Quote Marks.
Quote marks indicate exact words used by the speaker. The quote marks always go outside the punctuation marks. He said, “I will not run for mayor.”
Semi-Colons.
Semi-colons have two uses. One is to connect two sentences close in meaning, They are used in place of the Coordinating Conjunction. The boy left; he was tired.
The second use of the semi-colon is to hold name and title: The officers of the club are: Jane Smith, president; Janet Jones, vice president; Harry Smythe, treasurer.
Hyphens and Dashes.
Hyphens connect words, such as in the sentence, The gray-haired teacher left.
When the hyphen is used, it often makes two words that are not adjectives into adjectives. In this case, “gray-haired” modifies “teacher.”
The dash is used to say, That is to say.
Example: No one left—no one had the courage.
