| Punctuation Mark |
Looks Like |
Used For |
| colon |
: |
- in a greeting of a business letter
- after numerals showing time, volume, or page
- to show a list or statement is to follow
|
| semicolon |
; |
- between two independent clauses joined as a compound sentence
without a coordinate conjunction or joined by a conjunctive adverb
- between items in a series if the items already contain commas
|
| dash |
- |
- to indicate a change in thought
- to indicate a parenthetical expression
|
| ellipsis |
... |
- to show a pause in dialog
- to replace one or more words left out of a quote
|
|
parentheses |
( ) |
- around a parenthetical expression (=words included to add
information or make and idea clearer that are not needed for the basic
sentence)
|
|
brackets |
[ ] |
- around material a writer adds when quoting someone else
|
