Punctuation Checker
Run a focused pass over English prose before you send or publish it. The server-side checker uses fixed patterns for ASCII punctuation: spacing, repeated exclamation or question marks, straight quote and bracket balance, ellipsis style, selected conjunctive adverbs, likely English comma splices and simple Oxford-comma patterns. It is not a multilingual grammar checker.
How to check punctuation
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1
Paste a draft
Add an email, article section, product description, caption or support reply. The sample text is intentionally imperfect so you can see the diagnostics immediately.
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2
Choose strictness and comma style
Use light mode for mechanical spacing and balance checks, standard mode for most publishing work, or strict mode when you want extra review hints. Pick whether to add, remove or ignore Oxford comma suggestions.
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3
Review each suggestion
Use the issue list and suggested cleanup as a first pass. The rules are deterministic, so final punctuation choices should still follow your meaning, voice and house style.
What the punctuation checker is designed to catch
This is a rule-based diagnostic tool for English prose, not a full grammar editor. Its advanced patterns use English words and ASCII letters, so text in another language may receive incomplete or misleading suggestions. Curly quotation marks are not paired by the quote rule. The cleanup applies mechanical replacements and should always be reviewed in context.
For compound sentences, the checker follows the same basic direction taught by Purdue OWL: use a comma before a coordinating conjunction such as and, but, or, nor, for, so or yet when joining two independent clauses; use a semicolon between closely related independent clauses without a conjunction; and use a semicolon before conjunctive adverbs such as however or therefore when they connect independent clauses.
Example review table
| Draft pattern | Why it is flagged | Safer edit |
|---|---|---|
The page is ready , but the form is not. |
Space before punctuation | The page is ready, but the form is not. |
The copy is final, however, legal has not reviewed it. |
Conjunctive adverb between clauses | The copy is final; however, legal has not reviewed it. |
The file is ready, we need approval. |
Possible comma splice | The file is ready; we need approval. |
Can we publish now?? |
Repeated punctuation | Can we publish now? |
We need copy, design and analytics. |
Oxford comma preference, when set to add | We need copy, design, and analytics. |
How to use the results
Start with the issue list rather than copying the cleanup blindly. Some punctuation choices are style decisions: a headline may intentionally use a question mark and exclamation point, dialogue may contain unusual quote patterns, and legal or academic text may follow a required style guide. The cleaned text is useful for mechanical fixes, but the suggestions are strongest when you read them in context.
The comma-splice hints are deliberately cautious. A comma followed by a pronoun and a verb is not always wrong, but it is often worth checking. If both sides can stand as complete sentences, choose one of three standard repairs: split them into two sentences, join them with a semicolon, or add a coordinating conjunction after the comma.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. This tool is intentionally narrower than a grammar checker. It focuses on punctuation diagnostics and suggested punctuation edits, not spelling dictionaries, tone scoring or broad grammar claims.
It can flag likely comma splices and show safer punctuation options, but the final choice depends on meaning. A semicolon, a period or a comma plus a coordinating conjunction can all be correct in different contexts.
Choose add if your style guide uses serial commas, remove if your style guide avoids them, or ignore if you only want other punctuation checks. The suggestion is a consistency hint, not an absolute rule.
No external writing or AI service is called. The text is submitted to this site and may be carried between funnel steps in an encoded URL value, so do not use sensitive material when you require local-only review.
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