Punctuation Rules

Punctuation Rules is a clear guide to English punctuation: 41 lessons on commas, apostrophes, semicolons, colons, quotation marks, hyphens and dashes, with 377 example sentences and 166 practice questions.

Every punctuation rule is explained in plain language, with correct and incorrect examples side by side, and the app works offline.

Each lesson states the rule, shows example sentences marked correct or incorrect with a short reason, adds a tip and ends with practice questions you can tap to check. Where American and British English or the main style guides disagree, the app shows each choice instead of picking one silently.

What you will learn

• Getting started: what punctuation does, and how the Chicago, AP, APA and British (Oxford) style guides differ

• End marks: the period (full stop), the question mark and the exclamation point

• Commas: commas in compound sentences, commas after introductory elements, the serial (Oxford) comma, nonrestrictive elements, commas between adjectives, direct address, dates, places, numbers and quotations

• Comma errors: comma splices, run-on sentences and where commas do not go

• Semicolons and colons: semicolons between clauses and in complex lists, colons for lists and explanations, and other uses of the colon

• Apostrophes: possession, names ending in s, joint possession, contractions, plurals and common apostrophe errors such as its and it's

• Quotation marks: quoting dialogue, periods and commas in American vs British English, question marks with quotes, single and double quotation marks, titles and scare quotes

• Hyphens and dashes: compound modifiers, prefixes, numbers and fractions, the en dash and the em dash

• Parentheses, square brackets, the ellipsis and the slash

• Capitals and numbers: capitalization rules, title case and sentence case in headings, and when to write numbers as words or numerals

• Review: a quick-reference table of the punctuation marks, ten common punctuation mistakes and four quizzes

Features

• 47 pages in 10 sections, from end marks to a full review

• 377 English example sentences, marked correct or incorrect

• 166 practice questions with tap-to-reveal answers, including 4 quizzes

• 42 tips that help you remember each punctuation rule

• American and British punctuation compared side by side

• Search every lesson from the home screen

• Dark mode

• Works offline, no account needed

• Available in 8 languages: English, Español, Português, Français, Deutsch, العربية, हिन्दी and Bahasa Indonesia (explanations are translated; the example sentences stay in English)

Who it is for

• Students who want to learn English punctuation for essays, exams and assignments

• English learners (ESL) who want to know where the comma goes and when to use an apostrophe

• Teachers looking for clear punctuation rules and ready-made practice questions

• Writers, bloggers and office workers who want to write clear, correct English

Punctuation Rules is an independent study aid. The rules follow The Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, the Publication Manual of the APA (7th edition), New Hart's Rules (Oxford) and the MLA Handbook, which are cited at the end of every lesson. It is not affiliated with any of these publishers or with any exam board.