Consolidating punctuation. Official papers

Knowing the marks is not enough: you must see them in a text and choose them by the structure of the sentence. First decide the type of the sentence: simple, composite or one with direct speech. Then find the parts that are set off: homogeneous parts, the generalizing word, the address, parenthetical items. The mark at the end (full stop, question mark, exclamation mark, ellipsis) is chosen by intonation. In a composite sentence the mark depends on the relation between the parts: an explanation takes a colon, a contrast takes a dash, a listing takes a comma. After writing, reread and be able to explain why each mark stands where it does.