Which punctuation mark is used to separate items in a list or to enclose parenthetical phrases?

Which punctuation mark is used to separate items in a list or to enclose parenthetical phrases?

• A. Dash
• B. Apostrophe
• C. Hyphen
• D. Comma

Answer: (D)

Commas are used to separate items in a list and to enclose parenthetical phrases. When you list items, you put a comma between each item: apples, bananas, cherries. When information is extra or can be removed without changing the main point, you set it off with commas: The meeting, if you recall, was moved to Thursday. The other marks have different jobs—dashes add a stronger break or emphasis, hyphens join words, and apostrophes show possession or contractions—so they don’t fit as neatly for both listing items and enclosing parenthetical phrases.

Commas are used to separate items in a list and to enclose parenthetical phrases. When you list items, you put a comma between each item: apples, bananas, cherries. When information is extra or can be removed without changing the main point, you set it off with commas: The meeting, if you recall, was moved to Thursday. The other marks have different jobs—dashes add a stronger break or emphasis, hyphens join words, and apostrophes show possession or contractions—so they don’t fit as neatly for both listing items and enclosing parenthetical phrases.