The colon expands on the sentence that precedes it.
The apostrophe probaly causes more grief than any of the other punctuation marks put together!
The problem nearly always seems to stem from users not understandingthat the apostrophe has two very different (and very important) uses in English.
These two examples show the apostrophe being used for possession (sentence 1) and contraction (sentence 2)
In most cases you simply need to add 's to a noun to show possession:
Plural nouns that do not end in s also follow this rule:
Ordinary (or common) nouns that end in s, both singular and plural, show possession simply by adding an ' after the s but proper nouns (names of people, cities, countries etc.) can form the possessive either by adding the 's or simply adding the ':
General notes: Many people want to know how to form the possessive of their own name when it ends in an 's' or when refering to the whole family, e.g. The Jones' children.
Today it is no longer considered incorrect to use either form (Jones's or Jones') and many largeorganisations now drop the ' completely (e.g. Barclays Bank,Missing Persons Bureau) when publishing their name.
The most common use of contracted apostrophes is for:
Remember:
Although you will still see the double quotation marks used to quote direct speech it is more and more common to punctuate speech and direct quotations with single quotation marks with the double quotation marks reserved for quoting 'speech within speech'.
Notice that the comma is placed within the quotation marks and that double quotation marks are only used when the quoted speaker is quoting someone else directly.
You will also have seen the single quotation marks used to mark out idiomatic expressions such as -
They are also used outside of speech when quoting the title of a journal article:
(Note that there are a number of ways of organising such things as bibliographies which set out standard formats. Most organisations and academic institutions will prefer one of these or have their own format published in a 'style guide'.)
The exclamation mark is used to express exasperation,astonishment or surprise or to emphasise a comment or short, sharp phrase.
Examples
You can also use it to mark a phrase as humourous, ironic or sarcastic.
Some general remarks:
There are some general rules which you can apply when using the comma.
However, you will find that in English there are many other ways to use the comma to add to the meaning of a sentence or to emphasise an item, point or meaning.
Although we are often taught that commas are used to help us add 'breathing spaces' to sentences they are, in fact, more accurately used to organise blocks of thought or logical groupings. Most people will now use commas to ensure that meaning is clear and, despite grammatical rules, will drop the comma if their meaning is retained in the sentence.
A. Using the comma to separate phrases, words, or clauses in lists
1. a series of phrases
2. a series of nouns
3. a series of adjectives
4. a series of verbs
5. a series of clauses
B. Using the comma to enclose insertions or comments. The comma is placed on either side of the insertion.
C. Use the comma to mark off a participial phrase
D. Use the comma in 'tag questions'
E. Use to mark off interjections like 'please', 'thank you', 'yes', and 'no'
General notes:
1. Misplacing a comma can lose friends!
Putting a comma in the wrong place can lead to a sentence with a completely different meaning, look at these two examples: