Full stops and commas are punctuation marks. A full stop ends a sentence. A comma shows a pause, breaks up a list or separates parts of a sentence. Full stops are easy. They always go at the end of a ...

Punctuation basics are easy. A period ends a sentence. A comma represents a pause. A quotation mark indicates a quotation. An apostrophe shows possession. Most people get that. But the finer points — ...

In the first part of the series on “Understanding the conventions of academic writing”, I discussed these two common error patterns: i) Missing comma after ...

Sex. Now that I have your attention, I’d like to discuss the fact that this sentence you’re reading is not necessarily a run-on sentence because run-on sentences are not simply sentences that run on ...

Place a comma before these words only if what comes after could stand alone as a sentence (i.e., is an independent clause): Smith is passionate about making music, and he is encouraging of his band ...

Y'all, get ready to have your world turned upside down by some titillating grammar news: Someone has introduced a new punctuation mark. While it may not seem like a big deal to you, for an English ...

An error known as a comma splice (or comma fault) results when a comma is mistakenly placed between two independent clauses that are not joined by a coordinating ...

I'm not a fan of excessive commas, but I find myself using them in a manner that seems somewhat excessive. But, I try to only use them where appropriate. For example ...

Clarity is essential in life. A misinterpreted sentence, whether verbal or written, may have disastrous consequences. The importance of punctuation marks is clearly demonstrated in the difference ...