What is a Punctuation Mark?

Punctuation Mark?

✅( , ) ᶜᵒᵐᵐᵃ 

✅( . ) ᵖᵉʳᶤᵒᵈ, ᵈᵉᶜᶤᵐᵃˡ ᵖᵒᶤᶰᵗ 

✅( ; ) ˢᵉᵐᶤᶜᵒˡᵒᶰ

✅( : ) ᶜᵒˡᵒᶰ 

✅( ! ) ᵉˣᶜˡᵃᵐᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰ ᵐᵃʳᵏ / ᵉˣᶜˡᵃᵐᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰ ᵖᵒᶤᶰᵗ 

✅( ? ) ᵠᵘᵉˢᵗᶤᵒᶰ ᵐᵃʳᵏ 

✅( ' ) ᵃᵖᵒˢᵗʳᵒᵖʰᵉ, ᵖʳᶤᵐᵉ 

✅( " ) ᵠᵘᵒᵗᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰ ᵐᵃʳᵏ 

✅( ( ) ) ᵖᵃʳᵉᶰᵗʰᵉˢᶤˢ 

✅( [ ] ) ˢᵠᵘᵃʳᵉ ᵇʳᵃᶜᵏᵉᵗ / ᵇʳᵃᶜᵏᵉᵗ 

✅( {} ) ᵇʳᵃᶜᵉ 

✅( < ) ˡᵉˢˢ-ᵗʰᵃᶰ ˢᶤᵍᶰ 

✅( > ) ᵍʳᵉᵃᵗᵉʳ-ᵗʰᵃᶰ ˢᶤᵍᶰ 

✅( $ ) ᵈᵒˡˡᵃʳ ˢᶤᵍᶰ 

✅( / ) ˢˡᵃˢʰ 

✅( % ) ᵖᵉʳᶜᵉᶰᵗ 

✅( - ) ᵈᵃˢʰ / ʰʸᵖʰᵉᶰ 

✅( # ) ᶰᵘᵐᵇᵉʳ ˢᶤᵍᶰ

✅( & ) ᵃᵐᵖᵉʳˢᵃᶰᵈ 

✅( @ ) ᵃᵗ ˢᶤᵍᶰ

✅( * ) ᵃˢᵗᵉʳᶤˢᵏ

✅( _ ) ᵘᶰᵈᵉʳˢᶜᵒʳᵉ

What is a Punctuation Mark?

In simple terms, punctuation marks are a symbol to create and support meaning within a sentence or to break it up. 

Examples of different punctuation marks include full stops (.), commas (,), question marks (?), exclamation marks (!), colons 🙂), semi-colons (😉, apostrophes (') and speech marks (",").  

Often children get told how and when to use different punctuation marks when they are at school, yet this doesn't really explain what a punctuation mark actually is. It is important children know the different types of punctuation marks with names and what they are used for.

Words are not the only thing that can help people to navigate a sentence, these marks show the structure of the sentence, including where the sentence starts and ends and when to pause (or breathe if reading the sentence aloud).

It is really important to make a sentence clear and to accurate so that it can be understood. These marks are how ideas are conveyed to the reader properly. You can use our fantastic and diverse range of resources and teaching aids to find all punctuation marks with names, uses, and examples that your children can use to master their punctuation skills.

All Punctuation Mark Examples With Names

There are 12 different types of punctuation marks in the English language, so there's plenty to choose from when writing! We tend to use some punctuation marks more than others, but it's still important to know them all so that we know what they mean when we read and see them. Although the English language has many punctuation marks, you will usually learn to use many of them as you master the language. Still, there are some punctuation mark uses you might still not know about despite using and seeing them on a regular basis.

See a description for each type of punctuation mark below, along with some handy punctuation examples in a sentence.

1. Full stop

A full stop is used to show the end of a sentence, as shown in this punctuation example:

'Lucy went clothes shopping. She bought a lovely new skirt.'

Full stops are used to indicate that it is the end of a sentence, usually communicating a complete point or thought. It highlights a new sentence is about to begin.

2. Commas

Commas are great for breaking down sentences, combining two clauses, or showing us when to pause.

'Despite the fact I hate maths, I quite like learning about fractions.'

This shows how commas can add emphasis and tell the reader when to pause. Sometimes, commas can be misplaced. This is called a comma splice, where two independent clauses are connected by a comma when they should really be separated with a full stop or semicolon or connected with a connective.

Here is an example of a comma splice:

'I love cats, they're so soft and fluffy.'

We naturally pause after the first clause, 'I love cats', which is why you might instinctively put a comma there. But the second part of the sentence is also an independent clause - it makes sense on its own. We can't connect them with a comma.

To make this accurate, we can say:

'I love cats. They're so soft and fluffy.'

Separate the two independent clauses with a full stop.

Or:

'I love cats because they're so soft and fluffy.'

Connect the two clauses with a connective.

Commas can also be used in a situation where things need to be listed.

'Adrian wants a guitar, a microphone, a book, some chocolate, and a new game for Christmas.'

This shows each individual item Adrian wants for Christmas in a clear and easy-to-understand way.

3. Question marks

Question marks are a bit more straightforward. They simply indicate that the speaker is asking a question. They're used at the end of the question (or interrogative) sentences.

'Do you still want to keep your teddy bear?'

4. Exclamation marks

Meanwhile, the em dash can be used in place of a comma, parenthesis, or colon to enhance readability or emphasize the conclusion of a sentence. For example:

She gave him her answer—No!

8. Hyphen

This list of punctuation marks isn't exhaustive, but it does contain the most commonly used punctuation marks with names. For example:

Sarah had a part-time job that she worked on a Saturday

9. Parentheses

A parenthesis is a word, phrase, or sentence that is inserted into writing as extra information using brackets, commas, or dashes. For example:

'James (who was terrified of heights) was going to ride the biggest rollercoaster in the theme park

When a whole sentence is written inside a parenthesis then the full stop will be included inside the parenthesis, for example - Please read this story. (You'll be amazed.). However, if the majority of a sentence is written outside the parenthesis, then the full stop should also be used on the outside, for example, You are late (aren't you?).

10. Brackets

Brackets are curved symbols that look like () and are used to separate non-essential or additional information from a sentence. For example:

She finally answered (after taking five minutes to think) that she didn’t understand the question.

11. Quotation marks

Quotation marks are the primary type of punctuation used in quotes. These are inverted commas that are used as either single (‘ ’) or double (“ ”) sets. They are used either to mark the beginning and end of a title or quoted passage. For example: Walking across the beach Mary said, "the weather is very sunny today".

12. Elipsis

An ellipsis(plural ellipses) is a punctuation mark made up of 3 dots. Ellipses are commonly used to indicate the omission of words, lines, or paragraphs from a quoted passage. For example:

'Today...we are proud to announce our new product.'

Teaching All Punctuation Marks With Twinkl

Teaching punctuation marks to children can be tricky. There are 14punctuation marks that are commonly used in English grammar that children learn and understand in primary education. They are the period, question mark, exclamation point, comma, semicolon, colon, dash, hyphen, parentheses, brackets, braces, apostrophe, quotation marks, and ellipsis.

When you're wondering how to teach punctuation marks, context really is key. Just showing children a list of punctuation marks might not be the most effective method of teaching them. Children may think they understand when you start talking about clauses and different punctuation marks, but without examples, their understanding will be limited.

Punctuation should play a big part in children's proofreading, even at a young age as often it is quite hard to visualize where your punctuation should go until you read back over your work. Why not put children in pairs to mark each others' use of punctuation?

Children should understand that using lots of punctuation shouldn't be the goal of writing, it needs to be taught in the context of communication and the message you want your writing to show.

Here are some fun ideas for teaching punctuation marks:

Share funny memes or examples of when punctuation is used in the wrong way that will make them laugh and pay attention to poorly used punctuation. A common example is "let's eat, grandad" versus "let's eat grandad".

Make some fun flashcards with different words and punctuation marks and let your class have a go in small groups at changing the meaning of the sentence using punctuation!

Say sentences out loud and get your class to hold up the punctuation mark on a whiteboard when they think it should be used.

Go on a punctuation treasure hunt - leave some sentences around the room that use different forms of punctuation. Using the names of different punctuation marks, such as commas, see if they can identify the form of punctuation and find the sentence it is in.

Create a 'plural' machine! Bring in a big cardboard box (and make it look like a cool machine if you want to) and make a big list of different words - some that are singular, some that are plural without an 's', and some that are plural with an 's'. Put all of these different worlds through the machine (into the cardboard box) and once children have had guesses or votes in different groups, reveal what the plural is!

  Done.

           Enjoy..............