Next, you decide how you want to join them:

- with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);

- with a semicolon by itself;

- with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, finally), and a comma; or,

- with a semicolon, a transitio

It’s a real problem. But fortunately, there’s help. No, you won’t find it in an online pharmacy, and you don’t have to cross the border. Just sit back and pay attention.

Ending, or terminal, punctuation marks always go inside quotation marks. For example:

“John said he’d do that on Tuesday,” said Mary.

The quoted line of dialogue ends in a comma, since the sentence isn’t really finished until the period after Mary. The word said is not capitalized.

“Where are you going?” asked Jane.

Jane is asking a question; therefore, you can’t substitute a comma for the quesiton mark without losing meaning. You still don’t capitalize the word asked.

“I’m going to check up on him.” Mary grabbed her keys. “I want to be sure he’s done it.”

Here, the word Mary starts a new sentence. The periods in the quoted lines of dialogue go inside the quotation marks.

Like every other rule in English, there are exceptions:

Have you ever seen a “jackalope”? I’ve never seen a “jackalope.”

In American English (because of fairly archaic typographical conventions), a period always goes inside all quotation marks. But a question mark that is not part of the phrase or sentence inside the quotation marks rightfully belongs on the outside.

Get Your Annual Semicolon Checkup Here!

I’m not sure why the poor semicolon gets such a bad rap, and is so underused, overused, and generally abused by writers. It’s simple, really.

First, we’ll look at different ways to join two independent clauses. Independent clauses are basically phrases that could stand alone as sentences in their own right, but are so closely joined in thought that they ought to be married, or at least shacking up. For example:

Mary loved her red shoes. They made her feet look dainty.

There is nothing at all wrong with leaving these individual sentences alone, except that one completes the other, and apart, they look choppy.

Next, you decide how you want to join them:

- with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);

- with a semicolon by itself;

- with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, finally), and a comma; or,

- with a semicolon, a transition

“Where are you going?” asked Jane.

Jane is asking a question; therefore, you can’t substitute a comma for the quesiton mark without losing meaning. You still don’t capitalize the word asked.

“I’m going to check up on him.” Mary grabbed her keys. “I want to be sure he’s done it.”

Here, the word Mary starts a new sentence. The periods in the quoted lines of dialogue go inside the quotation marks.

Like every other rule in English, there are exceptions:

Have you ever seen a “jackalope”? I’ve never seen a “jackalope.”

In American English (because of fairly archaic typographical conventions), a period always goes inside all quotation marks. But a question mark that is not part of the phrase or sentence inside the quotation marks rightfully belongs on the outside.

Get Your Annual Semicolon Checkup Here!

I’m not sure why the poor semicolon gets such a bad rap, and is so underused, overused, and generally abused by writers. It’s simple, really.

First, we’ll look at different ways to join two independent clauses. Independent clauses are basically phrases that could stand alone as sentences in their own right, but are so closely joined in thought that they ought to be married, or at least shacking up. For example:

Mary loved her red shoes. They made her feet look dainty.

There is nothing at all wrong with leaving these individual sentences alone, except that one completes the other, and apart, they look choppy.

Next, you decide how you want to join them:

- with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);

- with a semicolon by itself;

- with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, finally), and a comma; or,

- with a semicolon, a transitio

Like every other rule in English, there are exceptions:

Have you ever seen a “jackalope”? I’ve never seen a “jackalope.”

In American English (because of fairly archaic typographical conventions), a period always goes inside all quotation marks. But a question mark that is not part of the phrase or sentence inside the quotation marks rightfully belongs on the outside.

Get Your Annual Semicolon Checkup Here!

I’m not sure why the poor semicolon gets such a bad rap, and is so underused, overused, and generally abused by writers. It’s simple, really.

First, we’ll look at different ways to join two independent clauses. Independent clauses are basically phrases that could stand alone as sentences in their own right, but are so closely joined in thought that they ought to be married, or at least shacking up. For example:

Mary loved her red shoes. They made her feet look dainty.

There is nothing at all wrong with leaving these individual sentences alone, except that one completes the other, and apart, they look choppy.

Next, you decide how you want to join them:

- with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);

- with a semicolon by itself;

- with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, finally), and a comma; or,

- with a semicolon, a transitio

First, we’ll look at different ways to join two independent clauses. Independent clauses are basically phrases that could stand alone as sentences in their own right, but are so closely joined in thought that they ought to be married, or at least shacking up. For example:

Mary loved her red shoes. They made her feet look dainty.

There is nothing at all wrong with leaving these individual sentences alone, except that one completes the other, and apart, they look choppy.

Next, you decide how you want to join them:

- with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);

- with a semicolon by itself;

- with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, finally), and a comma; or,

- with a semicolon, a transitio

Next, you decide how you want to join them:

- with a comma and a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so);

- with a semicolon by itself;

- with a semicolon, a conjunctive adverb (however, therefore, nevertheless, finally), and a comma; or,

- with a semicolon, a transitional phrase (as a result, in other words, for example, in fact), and a comma

Joining them with a comma, by itself, creates the dreaded comma splice.

“And what is so awful about that?” you ask.

A comma splice is awkward, because the reader gets halfway into the second sentence before it dawns on them that the first sentence is completed. A comma, alone, isn't designed to signal the transition from one completed thought to the next.

So, you could write either of the following:

Mary loved her red shoes, and they made her feet look dainty. Mary loved her red shoes; they made her feet look dainty.

There are other uses for the semicolon, of course. You can use it to separate complex list items. Perhaps you have the following on your grocery list: a pat of butter; two pounds of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream; three pounds of chopped walnuts, lightly glazed; and so on. This is very useful when the list items, themselves, contain commas. Try writing the previous list, using commas instead of the semicolons, and you’ll see what I mean. Do I want two pounds of chocolate? A bottle of vanilla extract? How much strawberry ice cream? Or do I want two pounds of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice cream?

Semicolons do have their detractors. It’s only fair to warn you that some writers could happily live their entire lives without employing the hard-working semicolon.

Better a Colon than a Fleet Enema

Did you notice that I introduced that grocery list, above, with a colon? Slipped that in on you, didn’t I? Might as well cover the colon while we’re at it because it’s even simpler than the semicolon, and it’s quite useful at times. Think of the colon as the ambassador of punctuation, introducing the reader to a word, a phrase, a whole sentence, a quotation, or a list. For example:

Joe said