Another use of the colon is to show emphasis for a word or group of words. Look at this example:My little brother eats only one thing: carrots. Notice that the words before the colon are a complete thought. The word… Read more654. Use a Colon for Emphasis

Quotation marks (“) are placed at the beginning and at the end of words that are spoken. We often use a speech tag to tell who spoke the words. Look at this example of a quotation:“Give me liberty, or give… Read more656. Using Quotation Marks with Speech

When a sentence ends with quoted words, the end punctuation goes inside the final quotation marks.Dad said, “I’ll be home soon.” Notice how the period ending the sentence goes inside the final quotation mark. We end the sentence with a… Read more657. End Punctuation with Quotation Marks

We put quotation marks on both sides of a poem title. “Stopping by Woods on Snowy Evening”“The Road Not Taken”“O Captain! My Captain!” We also put quotation marks on both sides of a short story title:“The Tell-Tale Heart”“The Monkey’s Paw”“The… Read more658. Quotation Marks with Poems and Short Stories

We sometimes use quotation marks around a word or group of words to show emphasis. The quotation marks cause the reader to hit the word or words a little harder for emphasis. Look at this example:My mother always tells me… Read more659. Quotation Marks for Emphasis

Besides using italics for the titles of books, we also use italics for the titles of Newspapers and Magazines.My dad likes to read The Chicago Tribune each morning while he eats breakfast.My mom gets a monthly subscription to Good Housekeeping… Read more662. Italics for Other Titles

The names of television shows and the titles of plays and movies are written in italics.We saw Gone With the Wind on the big screen.Our English class went the the Shakespeare Theater to see Macbeth.I love the new Top Gun… Read more663. Write Television, Movie, and Play Titles in Italics

The names of special aircraft are italicized. The airplane Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan.The spacecraft Challenger exploded soon after liftoff. Name of ocean vessels are also italicized. The U.S.S. battleship Arizona was attacked in Pearl Harbor… Read more664. Use Italics for Aircraft and Ocean Vessels

A contraction is a word that is made by shortening two other words. The word contract means “to shorten.” When we shorten two words into one word, we make a contraction. We make the contraction don’t by pushing together the… Read more676. Use the Apostrophe to form Contractions