Grade by Grade
Writing · Writing: Research, Forms and Conventions

Punctuation: The Hard Cases (Possessives, Quotation Endings, Series, Dashes and Lists)

3.3About 70 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can form difficult possessives, including names ending in s, plural family names and joint possession.
  • I can place question marks, exclamation marks, colons and semicolons correctly with quotations and citations.
  • I can use or omit the serial comma consistently and use it to prevent ambiguity.
  • I can tell hyphens, en dashes and em dashes apart and use each correctly.
  • I can punctuate indirect questions, interrupters and vertical lists correctly.

Words to know

possessive
The form of a noun that shows ownership or relationship: the novel's ending.
joint possession
Two or more owners of one thing, shown by an apostrophe on the last name only: Sam and Ava's project.
serial (Oxford) comma
The comma before and or or in a list of three or more: red, white, and blue.
indirect question
A question reported inside a statement, which ends with a period: She asked whether it was due.
interrupter
A word or phrase that breaks into a sentence, set off by commas: The ending, however, is open.
en dash
A dash about the width of the letter n, used in many styles for ranges: 1914–1918.
em dash
A long dash, about the width of the letter m, used for interruptions and emphasis.
vertical list
A list set out on separate lines, usually with bullets or numbers.

Small marks, big impressions

By Grade 12, most of your punctuation is correct. The errors that remain are the hard cases: Dickens' or Dickens's? Does the question mark go inside the quotation marks or out? Comma before and in a list, or not? These are exactly the details that tell a university reader whether a writer is careful.

The curriculum asks you to use punctuation correctly and effectively to communicate your intended meaning (3.3). This lesson collects the hard cases, with the MLA conventions you need for research essays and notes on where Canadian style guides differ.

Remember from Grade 11

You used commas with restrictive and non-restrictive clauses, appositives and coordinate adjectives; avoided comma splices; used semicolons for balanced clauses and complex lists; chose colons, dashes or parentheses for different emphasis; hyphenated compound modifiers; and punctuated integrated quotations. In the MLA lessons you used brackets, ellipses and single quotation marks for quotations within quotations.

1. Possessives: the hard cases

  • Singular names ending in s. MLA style adds 's to all singular nouns, including names: Dickens's novels, Keats's odes, the bus's route. (Some guides allow Dickens'; in an MLA essay, use 's.)
  • Plural family names. First make the plural, then add the apostrophe: the Joneses' cottage, the Martinezes' dog (the Jones' cottage is wrong for a family; for one person named Jones, MLA style writes Jones's cottage).
  • Joint possession. One thing owned together: apostrophe on the last name only: Sam and Ava's project. Separate things: apostrophe on each: Sam's and Ava's projects.
  • Possessive pronouns never take apostrophes: its, hers, theirs, ours, whose.
  • Decades: the 1990s (plural, no apostrophe); the '90s (the apostrophe replaces 19).
  • Plurals are not possessives: two novels (no apostrophe). A sign reading banana's 99¢ uses an apostrophe where none belongs.
  • Time and money expressions take possessives: a week's work, two weeks' notice, a dollar's worth.
Joint or individual possession? Watch the apostrophes1Sam and Ava's projectone shared project12Sam's and Ava's projectstwo separate projects
On the left, one shared project: the apostrophe goes only after the last name. On the right, each person has a project: each name takes its own apostrophe, and projects is plural.

2. Punctuation with quotations and citations

In Canadian (and American) practice:

  • Periods and commas go inside closing quotation marks: the road "home." When a parenthetical citation follows, the period moves after the citation: the road "home" (54).
  • Colons and semicolons go outside: The narrator calls it "home"; the reader is not so sure.
  • Question marks and exclamation marks go inside if they belong to the quotation (Wren asks, "Who are we without our stories?": the quotation is a question), and outside if they belong to your sentence (Why does the narrator call the road "home"?: your sentence is the question).
  • With a citation, MLA keeps a question mark that belongs to the quotation and adds the sentence period after the citation: Wren asks, "Who are we without our stories?" (54).
  • Quotation within a quotation: single marks inside double, as you learned in Grade 11. If both end together, the period goes inside both: She said, "I read 'The Lake.'"
  • Titles: a title in italics or quotation marks keeps its own punctuation; an article title containing a short-story title uses single quotation marks inside double: "Water and Memory in 'The Lake.'"
Where does the question mark go?Is the quotation itselfa question?yesno, my sentence isInside the quotation marksWren asks, "Who are wewithout our stories?" (54).Outside the quotation marksWhy does the narrator callthe road "home"?Periods and commas go inside in Canadian usage; colons and semicolons go outside.The novel and quotation in the left box are invented for practice.
Decide whose question it is. If the quoted speaker asks it, the question mark stays inside. If you are asking it about the quotation, the question mark goes outside.

3. The serial comma

The serial (or Oxford) comma is the comma before and or or in a list of three or more: the rink, the river, and the school.

  • MLA style uses it. Use it in MLA essays.
  • Many Canadian newspapers, following The Canadian Press Stylebook, leave it out except where needed for clarity: the rink, the river and the school.
  • Either way, be consistent within a piece, and always use it when leaving it out would create ambiguity: I thanked my parents, Ana Mendes and the coach could mean that Ana Mendes and the coach are my parents. I thanked my parents, Ana Mendes, and the coach lists three.

Lists with internal commas still use semicolons between items, as you learned in Grade 11.

4. Hyphens, en dashes and em dashes

Three different marks:

  • Hyphen (-) joins words and parts of words: a well-known critic, self-aware, re-cover (cover again, vs recover).
  • En dash (–) shows ranges in many style guides: 1914–1918, pages 12–25, and sometimes joins compound terms (the Toronto–Montreal train). MLA uses a plain hyphen in page ranges in citations: pp. 12-25.
  • Em dash (—) sets off an interruption, an explanation or a sudden turn: The rink—finally repaired—opened today. MLA uses no spaces around it. If your keyboard has none, two hyphens (--) are the traditional typed substitute; most word processors convert them.

In formal essays, use em dashes for emphasis sparingly; two in one paragraph is usually one too many.

Three marks that look alikehyphenjoins words: a well-known critic; re-coveren dashranges in many styles: 1914–1918 (MLA uses a hyphen in page ranges)em dashinterruption or emphasis: The rink—finally—opened.
Length signals the job: the short hyphen joins, the middle en dash spans, and the long em dash interrupts.

5. Indirect questions, interrupters and vertical lists

  • Indirect questions report a question inside a statement and end with a period: The critic asks whether the ending is hopeful. (Not ...is hopeful?) A direct question in your own voice ends with a question mark, but in academic essays, use rhetorical questions rarely; a statement usually does the job better.
  • Interrupters such as however, therefore, for example, in fact take commas on both sides in the middle of a clause: The ending, however, is open. At the junction of two independent clauses, use a semicolon before and a comma after: The ending is open; however, it is not hopeless.
  • Vertical lists (useful in reports, proposals and slides): introduce them with a complete sentence followed by a colon (or a clear lead-in); keep items grammatically parallel; if items are fragments, use lowercase or capitals consistently and no end punctuation (or a period only after the last); if items are complete sentences, capitalize them and end each with a period.

Whatever you choose, be consistent within the document.

Worked example

Let's punctuate the hard cases in one paragraph

Draft about an invented novel, North of the Lights by Thomas Ellis (quotations and page numbers invented): In Ellis novel the characters journey north. Wren asks "who are we without our stories"? (54). Readers may wonder what "home" means for the group, Kit and Ana's friendship grows. The group crosses rivers, lakes and old highways, in the 1990's style motels the danger is constant. The question is whether the stories can survive?

  1. Possessive of a name ending in s: Ellis novel → Ellis's novel (MLA adds 's to singular names).
  2. Question in a quotation with a citation: the quotation is the character's question, so the mark goes inside: Wren asks, "Who are we without our stories?" (54). A comma after asks, a capital W because it starts a full quoted sentence, and the period after the citation.
  3. Comma splice: two independent clauses joined by a comma, and not closely related. Make two sentences with a transition: ...means for the group. Meanwhile, Kit and Ana's friendship grows. One shared friendship, so joint possession is correct.
  4. Serial comma (MLA) and run-on: The group crosses rivers, lakes, and old highways. Start a new sentence for the next idea.
  5. Decade and compound modifier: 1990's style → 1990s-style (plural decade, no apostrophe; hyphen because it modifies motels): In the 1990s-style motels, the danger is constant.
  6. Indirect question: The question is whether the stories can survive. (A period, because it reports a question.)

In Ellis's novel, the characters journey north. Wren asks, "Who are we without our stories?" (54). Readers may wonder what "home" means for the group. Meanwhile, Kit and Ana's friendship grows. The group crosses rivers, lakes, and old highways. In the 1990s-style motels, the danger is constant. The question is whether the stories can survive.

Hands-on activity

Punctuation audit with the Find tool

You need: a recent essay or report of your own (at least 800 words) in a word processor, and a printed or on-screen copy of this lesson.

  1. Find every apostrophe (search for the apostrophe character). For each, ask: possessive, contraction or error? Fix plurals with apostrophes and check names ending in s.
  2. Find every question mark next to a quotation mark. Decide whose question it is.
  3. Find , and and and in lists. Decide on the serial comma (MLA: use it) and make every list consistent.
  4. Find every dash. Is it a hyphen, an en dash or an em dash, and is it the right one?
  5. Find however and therefore. Check the punctuation on both sides.
  6. Count your fixes and add the most frequent type to your personal error list.

What to look for: every apostrophe justified; quotation endings matching the rules; one consistent serial-comma choice; dashes used correctly and sparingly; interrupters punctuated on both sides.

Just for fun

Editors call the apostrophe in a sign like banana's 99¢ the greengrocer's apostrophe, after the shop signs where it often appears. The name itself contains an apostrophe, and it is used correctly.

Your turn

1

Write the MLA possessive of Keats and of the Harrises (a family).

2

Punctuate: Lee and Kim own one cottage together. It is Lee and Kim___ cottage.

3

Correct: Why does the narrator call the road "home?"

4

Correct: She asked if the ISU was due Friday?

5

Show the ambiguity the serial comma prevents: I dedicate this essay to my grandparents, Ruth Okafor and Mr. Haddad.

6

Which mark goes between page numbers in an MLA citation: hyphen, en dash or em dash?

7

Punctuate: The ending however is not hopeless.

More practice: warm-up

1

Correct: the 1980's

2

Is it its or it's in The novel and ___ sequel?

3

Where do colons and semicolons go with closing quotation marks?

4

Write the possessive: two weeks + notice.

5

Does MLA style use the serial comma?

More practice: on your own

1

Punctuate: Okafor writes the Symphony is a family (40), where the quotation is the Symphony is a family.

2

Correct: The Smith's cabin, built in the 70's, had three bedroom's.

3

Write a vertical list of three ISU tasks, introduced by a complete sentence, with parallel fragments.

4

Explain the difference: re-cover the chair vs recover from the flu.

5

Punctuate the quotation ending: Did the narrator really say I am not afraid (the narrator's words are a statement).

Challenge

1

Write one sentence that correctly uses a plural possessive, an em dash and a quotation ending with a citation.

2

A newspaper style guide says to omit the serial comma; your MLA essay requires it. You are writing a letter to the editor and an ISU on the same day. What should you do, and why?

3

Explain why the punctuation of Wren asks, "Who are we without our stories?" (54). contains both a question mark and a period, and why that is not a double ending.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

Which is correct MLA style for the possessive of Dickens?

2.

Two students wrote one report together. Which is correct?

3.

Which sentence punctuates the quotation correctly?

4.

Which ends correctly?

5.

Which uses the serial comma?

6.

Which is correct?

7.

Which mark sets off an emphatic interruption?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: expectation 3.3 asks students to use punctuation correctly and effectively. At Grade 12 the remaining errors are usually the hard cases: possessives of names and families, punctuation at the end of quotations, the serial comma, the three kinds of dashes, indirect questions and vertical lists. MLA style (used in English essays) adds 's to names ending in s and uses the serial comma; many Canadian newspapers do not use the serial comma. Consistency within a piece matters most.

How to help: spot greengrocer's apostrophes on signs together, or look at a newspaper and an English essay side by side to compare serial commas. Ask your teen to run the Find-tool audit on a draft.

Common difficulties:

  • The Jones' for a family named Jones (should be the Joneses').
  • Question marks placed inside the quotation marks by habit.
  • Inconsistent serial commas within one essay.
  • Using hyphens where em dashes are needed, and vice versa.
  • Question marks after indirect questions.

The quotations in the examples are invented for practice.