When do I use certain punctuation?

Question

I need some English buffs. When is it appropriate to use colons, semicolons, dashes, and parenthesis? Also, what about the different type of dashes, like en and em dashes. When should you use hyphens instead of dashes? How do you type them on Word? What about ellipsis? How do you type them? Should it be "Joe... bla bla" or "Joe. . . bla bla" or what? I THINK I understand most of these, but I just want to hear what you guys think. My English teachers all have different explanations. Thanks guys.

Answer 1

Use colons when you introduce something. Ex. "My list of favorite foods are: A,B, and C."



Use a semicolon for a pause in a sentence that is more pronounced than a comma. Ex. "I love that you love dogs; however I do not approve of your irrational behavior."



I don't know what you mean by en and em dashes. I also never knew there was a difference between a dash and a hyphen--I always took them as the same thing.



Ellipsis is three periods with no spaces, like your first example.



I hope that helps :D

Answer 2

if you use a colon, the two parts of the sentence should be able to stand on their own as separate sentences. the point of using it is to put an emphasis on the connection between the two thoughts. For ellipsis, it should be the second example you listed. "Joe . . . bla bla." Those are the only ones I know. Good luck!

Answer 3

"____" = communication, someone talking. Ex. Bob reported, "hi, my call is Bob." extensively utilized as a form of or as he/she says so. Ex. He reported he "helped" them at the same time as he did not some thing. also for charges. "To be or now to not be"-Shakespeare '____' = communication interior communication. Ex. The reader reported, "once upon a time, Bob reported, 'hi'. Then he ate cookies."