Punctuation marks are what we call the set of symbols we use that guide readers through our writing. There are fourteen types of punctuation in total.

Punctuation marks tell us when a word is important, when to say something loudly, when to pause or when a question is being asked. They can show us when people are having a conversation in a piece of writing or when we want to say something in addition to a quote.

These are the most common types of punctuation:

• Commas: Commas are used to show a short pause in a sentence, to highlight a chunk of a sentence or to help us separate words – like when we write a list. Multifunctional and very versatile, the comma is often misused. With so many potential ways of using it, it’s not surprising children often pepper their work with commas, throwing them in at the end like a sprinkling of fairy dust. Browse our guide to commas for proper use cases.

• Quotation marks: Quotation marks, also referred to as speech marks, let us know when people are speaking within a piece of writing (a dialogue) or when we are using someone else’s words to make a point (a quote).

• Full stops: The trusty old full stop – this is the staple of every written piece of work. A full stop shows you’ve reached the end of a sentence and allows the reader to pause for breath.

• Exclamation marks: Exclamation marks are used to show excitement, frustration, anger or many other strong emotions. An exclamation mark can replace a full stop if you want to add more emotion to the sentence, or it can be used after an interjection – “Oh! That was so much fun!”.

• Question marks: A question mark appears at the end of a question, or, as it is occasionally known, an interrogative sentence. Generally speaking, a question mark will appear at the end of a sentence that starts with (or contains) a question word, such as who, where, what, why, when or how, amongst many others. This is one of the easiest punctuation marks to use, as it only has one function. Asking a question? Use a question mark.

   

• Apostrophes: Apostrophes have a few uses in our writing and when reading. These punctuation marks show us:
  • When something has some letters missing and has been made into a contraction, for example: it is not, becomes – isn’t.
  • When we want to show that something is owned, for example, Toby’s new bike.

• Hyphens: We use hyphens for a few reasons but often we use them to join two words together that describe a noun. The hyphen changes the word’s meaning by joining them together. For example, the ‘person-eating shark’. It is not a person shark, or an eating shark, it is a shark that eats people – a ‘person-eating shark’.