Punctuation Marks: List of Important Punctuation Marks in English Grammar

Punctuation marks are symbols that are used to aid the clarity and comprehension of written language. In this lesson, you will learn a list of important punctuation marks and their meaning.

Punctuation Marks 

List of Punctuation Marks

• Full stop (UK)/ period (US)
• Comma
• Semicolon
• Colon
• Question mark
• Exclamation mark (UK)/ exclamation point (US)
• Apostrophe
• Dash
• Round brackets (UK)/ parentheses (US)
• Square Brackets
• Quotation Marks
• Ellipsis marks (UK)/ ellipsis Points (US)
• Slash
• Hyphen
• Brace (UK)/ curly brackets (US)
• At sign
• Ampersand
• Asterisk

Punctuation Marks and their Names

• Name: full stop (UK)/ period (US)
• For example: The teacher motioned the boy to study.

• Name: comma
• For example:  No dream is too big, and no dreamer is too small.

• Name: semicolon
• For example:  The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.

• Name: colon
• For example:  The City is termite territory: thousands of heads-down workers serving an unacknowledged queen, a fear motor buried deep in the heart of the place.

• Name: question mark
• For example: . Are you ok?

• Name: exclamation mark (UK)/ exclamation point (US)
• For example: Look at this!

• Name: Apostrophe
• For example: This is my son‘s ball.

• Name: Dash (em dash, en dash)
• For example: Please call my supervisor — John Wick — on Friday.

• Name: Round Brackets (UK)/ Parentheses (US)
• For example: There are several books on the subject (see page 120).

• Name: Square Brackets
• For example: Dante testified that it was the last time he saw them [the missing coins].

• Name: Quotation Marks
• For example: “Go out!“ She said to me.

• Name: Ellipsis Marks (UK)/ Ellipsis Points (US)
• For example:  Then the numbers 1, 11, 2,…, where the ellipsis are filled by a sequence of 1’s as needed, solves the puzzle.

• Name: Slash
• For example: Blood pressure is recorded as two numbers separated by a slash, like 120/80.

• Name: At sign
• For example: 30 dictionaries @ £29.99 each.

• Name: Ampersand
• For example: My friend & I go to school together.

• Name: Hyphen
• For example: It would be nice to think this tip–off enabled him to avoid this fate but I fear his life was lost along with those missing hyphens.’

• Name: Brace (UK)/ Curly Brackets (US)
• For example: a = { 5, 20, 25, 45, 70 }

Punctuation Marks | Infographic