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Grammar is the whole system and structure of a language or of languages in general. It includes parts of speech (nouns, verbs, etc.), syntax (how words fit together to make sentences), and morphology (the forms of words); many people use the term "grammar" loosely so that it also covers punctuation, spelling, and word choice (as in, "Will you check my paper's grammar?").
Grammar may seem very complicated, but most of it is already in your head. You may not be able to tell someone what a subordinate clause or a conjunctive adverb is, but you have internalized grammar since you first learned to talk. You use it every time you speak or write, and you mostly use it correctly.
If you really want, you can learn all the grammar rules from scratch, but most people find it more effective to concentrate on common errors and on resources you can consult when you have a question. This learning guide will concentrate on those things.
| Period | . | Indicates the end of a sentence, or is placed after an abbreviated word. |
| Comma | , | Used to separate different ideas in a sentence. |
| Question Mark | ? | Goes at the end of every interrogative sentence. |
| Exclamation Mark | ! | Used to emphasis strong emotion, such as anger, happiness, excitement, etc. |
| Quotation Marks | " " | Use these when indicating a direct quotation. They can also be used to signify article titles, book chapters, episodes of a TV-show, etc. |
| Apostrophe | ' | Used in contractions in place of omitted letters, and also to show possession. |
| Hyphen | - | Used to create compound words. No spaces are used on either side of a hyphen. |
| Dash | - | Shows a major break or pause, as well as a range for numbers, years, pages, etc. Place a space on both sides of a dash. |
| Colon | : | Can introduce a list, an explanation or quotation. Can also be used to emphasize a certain point. |
| Semicolon | ; | Used to create a pause between two independent clauses that are in the same sentence. |
| Parentheses | () | Mostly used to indicate additional information. |
| Brackets | [] | Similar to parentheses, however, used in academic writing when presenting quotes. |
| Ellipsis | ... | Creates an intriguing and mysterious atmosphere or open-endedness in the text. In addition, it can be used to show that some letters or words are omitted. |
| Slash | / | For writing fractions and measurements, or to suggest alternatives in your text. |
