LESSON 8

Punctuation Marks

There are 7 punctuation marks tested on the SAT & ACT tests:

Periods .
Commas ,
Semicolons ;
Colons :
Parentheses ()
Dash Marks -
Apostrophes ‘

You should not expect to see any questions on the SAT or ACT about question marks (?),
exclamation points (!), or quotation marks (“ “).

The majority of the tested punctuation marks - six out of seven of them - are used in connection
with clauses and Sentence Structure (the topic of the next lesson). The apostrophe is the only
punctuation mark tested on the SAT or ACT that does not relate to Sentence Structure.

Let’s go over the basics of each of these seven punctuation marks.

The Period
The period is our most familiar punctuation mark. Periods are used to end complete sentences.

Period Usage:
My dog is barking. My cat is watching birds.

That’s it - pretty simple. Also see the next lesson on Sentence Structure for more
information about Independent Clauses.

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The Comma
The comma is the hardest punctuation mark for most students to master. Commas are not for
pauses or breaths as many students erroneously believe. Actually, Commas are used to
separate clauses (again, see the next chapter on Sentence Structure for related information).
Commas are also used to separate lists of three or more items.

Comma Usages:
My dog is barking, and my cat is watching him.
My dog, who is still a puppy, is barking.
My dog is barking, jumping, and running.

The Semicolon
Semicolons are very easy punctuation marks to master. The semicolon is used to separate two
complete sentences. On the SAT & ACT, semicolons work exactly like periods do. Don’t worry
right now about advanced nuances you may have heard before, such as “semicolons connect
two similar ideas.” Instead, just act like semicolons are periods, and you will always understand
their usage on the SAT and ACT.

Semicolon Usage:
My dog is barking; my cat is watching birds.

The Colon
Using colons is easy, but almost everyone misunderstands them. The most common
misunderstanding is the idea that “colons are for lists.” If this is what you think, you need to
change your definition - NOW.

Here’s how colons actually work. There are exactly two criteria.

The first criteria is crucial, but also easy and quick to identify, so check it first:

Colon Criteria #1: A colon must be preceded by a complete sentence.

The second criteria is what colons actually do:

Colon Criteria #2: “Colons introduce one or more examples, or a definition.”

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Never, ever worry about the second colon criteria until after you’ve checked the first one.
Colons must always be preceded by a complete sentence. Knowing this one rule makes colon
usage 100x easier.

Colon Usages:
My house is filled with a variety of animals: dogs, cats, and birds.
I have a favorite animal: hedgehogs.
The musician played the lute: a classic instrument similar to an ancient guitar.

Parentheses
Parentheses are used to show optional, extra, or nonessential information that adds extra
detail to a sentence. You must be able to read the sentence without the parenthetical info and
still have the sentence work without it. Parentheses always come in pairs: an open parentheses
and a close parentheses.

Parentheses Usages:
My dog (a puppy) is barking.
I have two animals (a cat and a dog) who live at my house.

Notice that these examples can be read without the parenthetical info and still stand on their
own as complete sentences.

Dash Marks
Dash Marks can imitate either of two other punctuation marks: Parentheses or Colons. This is
determined by context.

When used as colons, dash marks follow exactly the same rules as colons. Easy!

However, dash marks are more often used like parentheses, with a few special notes:

First of all, when in the middle of a sentence, dash marks tend to come in pairs, just like
parentheses do. However, when used to add extra information at the beginning or end of a
sentence, a single dash mark is allowed to exist by itself. This would never allowed with
parentheses, which always have to be in an open-close pair.

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Also, a bit of bonus info - though not essential for SAT/ACT testing - is that parentheses contain
extra information that is less important than the main sentence, while dash marks are meant to
contain info that is extra-important. Dashes call extra attention, while parentheses decrease the
amount of attention.

Dash Mark Usages:

My dog - still a puppy - is barking.
I have two animals - a cat and a dog - who live at my house.
I have a favorite animal - hedgehogs.

Apostrophes
These punctuation marks are a special case - apostrophes are the only marks on this list that do
not have anything to do with Sentence Structure (see the next lesson for more info).

Apostrophes mainly serve two purposes: to show possessive case for nouns and pronouns (for
example, Tim’s jacket or the birds’ cages), and to form contractions (shortened versions of a
pair of words).

Some students get mixed up when using the “plural possessive” form of a noun, which typically
places an apostrophe after the plural “s” at the end of a noun. For example, we might have four
birds in our house, living in four separate cages. In that case, to show that the birds “owned”
their cages, we’d put the apostrophe after the “s”, like so: “the birds’ four cages.”

Apostrophe Usages:
That is Tim’s jacket.
There are piles of seeds in the birds’ cages.
I can’t come to the door right now.
It’s time for dinner.

Note a special word in the last example above: its / it’s / its. One of these words doesn’t
actually exist!

Rules of its / it’s / its’:

it’s = Contraction of “it is”
Ex: It’s hot outside today.

its = Singular pronoun, possessive case

Ex: The cat was licking its tail.

its’ = This word does not exist in English!

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Now let’s try a simple practice question from the Pretest.

There are several activities that I like to practice every day; motorcycling,
running, and songwriting.

(A) [NO CHANGE]

(B) every day: motorcycling,
(C) every day, motorcycling,
(D) every day. Motorcycling,

Since we are given a set of choices including semicolons, colons, and a periods, the first
question to ask is “can the first part of the sentence stand on its own?” (See Lesson 9 on
Sentence Structure for more on this topic.)

The answer is “yes” - the first half is a complete Independent Clause with its own subject and
verb. It could easily stand alone as its own sentence: “There are several activities that I try to
practice every day.”

The next question is, “What about the second half of the sentence? Can it stand on its own as a
complete, independent clause?”

The answer is no - the second half is not a complete sentence: “motorcycling, running, and
songwriting.”

We can now eliminate Choice D, which uses a period - that would require two complete
sentences, one on either side of the period. For the same reason, we can also eliminate Choice
A, “No Change,” because it uses a semicolon. Semicolons act exactly like periods and require a
complete sentence on both sides.

Can we use a comma? Unfortunately not, because there is no conjunction or connecting word
linking the first and second halves of the sentence. That means Choice C is eliminated.

Does a colon work? It might. We have a complete sentence before the colon (criteria #1). And,
the colon is followed by one or more examples (criteria #2). Perfect! This is the right moment to
use a colon, so Choice B is the correct answer.

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 Punctuation Marks Quick Reference
 There are seven punctuation marks to master for the SAT & ACT: periods, commas,
semicolons, colons, parentheses, dash marks, and apostrophes.

 Periods and semicolons come in between two complete sentences (also called
“Independent Clauses”).

 Colons have two criteria: a complete sentence before the colon, and one or more examples
or a definition after the colon.

 Dash marks can act like parentheses or colons, depending on context.

 Commas are challenging and require a mastery of clauses and Sentence Structure (see the
next lesson for more information).

 Apostrophes are different than the other punctuation marks, because they don’t usually
affect Sentence Structure. Instead, they are used for possessive case and contractions.

 Be well aware of the formal and technical differences between its / it’s / its’.

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Let’s try another practice question.

There are many kinds of dogs, but mine - a golden retriever, is my favorite,
he is very loyal and friendly.

(A) [NO CHANGE]

(B) retriever - is my favorite; he
(C) retriever - is my favorite, he
(D) retriever) is my favorite; he

One of the best ways to get this Punctuation question started is to look for complete sentences
(or “Independent Clauses” - see the next chapter on Sentence Structure for more information).

We find an Independent Clause at the end of the sentence: “He is very loyal and friendly.” This
suggests that a period or semicolon must come just before this portion of the sentence, since
those are the two types of punctuation marks that can separate Independent Clauses.

We don’t have any answer choices with periods, but we do have Choices B and D, which both
use semicolons appropriately. So, let’s eliminate Choices A and C, which improperly use
commas to separate two Independent Clauses.

Now we can analyze the difference between Choices B and D. Choice D uses a close
parentheses “)” where Choice B uses a dash mark “-”. We can eliminate Choice D, because
there is no open parentheses in the sentence to pair with the close parentheses.

That leaves us with the correct answer, Choice B, which uses a pair of dash marks to isolate a
Parenthetical Clause (“a golden retriever”) and also uses a semicolon to separate two
Independent Clauses from each other.

We’ll continue to learn more about the challenges of commas and other punctuation marks in
the next chapter, because punctuation is closely tied with the upcoming lesson on clauses and
Sentence Structure.

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