Comma vs. Colon: Take Our Punctuation Quiz!

"It's" is a short way to communicate "it is" or "it has." So, if you're having trouble figuring out whether or not to include the apostrophe, silently say the sentence with the extra word included. "Its" is one of those weird words that indicates possession, even though there's no apostrophe, so it's easy to see how that gets confusing.

Do not use either single or double quotation marks if the phrase in question isn't an actual quote. Instead, use italics or bold font to emphasize your point.

American English places punctuation marks inside the sentence-ending quotation marks. Here's an example: "This test is going to be impossible," said Mike. However, it's worth noting that British writers place the punctuation outside – and they use single quotes, too. Example: 'This test is going to be impossible', said Nigel.

Here, the quotation mark would go before the question mark, because the name of the book is "Little Women," not "Little Women?" But if the title had a question mark in it, then the punctuation mark would go outside: Have you read "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Semicolons are used when you are trying to link two independent clauses: I need to go to the store; then I'm going to the bank. Commas are used when the two clauses are not independent: I need to go the store, then to the bank. BTW, you use a colon to introduce an item or a list of items.

Some writing styles revere the Oxford comma (I'd like my sandwich with ham, turkey, and tomatoes), but others see it as unnecessary and therefore leave it off (ham, turkey and tomatoes). If you use it, place it before the final "and" in a list.

The em dash is a horizontal line that is longer than a hyphen. While the hyphen combines two words to denote an idea (top-notch, big-time), the em dash can take a sentence into a slightly new direction: I love watching Netflix — but I'm considering switching to Hulu.

Comma rules can be pretty confusing and technical. If you're not sure whether a sentence necessitates a comma, just think of it as a small pause. Does the pause help the sentence? If so, slap a comma in there.

A set of three periods, ellipses are often used to communicate that part of a quotation was left out or that a thought trailed off: The movie is playing here . . . never mind, it's sold out. Most style guides say you shouldn't use ellipses at the beginning of a sentence, even if you're omitting part of a quote.

Bet you didn't know there was a word for using a combination of a question mark and an exclamation point. The interrobang is used to ask a question in an excited way or to show befuddlement: Say what?! You've never seen that movie?!