Punctuation in Academic Essays
Commas
REPRESENTS
A pause in the flow of words
REPLACES
The use of "and"
I have to go but apples, pizza, pasta and salt
SUBJECT - VERB - COMPLEMENT
The chef, who's personality is annoying, hired me today to work for him
OXFORD COMMA
Apples, bananas, watermelons, cucumber, and kiwi
DIRECT QUOTATIONS
Smith notes, "Dogs have always been more popular than cats."
Periods
INDICATES
End of a sentence
End of a paragraph
Abbreviation of a word
Semicolons
INTRODUCES
An independent clause
Something that could stand alone
But related to the first part
Colons
INTRODUCES
A list of items
The researched team studied a number of different breeds: shorthaired, longhaired and exotic
Apostrophe
USED FOR
Contractions and possessives "The CD's not working properly"
Never plurals
Subtopic