Does it check comma usage?

No, and that is deliberate. A comma splice, the Oxford comma and a comma that changes a clause all depend on meaning, and a pattern cannot judge them. Grouped numbers and times are excluded so the checks that do run stay quiet on correct text.

Why was my ellipsis flagged?

Because it used two or four dots instead of three. The finding is reported as style, not error — an intentional four-dot ellipsis is a legitimate convention — and the count is shown so you can decide.

What does it do with quotation marks?

It counts them by type and reports an odd number as unbalanced. An apostrophe is never counted as a quotation mark, so don't and it's do not disturb the pairing; a straight quote and a curly quote are also counted separately.

Can it fix the text for me?

It never edits the draft. Each finding carries a suggested fragment when a mechanical fix exists, and you apply it yourself. Copy report or Download gives you the full list with context.

Punctuation Checker

Q: Which punctuation faults does this tool actually find?

Eleven: a space before punctuation, a missing space after it, repeated punctuation, an ellipsis that is not three dots, unmatched brackets, unbalanced quotation marks, a paragraph with no end punctuation, a spaced hyphen, a double hyphen, a space after an opening bracket, and a space before a closing one.

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Result

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What this checks, and what it cannot

The 11 checks are: a space before punctuation; a missing space after it; punctuation repeated; an ellipsis that is not three dots; unmatched brackets; unbalanced quotation marks; a paragraph with no end punctuation; a hyphen used as a dash; a double hyphen; a space after an opening bracket; a space before a closing one.

Not covered, because each needs a judgement rather than a pattern: comma splices, the Oxford comma, a comma that changes meaning, a missing apostrophe (that is the Apostrophe Error Finder), and dialogue punctuation. A comma can be right in every mechanical sense and still be wrong in the sentence.

Deliberate marks are reported as style, not error: an em dash run, a rhetorical "?!", and a stylistic ellipsis are yours to keep. Near-misses are excluded by design — 1,000 and 10:30, e.g. and J.K., a comma inside a closing quote, and anything inside a URL.

This punctuation checker runs 11 mechanical checks over the character stream — spaces in the wrong place, punctuation doubled, brackets and quotes that do not pair up, paragraphs with no full stop — and names every one of them so a clean result can be read for what it is.

What is Punctuation Checker?

Punctuation mistakes divide into two kinds: the ones visible in the characters and the ones that depend on meaning. This punctuation checker concentrates on the first kind, because they are the ones a machine can find without pretending to understand the sentence. Eleven checks run, and all eleven are listed on the page.

The mechanical faults are the ones that survive a fast edit. A space before a comma or a full stop is reported as an error, and so is a missing space after one. Punctuation repeated — a double full stop, a comma after a comma — is reported as style, because a doubled mark is sometimes deliberate. An ellipsis written with two or four dots is flagged with the count, since three is the convention in both American and British practice. Brackets, braces and quotation marks are checked by type, so an unmatched opening parenthesis is named with the side that never closes. A paragraph that reaches its end without any terminal punctuation is reported, which is the fastest way to find the stroke that was never finished.

The last three checks are placement rather than presence: a hyphen used as a dash, a double hyphen standing in for one, and a space sitting just inside an opening or closing bracket. All three are reported as style, because all three can be house style somewhere.

Near-misses are carved out deliberately, because a checker that fires on correct text is one you stop reading. A grouped number such as 1,000 is not a stray comma. A time such as 10:30 is not a missing space. The full stops in e.g. and i.e. and the initials in J.K. Rowling are not sentence ends, and the same abbreviation list is shared with the capitalisation checker so the two tools agree. A comma inside a closing quotation mark is accepted as written, and nothing inside a URL or an email address can fire at all. The abbreviation list is shared with the Capitalization Checker, so the same full stop cannot count as a sentence end in one tool and not in the other.

What is left out is a judgement by design. A comma splice, the Oxford comma, a comma that changes the meaning of a clause, and the punctuation of dialogue all depend on what the sentence is doing. The tool says so on the page rather than guessing, and it points at the checks that do apply: a missing apostrophe belongs to the Apostrophe Error Finder, and a sentence that begins lower-case belongs to the Capitalization Checker.

Use the counts as a map rather than a score. One rule firing eleven times is one habit; eleven rules firing once is a draft that needs a read-through. The two cases want different responses: fix the single habit first, then read the draft for the rest of the marks. Copy report and Download produce the list with a context snippet for each finding, so you can work through the fixes in one pass instead of hunting for the marks.

How to use Punctuation Checker

Paste your text; the 11 checks run as you type and the count for each appears in the grid.
Fix the error-severity findings first — spaces and unmatched marks are unambiguous.
Read the style findings in context: a deliberate ellipsis or dash run is yours to keep.
Work through the paragraphs flagged without terminal punctuation, which are often unfinished.
Download the report and tick off the fixes, then run the checks once more on the edited text.

When to use Punctuation Checker vs related tools

Use this as the mark-level pass, after the wording is settled and before you look at anything larger. Word-level faults that are not marks belong to the Apostrophe Error Finder, and a lower-case sentence start or a stray capital belongs to the Capitalization Checker.

When the marks are clean but the sentences still carry mechanical slips, the Grammar Checker covers repeated words, article agreement and unmatched brackets over the same text.

Privacy & Security

This tool runs entirely in your browser — no data ever leaves your device. There is no server round-trip, no upload, no logging, and no account required. Your input is processed locally using client-side JavaScript and is never stored, transmitted, or accessible to anyone else. When you close the tab, everything disappears.