Note in the second example that there is no period within the parentheses after “She wasn't sure.” If the final sentence within the parentheses would use a period, there's no extra punctuation—the period goes outside the parentheses. Although it's possible to cram whole paragraphs into p...
The ellipsis (plural is ellipses) is a punctuation mark used to denote a pause or omission in a sentence. The ellipses can be used to show that some material is left out of a longer quotation, or ellipses might show a thought trailing off, be used to create suspense, or show that ...
This is because every time you create an aside mid-sentence, you need to close it later. One way to think about it is by imagining the commas as parentheses instead. Each time you use an opening parenthesis, you need to use a closing parenthesis later. If the sentence ends after the ph...
write an introductory statement that places the lines in context of the thesis, followed by a colon. Place the excerpt in the body of the essay. Use forward slashes to separate each line. Place numbers in parentheses at the end to cite the particular lines. ...
Parentheses have a lot of different uses. One particularly common use is to insert additional but unessential information, such as a writer’s commentary, into a sentence. Last year, the first pitch was thrown by Santa Claus(yes, really). ...
There is no such thing as a four-dot ellipsis. A four-dot ellipsis is actually an ellipsis with a period at the end of it. It's important to remember that you still should punctuate properly even when you use an ellipsis. When using ellipses in conjunction with other punctuation, whether...
Remember, a basic rule to follow when writing is if your sentence is asking a question, it must finish with a question mark. Failing to punctuate it properly will likely be noticed and cause confusion. Readers will almost always pick up on missing question marks, as written questions are oft...
A period is used inside of quotation marks when a quote comes at the end of a sentence: ✅Correct:She said, “The concert is on Friday.” ❌Incorrect:She said, “The concert is on Friday”. In general, a period is used inside parentheses if they contain a complete sentence. Otherwi...
As using the same sentence structure can be tedious for the reader, so can not varying your punctuation. There are a multitude of ways in which to punctuate sentences. By using different punctuation marks, you can place more emphasis on various aspects of your work, and when used correctly ...
Use an em dash to enclose parenthetical phrases or additional information within a sentence, providing clarity or amplifying a point. It acts as a powerful interruption, providing a stronger break than other punctuation marks like commas or parentheses. ...