Punctuation marks

Punctuation marks are used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning. The most common are:

1. A full stop (.), also known as a period in American English, is mostly used at the end of a declarative sentence, or a statement that is considered to be complete:
1. My name is Beth and I'm 18 years old.
2. A question mark (?) is used after an interrogative sentence:
1. Where are you from?
3. Quotation marks or speech marks (" ") are used for direct quotations:
1. "It is a historic moment," the President said.
4. An apostrophe (') can be used...
5. ...to show that certain letters have been omitted from a word:
1. I am = I’m
2. They have = They’ve
3. I would = I’d
6. ...to indicate possession:
1. Sally’s hair was blond and curly.
2. The boy’s sister traveled by bus to meet us.
5. A comma (,) is used... 
6. ...to show the difference between two separate ideas or elements within a sentence:
1. We purchased some cheese, and we purchased some fruit.
7. ...to separate elements in a series:
1. He was tall, dark, and handsome.
8. ...to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence:
1. As the day came to an end, the fire fighters put out the fire.
9. ...to set off the words 'yes' and 'no':
1. No, thank you.
10. ...to set off a tag question from the rest of the sentence:
1. She is your sister, isn’t she?
11. ...to indicate direct address:
1. Is that you, Mary?
12. ...when a participle phrase clause is used:
1. Walking slowly, I could see the beautiful flowers.
13. ...to separate parts of the date:
1. Tuesday, May 2, 2016, was when I graduated.
6. A hyphen (-) can be used... 
7. ...in compound words: 
1. eight-year-old, part-time, self-confidence
8. ...to link words to prefixes: 
1. pre-agreement, pre-approved, pre-emptive
9. ...as a way to show word breaks:
1. The twentieth-century was very different from other preceding time periods. 
7. An exclamation mark (!) is used to show emphasis:
1. That’s fantastic!
8. A colon (:) can be used to introduce a quotation, an example, a series, or an explanation; to separate two independent clauses; or to show emphasis:
1. You have two choices: finish the work today or lose the contract.
2. That’s because we have one goal: for you to consider your website a success.
3. John has all the ingredients: minced clams, milk, potatoes, and onions. 
9. A semicolon (;) is used to separate two independent clauses while still demonstrating that a close relationship exists between them:
1. My daughter is a teacher; my son is a doctor.
10. Parenthesis — ( ) —  are quotation marks that show additional thoughts about a statement:
1. The two brothers (Richard and Sean) were learning how to play guitar.
11. An ellipsis (...) is used to show that there has been an omission of some letters or words:
1. You’ll never believe what I saw…