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• Spelling


  Consistently using one standard with regard to the spelling of words, with slight differences between American English and British English
• Punctuation


  The act of using a system of symbols such as the comma, period, quotation marks, question marks, etc. that are used to give structure to and organize a text
• Quotation marks


  Show that words have been directly quoted
• Apostrophe


  Has two main functions: 1) Shows that a letter (or letters) has been omitted from a word in a contraction, 2) Used to make a noun possessive
• Hyphen


  Has two main functions: 1) To form compound words, 2) After the prefix of a word
• En dash


  Generally used to indicate a range of numbers or a period of time
• Em dash


  Shows a big pause in a sentence or emphasizes the end of a sentence
• Ellipsis


  A series of three dots that shows that something has been removed from a sentence, or a pause or unfinished sentence
• Comma


  Joins two or more ideas in a sentence or separates items in a series
• Colon


  Introduces the information that comes after it, telling the reader that something is coming
• Semicolon


  Connects two complete sentences that are related
• Exclamation mark


  Shows strong emphasis or strong emotion, rarely used in formal writing
• Question mark


  Shows that a question is being asked, that the speaker or writer is seeking an answer to something
• Period


  The most common punctuation mark, has two main functions: 1) Shows the end of a sentence, 2) Indicates an abbreviation (more common in American English)
• Capitalization


  The act of writing the first letter of a word in uppercase while the rest of the letters are in lowercase, with rules to remember
• Words requiring capitalization


  • Proper nouns
  • Proper adjectives
  • Days of the week
  • Months of the year
  • Specific course titles
  • Kinship names used in place of personal names
  • First and last word in a title
  • Historical periods, events, documents