Basic Grammar Skills

Lesson 3: Punctuation and Capitalization

Colons, Dashes, and Hyphens

Using colons can sometimes be tricky. Let's look at the following to see how colons are used.

Colons Are Used In A Series

You use a colon just before you write a series of words. However, colons are not used after verbs or prepositions.

Let's look at these examples:

1. The children liked the following animals: dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, and birds.

2. The children's favorite colors are blue, red, and green.

Other Common Uses For Colons

You use a colon in time: 2:00, 4:30, etc.

You also use a colon in referring to passages in the Bible such as Proverbs 2:15.

Also, if you are writing a business letter, you would use a colon after the salutation. For example: Dear Sir:

Hyphens

There are several ways that hyphens can be used. They can be used to divide words at the end of a sentence, double consonants, in numbers, in fractions, and in compound nouns and adjectives.

Division of Words and Double Consonants

Hyphens are used when you need to divide words at the end of a syllable to go to the next line. For example you would divide camera like cam- era

Another example would be when there are double consonants like commander. You would divide it like this: com- mander.

Numbers and Fractions

Hyphens are also used in numbers that are written out in words like sixty-seven, thirty-one, twenty-five, or forty-five.

They are also used in fractions that are spelled out such as: one-half, three-fourths, or five-sevenths.

Compound Nouns and Adjectives

Hyphens are also used in some compound nouns and adjectives such as well-known, know-it-all, and drive-in.

Exercises

Directions: How would you divide these words. These words are fractions, numbers, and words that need to be divided if you didn't have room at the end of a sentence.

1. twentythree

2. sixtyfour

3. commander

4. recommend

5. sixsevenths

6. wellknown

7. onefourth

8. become

9. architect

10. knowitall

Dashes

When you are writing a paragraph, and you need to make a break in what you are saying, you would use a dash.

For example: I invited Christy-she just moved into town-to the movies.

You are providing some information about Christy. This information needs to be separated by dashes.

Exercise

Directions: Insert the dashes in the following sentences.

1. Two rooms the living room and the family room still needed to be painted.

2. The principal he's my mother's friend came to our house today.

3. The school where I go was hit by the tornado last night.

4. There are four important steps in getting ready for a garage sale setting up tables, gathering up the items, marking the items, and putting them out where people can see.

Dashes can also be used in sentences where there is an interruption. Let's look at this example.

I knew it couldn't be done, but -

The important point to remember in punctuation is to not overuse certain marks. It's better if you use a variety of marks.

Marvin Terban in his book "Scholastic Guides Checking Your Grammar" has an excellent section on hyphens and dashes. The section is on pages 88-90. This is not a required book.

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