compound nouns nouns Parentheses, brackets, and ellipses  Indicate omission  Indicate interruption  Indicate incomplete sentence  Parenthetical documentation (parentheses)  Parenthesis to set off matter not necessary to the grammatical structure but English I
business letter 08/01/13
Page 2 of 3 Punctuation Conventions Alignment Tool
Grade 6, 7, 8 and English I
Sixth
Semicolon  Outside quotation marks Italics or Underline  Titles of things that can stand by themselves  Titles of books, magazines, albums, paintings, ships, plays  Distinguish certain words from other words in a text ©2013, TCMPC
Seventh
Eighth
Semicolon  Between independent clauses in a compound sentence without coordination conjunction  Before a conjunctive adverb used to connect independent clause  Separate clauses joined by such transitional words as however, also, therefore, and consequently too important to omit  Parentheses to enclose explanations  Brackets to enclose words or phrases independent of the sentence Semicolon  Separate clauses joined by such transitional words as however, also, therefore, and consequently  Separate groups of words, phrases, or clauses dependent on a general term or statement  To precede for example, namely, and for instance 08/01/13
English I
Dashes  Abrupt changes in sentence
 Set off interpolated explanatory matter  Indicate a sudden break Page 3 of 3