Mastering English Punctuation: 13 Essential Rules for Better Writing

Hello everybody and welcome back to  my channel Sparkle English where I   teach you how to improve your level  of English. If you haven't already,   make sure to subscribe to my channel for more  ways on how you can improve your English writing,  

grammar, and speaking skills. Today's video is  going to be an overall basic punctuation video as   part of my English writing essential series. This  video is going to talk about 13 basic punctuation   rules that you need to know to get started  writing in English. I have videos on how to use  

each punctuation mark individually, so make  sure to check the description below if you   want a more in-depth video on one of these  punctuation marks. So let's get started.   Rule number one, every declarative sentence  must end with a period or a full stock.  

For example, she loves chocolate,  period. He is my best friend, period.   My dad wants to go to a restaurant for dinner,  period. We have a meeting in two hours, period.   So for every declarative sentence or statement,  you must end it with a period or a full stop.  

Rule number two, capitalize the first letter of  a sentence. Examples, she loves chocolate. So you   can see we have to capitalize she. He is my best  friend. My dad wants to go to a restaurant for   dinner. We have a meeting in two hours. So always  capitalize the first letter of a sentence. When a  

sentence ends with a question mark, a period, or  an exclamation mark, you would leave a space, one   space, and begin the next sentence with a capital  letter. For example, she loves chocolate. He   loves pizza. We have to capitalize he and leave  a space between the period or the full stop  

and the next sentence. Rule number three,  capitalize proper nouns. So what is a proper noun?   A proper noun is a specific name for a common  noun. So for example, a common noun would be boy,   but a proper noun would be the name of a boy.  For example, David, we would not capitalize boy,  

unless of course, it was the first letter of a  sentence, but we would capitalize the name David.   Common noun day... day is not capitalized. But  Friday is capitalized because it's a proper noun.   It's the name of a day. Month is a common noun;  July is a proper noun. Country is a common noun;  

Canada is a proper noun, city, common noun,  New York, proper noun, ocean, common noun,   Atlantic Ocean, proper noun. Okay. So for  example, he is a boy; his name is David.   We would capitalize David because  it's a name, it's a proper noun.  

The best day of the week is Friday. So you can  see day is the common noun. It's not capitalized,   but Friday is a proper noun, so it is  capitalized. My favorite month is July.   Rule number four. Do not use an apostrophe to  form a plural. Examples. This is incorrect. They  

have two cars, a lot of people make the mistake of  adding an apostrophe to try to make this plural.   Another incorrect example. I love cats and  dogs. Both of these are incorrect. Correct   would be they have two cars, we just add the S at  the end to make it plural. I love cats and dogs.

Rule number five. Apostrophes are used for  contractions or to show possession. So for   example, I don't know is a contraction. Don't  is a contraction for do not. We can merge these   two words together and add an apostrophe to make  it don't. You're funny. You're is a contraction  

for you are funny. So we use an  apostrophe to make a contraction.   He's in a bad mood. He's is a contraction for he  is. We also use apostrophes to show possession.   For example, Jack's new car is beautiful.  Jack's new car means the car belongs to Jack.  

When we put an apostrophe s, it means that  the object belongs to this person here,   to the subject. My teacher's wife is really nice.  This means that the wife of a teacher, his wife.   Rule number six, every question or interrogative  sentence must end with a question mark. So if you  

are asking a question, you have  to end it with a question mark.   Examples. Do you like pizza? Question mark. Are  you tired? Should we go to the cinema tonight?   All of these are interrogative sentences or  questions and must end with a question mark.  

Rule number seven, use an exclamation mark at  the end of a sentence to express excitement,   strong emotion, or a sense of urgency. So this  is an exclamation mark, you look beautiful. When   we add an exclamation mark, we're expressing  excitement. Wow, you look beautiful! If we  

ended this sentence with just a period, it would  be more like, you look beautiful. But when we add   an exclamation mark, it's showing excitement.  I am so excited! That was a terrible choice!   So we can use an exclamation mark to show  happiness and excitement. But also we can use it  

when you're angry. That was a terrible choice! Be  careful or watch out! That is a sense of urgency.   We often use exclamation marks in imperative  sentences or commands. If a teacher says to   a student sit down, for example, you might  use an exclamation mark. For all of these,  

you could also use a period. But when we use an  exclamation mark, it's showing more excitement.   Rule number eight, use commas to separate items in  a series of three or more things. For example, if   you said I bought coffee and tea, you do not need  a comma because this is just two different things.  

But if we have a list of three or more things,  we use commas. I bought coffee, tea, , and milk.   Some people don't like to use this comma here,  the comma right before the conjunction in a list.   This is called the Oxford comma. And there's  a lot of people who like to use it and other  

people don't like to use it. I do have a video  on the Oxford comma, which I will link to in   the description below. But I recommend  you use the Oxford comma, it makes things   more clear that you're talking about three  different items. Jake has been to India, Pakistan,  

and China. Okay, so we use commas in a series  of three or more things to separate the items. Rule number nine, use a comma to separate  independent clauses, which is a complete thought   or a complete sentence, when they are  joined by the following conjunctions:  

for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. A way to  remember this the conjunctions is FANBOYS.   If you can remember FANBOYS then you can remember  which conjunctions. Example, I want to go out   tonight, but I need to study. This is incorrect.  I want to go out tonight is a complete sentence.  

It is an independent clause; it works by itself.  And I need to study is also an independent clause.   So when we join two independent clauses  together with a conjunction like but,   we have to add a comma before it. So I want to go  out tonight, comma, but I need to study. He is a  

doctor and she is a lawyer. Again, these are two  independent clauses joined by a conjunction so we   have to add a comma before the conjunction.  He is a doctor comma, and she is a lawyer.   Rule number 10. Use a semicolon between  closely related independent clauses.  

So we just talked about independent clauses...  something that's a complete sentence. For example,   I love coffee, you love tea, we can combine  these with a semicolon. You could also   separate this into two different sentences,  or add a comma and a conjunction. For example,  

I love coffee, comma, and you  love tea, or I love coffee,   but you love tea. Or you could also separate  it into two different sentences ending,   I love coffee with a period and starting the next  sentence with you and capitalizing the letter.  

The next example, Karen is a teacher, semicolon,  Susie is a nurse. Luigi doesn't like seafood,   semicolon, he prefers pasta. You can see that in  all of these examples. They are closely related   both of the independent clauses are closely  related, so we can connect them with a semicolon.  

Rule 11, use a colon to introduce a list of  items. For example, they serve many types of food,   colon, Chinese, Indian and American. So here,  we have an independent clause right here.   They serve many types of food. And to join  this independent clause with this list here,  

we can add a colon. There are three things  every child needs: education, food, and family.   The colon is connecting this list  here with the independent clause.   Rule number 12: use a hyphen to join two or  more words that serve as a single adjective  

before a noun. Examples, well-known  author, kind-hearted woman,   brand-new television, chocolate-covered peanuts.  So we're trying to make an adjective combining   these two words. And this here is  a noun. So for example, brand-new,  

we need both of these words, we need to  combine them both to make an adjective. Same   with chocolate-covered these are combined,  we're making an adjective with two words.   So we're going to add a hyphen to join  these words before a noun. And rule 13:  

use a hyphen with compound numbers, you should  hyphenate compound numbers between 21 and 99.   Examples: twenty-one, eighty-three,  ninety-nine...Of course, you would not   hyphenate 20 because it's just a word  all by itself. But if you want to say 23,  

then you would hyphenate 20 and three to make  a compound number. So in a sentence example,   I have ninety-nine problems.  She is thirty-two years old. Okay, so now I have eight different sentences,  we're going to practice correcting these sentences  

following the basic punctuation rules that I just  taught you. So I'm going to read through these   eight sentences, and I want you to write down  how we can correct them because all of them are   incorrect. Number one, My birthday is in December.  Number two, Patti loves cats. Shawn loves dogs.  

Number three, I went to the supermarket and  bought cheese, eggs, and ham. Number four,   Luke is 27 years old. Number five. I want to go  to the beach, but I think it's going to rain soon.   Number six, are you angry? Number seven, we bought  two new cars. Number eight. You're a great guy.  

Okay, so let's go through these and correct  them together. And the first sentence we have   two errors. First of all, we have to capitalize  m because it's the beginning of the sentence.   So this should be a capital M. My birthday is  in December. And we have to capitalize D because  

December is a proper noun. It's the name of the  month we have to capitalize months. Number two,   we have two different options. Patty loves  cats. Shawn loves dogs. This right here is   a comma splice. A comma is not strong enough to  connect two independent clauses. So we can either  

make this into a semi colon. Or we could add  a period and make it two separate sentences.   Number three, I went to the supermarket and  bought cheese, comma, eggs, comma, and ham.   Because we have a list of three or more things,  we need to separate the list the individual items  

using commas. Number four,  Luke is 27 years old. Here,   we're going to add a hyphen between 20  and seven because it's a compound number.   Number five, I want to go to the beach,  but I think it's going to rain soon.  

Well, here, we have an independent  clause, I want to go to the beach. And   I think it's going to rain soon. And both  of these are connected by a conjunction. But   a conjunction is not strong enough to combine  two independent clauses, we need to add a comma  

before it. So I want to go to the beach,  comma, but I think it's going to rain soon.   Number six, are you angry? This is a question. So  we cannot end this in a period. It's a question.   Are you angry? Question mark? If the answer  was I am angry, we would end it with a period.  

But this is a question number seven,  we bought two new cars. In this case,   we have used the apostrophe to make a plural.  And remember we don't do that. We would write   cars without the apostrophe to make it plural.  And the last one, you're a great guy. Here,  

this is a contraction for you are a great guy.  So we have to add an apostrophe between you   and our E to make the contraction for you are  so let me know how many you got out of eight   correct in the comment section below. If you  have any difficulties about any of these,  

or you found that one was more difficult than the  others, make sure to check the description below   for all the videos in my English writing essential  series. I tell you how to use periods, question   marks, exclamation marks, quotation marks, colons,  semicolons hyphens, every single punctuation mark  

that you need to know how to use I have a video  on it in my English writing essential series.   So thank you guys once again for watching. If you  haven't already, make sure to like this video and   keep practicing your punctuation skills so  that you become a better writer in English.  

Thanks for watching once again and  I will see you in my next video.