Learn how to use proper punctuation.
Following is a summary of how to punctuate different sentence patterns and how to analyze the likely effect of different syntactical forms on readers' comprehension.
Commas: Understand conventions for using commas and appreciate the likely effects of particular sentence lengths and patterns on reading comprehension.
Dashes: Create emphasis and define terms by interrupting the flow of a sentence using a dash; know when the dash must be used as opposed to the comma.
Colons: Use the colon when the first sentence anticipates the second sentence or phrase, thereby creating an emphatic tone.
Semicolons: Use a semicolon to join two sentences or to punctuate a series or list of appositives that already include commas.
Apostrophes: Use an apostrophe to denote ownership.
(Open) Text
While Writing Commons is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, derivative works of Writing Commons must include this note on all printed/displayed pages: "This is a derivative work of Writing Commons, http://writingcommons.org, a peer-reviewed, open-education resource. As a derivative, it may contain work that is not peer-reviewed or a part of Writing Commons."