AP Grammar and Punctuation

Who advises?

adviser

Who protests?

protester

Quote marks

include commas and periods

Oxford commas

not used

Colons

capitalize the word after if a complete sentence (subject + verb)

Semicolon

links sentences and lists

Dashes (--)

off topic and rarely used

Hyphen

words with combined meanings, except -ly

Coordinate activities

equal weight (tall, rocky mountain)

Non-coordinate adjectives

unequal weight (flashy sports car)

Parentheses

period inside if complete sentence; outside if not

And, or, but

comma if followed by a complete sentence

Its/their

its is single; their is double

that vs. which

that is imperative to the meaning of the sentence; which is not