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Punctuation is vital to written communication. It creates the pauses, inflections, hand gestures and body language of the written word. If punctuation is not used well, typographic communication can be confusing, misleading, and difficult to read.

Rules of Engagement There are about 30 punctuation marks. Most are not used often—but all should be handled correctly. The following provides a brief overview of how to use the most important punctuation marks. Periods indicate the end of a declarative or imperative sentence. Period.

Commas indicate the simplest form of interruption of thought or continuity. A comma is used to join a clause to a conjunction, to join clauses in a compound sentence, to separate an adverbial or adjectival clause from the body of a sentence, and to separate a series of three or more elements, etc., etc., etc.

Download a pdf version of the Punctuation Primer article!