019 Punctuation

List of two items
An earthquake rocked the mountains of Peru and Chile.
List of three items
An earthquake rocked the mountains of Peru, Chile, and Bolivia.
Note the comma used with and in the last example above.
A variation of the list rule involves adjectives that could be joined by and but are not. These are called coordinate
adjectives.
Punctuation Rule 6
Coordinate Adjectives
Use a comma to join adjectives that could be joined by the coordinating conjunction and.
Compare the following sentences.
Office politics is a serious and dangerous game.
Office politics is a serious, dangerous game.
Note that both of the sentences above are correct.
Punctuating direct quotations
The rule below sums up the necessary steps.
Punctuation Rule 7
Direct Quotations
1. Place quotation marks around the speaker’s exact words.
2. Use commas to punctuate the he said statement, if any, as an interrupter.
3. Capitalize the first letter of the speaker’s words, no matter where the first letter appears.
4. Use a question mark instead of a comma or a period to show a question by the speaker or the writer.
Use an exclamation point in the same way to indicate an exclamation.
5. Use one set of quotation marks for the words of one speaker, unless those words are interrupted by
the writer’s comments. Use new quotation marks to show a change of speakers.
The following sentence illustrates the final effects of applying these steps.
The sales manager said, “We should take advantage of each of these opportunities.”
Notice that the comma and the period appear before the quotation marks.
Punctuating Indirect Quotations
Indirect quotations are usually sentences with noun clauses as objects, like the following:
The manager said that she was tired. (Speaker’s exact words: I am tired.)
The speaker’s exact words have been changed (this is what makes the quotation indirect). Notice that the
noun clause containing the speaker’s words acts as the object of the verb. For this reason, indirect
quotations like the one above receive no special punctuation.
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