Punctuation, Part 2

The Colon:

The idea of a colon is to use it directly after an independent clause to bring attention to a list, explanation, quote, or appositive. I was unaware that colons are only to be used after a colon. This is a good lesson on when to properly use this punctuation. It will be especially useful for quotations.

The Apostrophe:

I had a good understanding of when and when not to use an apostrophe. It was helpful to know that you should not use apostrophes to create the plural of abbreviations and letters. This is a common mistake and I will be sure to avoid it in the future.

End Punctuation:

The period is the simplest of the punctuation marks that I have read about. Its use is simple and I have a good understanding of it. I also understand the use of exclamation points and question marks very well. The section provided a good reminder that you should not use periods in abbreviations (e.g. U.S.A.).


After reviewing my project 3 draft for the above punctuation, I found no errors relating to these topics. My use of periods was satisfactory in all cases: "Due to a small design flaw in the ventilation system, a small leakage occurred." In this case I properly employed the period to end my sentence.

I also did not use periods to separate letters in an abbreviation. My presentation is filled with many abbreviations such as, "Not all the contamination flowed through the HEPA filters."
For HEPA I did not include periods as was suggested by Rules for Writers.