Punctuation within sentences can be tricky; however, if you know just a few of the following rules, you will be well on your way to becoming a polished writer and proofreader.<\/p>\n
Rule:<\/strong> Use a comma between two long independent clauses when conjunctions such as and, or, but, for, nor<\/em> connect them. Rule:<\/strong> If the clauses are both short, you may omit the comma. Rule:<\/strong> If you have only one clause (one subject and verb pair), you won’t usually need a comma in front of the conjunction. Rule:<\/strong> Use the semicolon if you have two independent clauses connected without a conjunction. Rule:<\/strong> Also use the semicolon when you already have commas within a sentence for smaller separations, and you need the semicolon to show bigger separations. Rule:<\/strong> A colon is used to introduce a second sentence that clarifies the first sentence. Rule:<\/strong> Use a colon to introduce a list when no introductory words like namely, for instance, i.e., e.g.<\/em> precede the list. Punctuation within sentences can be tricky; however, if you know just a few of the following rules, you will be well on your way to becoming a polished writer and proofreader. Rule: Use a comma between two long independent clauses when conjunctions such as and, or, but, for, nor connect them. Example: I have painted […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-colons","category-commas","category-semicolons"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4872,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/4872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nExample:<\/strong> I have painted the entire house, but she is still working on sanding the floors.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExample:<\/strong> I painted and he sanded.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExample:<\/strong> I have painted the house but still need to sand the floors.<\/em>
\nThis sentence has two verbs but only one subject, so it has only one clause.<\/p>\n
\nExample:<\/strong> I have painted the house; I still need to sand the floors.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExample:<\/strong> We had a reunion with family from Salt Lake City, Utah; Los Angeles, California; and Albany, New York.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nExample:<\/strong> We have set this restriction: do your homework before watching television.<\/em>
\nNotice that the first word of the second sentence is not capitalized. Whether to capitalize the first word after a colon depends on the stylebook or style guidelines you are following. If you have multiple sentences following the sentence with the colon and you bullet or otherwise itemize them, capitalization and punctuation are optional. For example, if each bullet or numbered point is a complete sentence, you might capitalize the first word and end each sentence with proper ending punctuation. The rule of thumb is to be consistent.<\/p>\n
\nExample:<\/strong> I need four paint colors: blue, gray, green, and red.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"