The apostrophe is the most misused punctuation mark in the English language by far, but this should not be the case since there are only two major uses of the…

The semicolon has two similar major uses: To join two complete sentences into a single written sentence when the two sentences are too closely related to be separately by a…

The ellipsis (…), sometimes called the suspension or omission marks, has three uses: to show that some material has been omitted from a direct quotation [One of Churchill’s most famous…

The colon has two uses: To indicate that what follows it is an explanation or elaboration of what precedes it (the rule being that the more general statement is followed…

The comma is used very frequently but is also often used incorrectly. There are four distinct uses of the comma: A listing comma is used as a kind of substitute…

There is only one use of the exclamation mark: After an exclamation of surprise, shock or dismay, which is generally a short sentence or phrase expressing very strong feeling (especially…

There are two uses of the question mark: At the end of a direct question [Do you understand this rule?] To show that something is uncertain (when it should be…

There are two uses of the full stop: To mark the end of a sentence expressing a statement (if you are unsure whether the words constitute a sentence, look for…