THERE ARE FOUR main ways of inserting a pause in written text: a full stop, a comma, a colon, and a semicolon. They all behave in different ways.
The most common pause is the full stop, which separates sentences. Shorts sentences are good. They convey urgency. Drama. Action.
A comma is where you would naturally pause, as you would when speaking. Sometimes commas separate subclauses, such as this one, from the main thrust of the sentence. These commas always, without exception, come in pairs.
Where a longer pause is needed, use a semicolon; these mark a change in direction. Some people don’t like them; I find them very useful.
Colons are used to expand on meaning: for example, to explain what you’ve just been talking about. But look: sometimes a colon can just be a different kind of pause.
Of course, there are other ways of punctuating a sentence. Do you like question marks? But whatever you do, be careful of exclamation marks! See here for why.
